The 13th and final volume of the Constance Garnett Chekhov collection concludes with this less than sterling story.
“At a Summer Villa” is a brief farce. It’s a toothless variation on, say, “Dangerous Liaisons.”
A married man receives a love letter asking that he come out to meet that evening. He’s not a bad guy, really, but he doesn’t have the strength of character to resist. When he goes to the assignation, he is disappointed to find his brother-in-law waiting as well. Obviously, he too, has been sent a similar letter, presumably from the same woman.
Ha ha ha?
As was usual for Anton Chekhov in 1886, he delivers a decent if not terribly surprising twist at the end, and also as usual we have a “laugh” at a man behaving badly. I put that “laugh” in quotes because, let’s be honest, I wasn’t laughing.
READ THIS? READ THAT!
The bilious tone of this story brings to mind “A Joke.” That tale is another level of creepy, whereas this one is just kind of bland. But they are both about men and women at cross purposes.
A Chekhov Circus 