Now and again, Chekhov mystifies me, and I am left uncertain as to what I have just read. Is it satire? Is it melodrama? What in the world is going on here?
“A Daughter of Albion” is one of those stories. It was published in 1883, during Chekhov’s fertile “entertainments” period, when many of his stories were meant to amuse by poking fun at schemers, bureaucrats, poseurs, drunks, and ignoramuses.
But this story is not making fun of any recognizable type. It’s really peculiar.
Otsov, a nobleman, has come to visit Gryabov, a local landowner. As it happens, Gryabov is down at the river, fishing, in the company of a woman, his children’s governess. She is the “daughter of Albion” of the title, an Englishwoman who somehow speaks no Russian (even after ten years in Russia), while Gryabov supposedly speaks no English.
In full view and hearing of the woman, Gryabov begins spouting outlandish insults, calling her a wretch, an ugly doll, a monster. This scandalizes Otsov, but Gryabov waves him away – the woman can’t understand a word he says, so what’s the difference?
By itself, all of this is pretty offputting. Why is he fishing with her? Or, put another way, why is she fishing with him? Why in the world is he flinging insults left and right? None of it makes any sense.
When Gryabov’s hook gets caught in some rocks, he must wade in to fetch it. He tries to tell the governess to go away so that he might strip to go in the water, but she doesn’t understand. So he undresses right in front of her and wades in. She considers him haughtily and continues fishing. And then he gets out, gets dressed, and likewise continues fishing.
I really don’t know what the hell is going on here but… I kinda liked it. It’s not like the obvious little satires that Chekhov was busy serving up in 1883. It’s not a subtle dissection of human frailty like his later, more famous works. It’s just absurd and somehow entirely believable.
I suppose one could construct a back-story for this. Maybe Gryabov groped the governess and she punched him in the snout. (She’s a formidable presence.) Maybe. But why do they spend their time fishing together, then?
I suppose a modern reader might be discomfitted by this story–the power imbalance, the nakedness. I could see someone finding the tale unpleasant and dated.
Me, I enjoyed the mysterious absurdity of it.
READ THIS? READ THAT!
Want another light tale featuring a formidable, foreign governess? Try “Nerves,” the story of a man so spooked by attending a seance that he seeks safety in a very odd place.
A Chekhov Circus 