The Siren (short story)

"The Siren" (Russian: Сирена, romanized: Sirena) is an 1887 short story by Anton Chekhov.

231, 24 August (old style) 1887 issue, in the Fleeting Notes (Летучие заметки) section.

[1] After drastic stylistic revision (which resulted in the omission of the large bulk of the secretary Zhilin's speech with the description of dishes) Chekhov included it into Volume 1 of his Collected Works published by Adolf Marks in 1899–1901.

The Court secretary Zhilin starts talking about food, then remembers how once a dream of 'piglet under horse-radish' had sent him into a fit of hysterics.

The occasion, apparently repeats himself, for he embarks upon a heated monologue concerning the delights of eating (including some drinking, too), getting more and more passionate, unable to stop, driving everybody in the room mad.