I strongly believe that people drop last names of Russian authors because they think this makes them sound more intellectual. Here’s an example:
Chekhov most certainly didn’t write any novels. But “Claire A” doesn’t know this because she never read anything by him. Or, I would guess, by any other author on the list.
As for Madame Bovary, there wouldn’t have been any Anna Karenina without it. It’s a novel that inspired half of the European literature of that era. Not that a silly airhead who loves “Chekhov’s novels” would know any of that.
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