A Chekhov Circus

A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov

Tag: Marriage

  • 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. 62 – Sorrow

    A mingy man waits too long to get his wife to the doctor’s.

  • No. 63 – From the Diary of a Violent-Tempered Man

    A comically inept academic resists marriage, but resistance is futile.

  • No. 161 – The Wife

    A retired engineer in a loveless marriage decides to raise money to help the local peasantry during a famine.

  • No. 24 – Anna on the Neck

    This is a sort of fable, although one without a simple moral. Anna, the daughter of a impoverished drunkard, is married off to a wealthy, much older man, an insufferable, repulsive fellow who, despite his wealth, is stingy with his beautiful young wife. The peculiar title of the story refers to an honor conferred on…

  • No. 131 – Martyrs

    A woman makes the most of a sick day, exhausting her husband in the process.

  • No. 167 – Mari D’elle

    A self-involved opera singer feuds with her self-important husband.

  • No. 33 – At the Barber’s

    The setting is a filthy barbershop rural village. It is tended by a filthy barber, Makar Kuzmitch. Into the shop comes Erast Ivanitch. As it happens, Erast is Makar’s godfather. He is also the father of a daughter. Makar is in love with the daughter, and she with him. For all these reasons, Makar is…

  • No. 40 – Not Wanted

    A brief story about a gloomy bureaucrat, Zaikin, whose wife is fun-loving and gay and possibly having affairs. The setting is a summer resort. Zaikin can only visit a couple nights a week–he doesn’t have enough money to commute to his summer home every day–but his wife has settled in for the season. This tale…

  • No. 83 – A Blunder

    A couple eavesdrop on their daughter and her suitor, hoping to force a marriage proposal.