This is a fascinating novella-length tale about a political operative who takes a position as the footman of an indolent bureaucrat, all with the aim of collecting information about (or possibly killing) the bureaucrat’s father – “an enemy of the cause.”
The narrative reminded me of William Styron’s oft-maligned “Confessions of Nat Turner,” in which, similarly, a rebel (for lack of a better word) hesitates in the act of rebellion, having seen the humanity of his oppressors–even if they are in many ways deplorable or simply grotesque.
In this tale, the unnamed narrator observes the long, slow degradation of Zinaida, the lover of his boss, the repellent Orlov. As time passes, the narrator grows more and more sympathetic to Zinaida, who is not only being lied to by Orlov, but abused by Orlov’s maid, a very well drawn character named Polya.
There is no sympathetic center to this story: The narrator, while nominally sympathetic, is really just a medium to tell the tale of Zinaida’s mistreatment. But Zinaida herself is vain and simpleminded and, most importantly, at least partially responsible for her own predicament, having left her husband and moved in with Orlov over Orlov’s objections.
Like many of Chekhov’s novellas, this one struck me as too long. And the structure seems slightly off: Really, this is Zinaida’s story, not the narrator’s. If the tale were more focused on Zinaida, it would have been shorter, clearer, crisper, better.
Too bad for Chekhov I wasn’t around to give him advice!
READ THIS? READ THAT!
It’s somewhat surprising how common it was for unmarried lovers to shack up in 19th Century Russia, and how matter-of-factly Chekhov could write about them, even in the face of government censors, who kept an eye on everything that came off a printing press. “The Duel” is an interesting counterpart to “An Anonymous Story,” in part because it shows that there was, in fact, a price to be paid for unmarried people living together–“respectable” Russians did not simply look the other way from illicit relationships.
A Chekhov Circus 