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No. 14 – The Party
This story is just about perfect. The party of the title is a name-day celebration for Pyotr, a handsome, self-satisfied, possibly philandering, and definitely pompous aristocrat of less-than significant means. His wife, Olya, is pregnant and miserable, not only because of Pyotr’s bloviating and flirting, but also because she is painfully encased in a corset…
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No. 85 – A Trifle from Life
A man living with another man’s wife betrays a secret confided in him by her son.
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No. 1 – A Woman’s Kingdom
This novella is No. 1 in my completely nonscientific ranking of all of Anton Chekhov’s fiction. What makes it so great? What places it ahead of all the other stories and novellas that Chekhov produced during his brief life? Well, let’s look at the story itself for one minute. The “kingdom” of the title refers…
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No. 159 – A Problem
After a young man bounces a check, a family debates whether to bail him out.
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No. 145 – Terror
A man falls into bed with the wife of his friend.
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No. 40 – Not Wanted
A brief story about a gloomy bureaucrat, Zaikin, whose wife is fun-loving and gay and possibly having affairs. The setting is a summer resort. Zaikin can only visit a couple nights a week–he doesn’t have enough money to commute to his summer home every day–but his wife has settled in for the season. This tale…
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No. 118 – Typhus
A man recovers from typhus only to learn that he has infected his beloved sister.
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No. 129 – A Misfortune
A lawyer connives to win the heart of a married woman.
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No. 168 – The Kiss
A shy soldier is transformed by an unexpected encounter with a woman.
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No. 149 – The Teacher of Literature
A teacher wins the hand of a wealthy young woman, but wonders if he has made a mistake in marrying her.
A Chekhov Circus
A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov
A Chekhov Circus 