A Chekhov Circus

A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov

Tag: Factories and Industrialization

  • No. 16 – Agafya

    “Agafya” is a portrait of rural life pressured by Russia’s changing economy. It is set in a village where justice is served via a peasant court that metes out punishment in the medieval fashion, with floggings and who knows what other cruelties. But in this seemingly medieval society, many of the men ride trains to…

  • No. 15 – The New Villa

    This is one of the occasional Chekhov stories that is explicitly about social tensions in Russia. It’s a compelling tale and an interesting peephole into the ways that the rich and poor lived–and their sometimes fraught relationships. The story: A bridge is being built outside a small village. We’re never told why the bridge is…

  • No. 97 – In the Ravine

    A family saga of a thieving, conniving clan of merchants in a factory town.

  • No. 1 – A Woman’s Kingdom

    This novella is No. 1 in my completely nonscientific ranking of all of Anton Chekhov’s fiction. What makes it so great? What places it ahead of all the other stories and novellas that Chekhov produced during his brief life? Well, let’s look at the story itself for one minute. The “kingdom” of the title refers…

  • No. 158 – A Doctor’s Visit

    A young woman languishes in the unhealthy environment of a factory town.

  • No. 148 – Lights

    An engineer recalls a misbegotten love affair that forced him to become a better person.