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No. 21 – Too Early
This is a sketch of peasant life; it would sit very comfortably between “Peasants” and “Peasant Wives,” two of Chekhov’s best-known portraits of rural poverty. A quick aside: I don’t love using the word “peasant.” But it’s almost impossible to talk about Chekhov’s work without it. Characters are often referred to as peasants; there are…
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No. 6 – Easter Eve
Chekhov is generally considered to be an atheist, but his letters are studded with religious references, especially around Easter, the most profound Christian holiday and an especially important one in Russia. “Christ is risen!” he exclaimed in letters each spring, year after year. This may be not much different than a non-observant modern American typing…
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No. 2 – In the Coach-House
This is a profound story, brief as a flicker of fire. A group of workmen are playing a game of cards in the stable of a manor house. The master of the house has shot himself in the head. The men gossip. The men are playing a game of “kings,” and periodically one of them…
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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. 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. 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…
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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…
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No. 63 – From the Diary of a Violent-Tempered Man
A comically inept academic resists marriage, but resistance is futile.
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No. 87 – Darkness
A poor man begs a government doctor to help free his brother from jail.
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No. 95 – Zinotchka
A man recalls his efforts to blackmail his childhood tutor, who had falled in love with his older brother.
A Chekhov Circus
A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov
A Chekhov Circus 