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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…
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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…
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No. 59 – An Artist’s Story
An indolent artist courts a rich young woman against the wishes of her older sister.
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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. 86 – Neighbours
A weak-willed man ineffectually seeks to avenge the stain on his honor after his sister takes up with a married man.
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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…
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No. 62 – Sorrow
A mingy man waits too long to get his wife to the doctor’s.
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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. 88 – Talent
A lazy artist summering in the countryside seduces a young woman who wants to escape to the big city.
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No. 64 – An Upheaval
A governess is appalled to be accused of stealing jewelry from her employers.
A Chekhov Circus
A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov
A Chekhov Circus 