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No. 52 – Vanka
This is a frightful tale of suffering. Vanka, a child of nine, has been left alone on Christmas Eve by the shoemaker to whom he is apprenticed. For once left alone, Vanka gets some paper and ink and composes a letter to his only living relative, his grandfather, begging him to rescue him. Vanka describes…
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No. 11 – Enemies
“Enemies” begins, like half-a-dozen other Chekhov stories, with a doctor being summoned to attend to a sick patient. In this case, though, the doctor, Kirilin, has just suffered a devastating loss: The death of his son, at age six, of diphtheria. In a miasma of grief, the doctor is visited by a stranger, Abogin, from…
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No. 9 – The Bishop
This beautiful, brief portrait is one of Chekhov’s best stories. Bishop Pyotr is someone who has “risen above his station,” transcending his modest roots. He is a good man, caring, modest, and cautious. There is not much in the way of plot. His mother comes to visit him and he is filled with joy; he…
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No. 8 – Frost
“Frost” is a delicate portrait of a small town winter party. The title refers to bitter cold weather the town experiences on the day of the party: “28 degrees of frost.” (Which to an American reader translates, I think, to 4 degrees fahrenheit.) Some of the towns’ leaders wonder if the festival should be canceled;…
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No. 42 – The Cook’s Wedding
If you don’t happen to be a Chekhov completist and you aren’t reading every single volume of Constance Garnett’s 13-volume translation of Chekhov’s stories, let me explain that the story “The Cook’s Wedding” is the first story of volume 12, in which every story is about children or animals. If reading roughly two dozen stories…
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No. 43 – The Two Volodyas
A portrait of an impulsive young woman, Sofya Lvovna, who has married a dashing playboy many years older than her. The two Volodyas of the title are Vladimir Nikititch, otherwise known as Colonel Yagitch, Sofya’s 50-something husband, and Vladimir Mihalovitch, her childhood friend and former/lingering crush. (Volodya is a nickname for Vladimir.) Having married Colonel…
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No. 47 – A Daughter of Albion
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No. 58 – The Head of the Family
This is a brief, searing portrait of an ill-tempered father and his cowering family. Doubtless it was inspired by Chekhov’s own ill-tempered father, Pavel. Chekhov did not write from life, exactly, and the circumstances of the Zhilin family in this story are different from that of the Chekhovs, but the character of the father in…
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No. 46 – In the Graveyard
As early as 1884, Chekhov was busy hating on actors, or at least finding their profession miserable. It’s really a wonder to me that he ever wanted to be a playwright. This story, about a miserable and basically pathetic little actor at the end of his life, was published well before Chekhov was deeply involved…
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No. 48 – A Slander
A Chekhov Circus
A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov
A Chekhov Circus 