A Chekhov Circus

A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov

Category: Short story

  • No. 45 – The Dependents

    This is one of the more painful Chekhov stories, I must say, and that’s surprising given that the beings that suffer most greatly in it are animals. I can hardly bring myself to offer a thumbnail sketch of the plot, but here goes: Zotov, a grouchy old man, alone and lonely, can no longer afford…

  • No. 154 – An Inquiry

    A dispiriting visit to a government office, where nothing happens without a bribe.

  • No. 157 – The Beggar

    A beggar’s life seems to be transformed by a bit of hard advice–but is that what really changed him?

  • No. 159 – A Problem

    After a young man bounces a check, a family debates whether to bail him out.

  • No. 160 – Minds in Ferment

    A small town erupts in a panic for no reason.

  • No. 162 – Happiness

    Two shepherds and a bailiff trade stories about supposed treasures buried in the woods.

  • No. 22 – The Requiem

    This is an extremely economical tale of a man who is so deeply troubled that his daughter became an actress that, even after her death, he cannot stop himself from referring to her as a “harlot.” The man, a simple shopkeeper named Andrey Andreyitch, submits a note to his priest, asking that his daughter be…

  • 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…

  • No. 27 – The Letter

    Of Chekhov’s portraits of the priesthood (there are not that many), this one might be the most “human,” for it shows different levels of faith, doubt, and seriousness within the church. The story features three men of the cloth, each at a different tier in the hierarchy. At the high end is the district clerical…

  • No. 37 – (tie) Polinka/Anyuta

    These two brief sketches focus on wretched love affairs. In the Constance Garnett translations of Chekhov, they appear side-by-side, and as a reader you can’t help but see them as a single piece of fiction, even though they stand completely separate, and were written months apart. Of the two, “Anyuta” is the harsher, more painful…