A Chekhov Circus

A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov

Category: Short story

  • No. 49 – A Transgression

    This is a minor tale, but it’s well done. In fact, it’s among the best twist endings Chekhov ever delivered. The story is extremely short and the whole point is the twist at the end, so if you don’t want a spoiler, just skip the next two paragraphs. “A Transgression” is the story of a…

  • No. 53 – Sleepy

    In 1883, Chekhov published 35 stories. In 1884, the number slipped to 19, a decline presumably related to the fact that he graduated from medical school this year and began practicing as a doctor. In 1885 the pace picked up, with 37 stories published. And in 1886 the floodgates opened, with 63 stories hitting the…

  • No. 57 – A Gentleman Friend

    Sigh. Another day, another story flawed by Chekhov’s antisemitism.  “A Gentleman Friend” concerns a woman – I suppose she would have been called a “fallen woman” back in the day – who approaches a former lover for money.  The man, Finkel, is a grotesque. I was going to type up the description of him but…

  • No. 60 – The Runaway

    This is, essentially, a bit of reportage about the workings of a rural hospital. It was published in 1887, when Chekhov had been out in the world working as a doctor for several years. The tale is told through the eyes of a boy, Pashka, seven years old, unable to read or write, presumably a…

  • 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…

  • No. 62 – Sorrow

    A mingy man waits too long to get his wife to the doctor’s.

  • No. 63 – From the Diary of a Violent-Tempered Man

    A comically inept academic resists marriage, but resistance is futile.

  • No. 88 – Talent

    A lazy artist summering in the countryside seduces a young woman who wants to escape to the big city.

  • No. 64 – An Upheaval

    A governess is appalled to be accused of stealing jewelry from her employers.

  • No. 85 – A Trifle from Life

    A man living with another man’s wife betrays a secret confided in him by her son.