-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
No. 9 – The Bishop
This beautiful, brief portrait is one of Chekhov’s best stories. Bishop Pyotr is someone who has “risen above his station,” transcending his modest roots. He is a good man, caring, modest, and cautious. There is not much in the way of plot. His mother comes to visit him and he is filled with joy; he…
-
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. 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…
-
No. 62 – Sorrow
A mingy man waits too long to get his wife to the doctor’s.
-
No. 94 – The Grasshopper
A young woman takes her hard-working husband for granted until it is too late.
-
No. 97 – In the Ravine
A family saga of a thieving, conniving clan of merchants in a factory town.
A Chekhov Circus
A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov
A Chekhov Circus 