A Chekhov Circus

A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov

Category: Story publication date

  • 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…

  • No. 44 – A Living Chattel

    This is the earliest story included in the 13 volumes of tales that Constance Garnett translated. It’s the only story out of the hundreds in the collection that was published in 1882, when Chekhov was grinding away at medical school and just beginning to publish his work in a few journals, most of them newish…

  • 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…

  • No. 47 – A Daughter of Albion

    Now and again, Chekhov mystifies me, and I am left uncertain as to what I have just read. Is it satire? Is it melodrama?  What in the world is going on here? “A Daughter of Albion” is one of those stories. It was published in 1883, during Chekhov’s fertile “entertainments” period, when many of his…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • No. 48 – A Slander

    This is a classic, and well done. It’s the story of a man who, during his daughter’s wedding, ducks into the kitchen to check on the preparation of the meal, and smacks his lips over the fish. A guest comes in, hears him smacking his lips, and jokes that he must have been kissing the…

  • 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. 50 – On Official Duty

    Chekhov wrote quite a few stories set in waystations of one sort or another – mean little inns, railway stations, etc. – where folk of different classes and backgrounds are forced to cohabit with one another, if only for a night or two. “On the Road,” “The Post,” “Easter Eve,” “The Witch”…. really it’s a…

  • No. 51 – Gusev

    Dipping into his medical bag of tricks, and possibly drawing on his own experience of tuberculosis, Chekhov sketches a brief tale of a dying soldier shipping home on board a steamer. The soldier, Gusev, shares an uncomfortable space with several other men, all deathly ill; one, Pavel, blithely tells Gusev that he (Gusev) will die…