-
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. 94 – The Grasshopper
A young woman takes her hard-working husband for granted until it is too late.
-
No. 22 – The Requiem
This is an extremely economical tale of a man who is so deeply troubled that his daughter became an actress that, even after her death, he cannot stop himself from referring to her as a “harlot.” The man, a simple shopkeeper named Andrey Andreyitch, submits a note to his priest, asking that his daughter be…
-
No. 136 – A Story Without an End
An actor’s failed suicide spurs his neighbor, a writer, to use him as the subject for a story.
-
No. 139 – My Life
Unwilling to live the way his rich father has, a man becomes a simple laborer.
-
No. 167 – Mari D’elle
A self-involved opera singer feuds with her self-important husband.
-
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. 107 – A Tragic Actor
A father is distraught when his daughter runs off with an actor.
-
No. 117 – Kashtanka
A lost dog is taken in by a circus animal trainer.
-
No. 127 – A Dreary Story
A retired professor looks back on his life and that of his adoptive daughter.
A Chekhov Circus
A guide to the short stories of Anton Chekhov
A Chekhov Circus 