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No. 61 – The Privy Councillor
“The Privy Councillor” is a funny but also deadly serious story about a small-town family being upended by a visit from a relative who has risen far above his modest beginnings. The visitor is the privy councillor, a foppish, citified, quivering dandy. We never learn his name; the narrator, his 14-year-old nephew, only refers to…
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No. 94 – The Grasshopper
A young woman takes her hard-working husband for granted until it is too late.
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No. 161 – The Wife
A retired engineer in a loveless marriage decides to raise money to help the local peasantry during a famine.
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No. 24 – Anna on the Neck
This is a sort of fable, although one without a simple moral. Anna, the daughter of a impoverished drunkard, is married off to a wealthy, much older man, an insufferable, repulsive fellow who, despite his wealth, is stingy with his beautiful young wife. The peculiar title of the story refers to an honor conferred on…
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No. 31 – Difficult People
Chekhov’s father was a petty tyrant who immiserated his wife and children, but only rarely did Chekhov portray cruel, overbearing fathers in his fiction. “Difficult People,” like “The Head of the Family,” is one of those rare cases. The title, “Difficult People,” would probably better be, “A Difficult Person.” It is a portrait of a…
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No. 142 – The Lottery Ticket
A man fantasizes about winning the lottery, but even in fantasy there seems to be sufferingn and unhappiness.
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No. 127 – A Dreary Story
A retired professor looks back on his life and that of his adoptive daughter.
A Chekhov Circus
A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov
A Chekhov Circus 