The Works of Anton Chekov

by Anton Chekhov

The collected works of Anton Chekov.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, Drama, Russian Literature, Literature, Russia

632 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

Antón Chéjov (Spanish)

Dramas, such as The Seagull (1896, revised 1898), and including "A Dreary Story" (1889) of Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, also Chekov, concern the inability of humans to communicate.

Born ( Антон Павлович Чехов ) in the small southern seaport of Taganrog, the son of a grocer. His grandfather, a serf, bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught to read. A cloth merchant fathered Yevgenia Morozova, his mother.

"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." Tyranny of his father, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, open from five in the morning till midnight, shadowed his early years. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog from 1867 to 1868 and then Taganrog grammar school. Bankruptcy of his father compelled the family to move to Moscow. At the age of 16 years in 1876, independent Chekhov for some time alone in his native town supported through private tutoring.

In 1879, Chekhov left grammar school and entered the university medical school at Moscow. In the school, he began to publish hundreds of short comics to support his mother, sisters and brothers. Nicholas Leikin published him at this period and owned Oskolki (splinters), the journal of Saint Petersburg. His subjected silly social situations, marital problems, and farcical encounters among husbands, wives, mistresses, and lust; even after his marriage, Chekhov, the shy author, knew not much of whims of young women.

Nenunzhaya pobeda , first novel of Chekhov, set in 1882 in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Mór Jókai. People also mocked ideological optimism of Jókai as a politician.

Chekhov graduated in 1884 and practiced medicine. He worked from 1885 in Peterburskaia gazeta.

In 1886, Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him, a regular contributor, to work for Novoe vremya, the daily paper of Saint Petersburg. He gained a wide fame before 1886. He authored The Shooting Party , his second full-length novel, later translated into English. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in later her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . First book of Chekhov in 1886 succeeded, and he gradually committed full time. The refusal of the author to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intelligentsia, who criticized him for dealing with serious social and moral questions but avoiding giving answers. Such leaders as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, however, defended him. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.

The failure of The Wood Demon , play in 1889, and problems with novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, he traveled across Siberia to Sakhalin, remote prison island. He conducted a detailed census of ten thousand convicts and settlers, condemned to live on that harsh island. Chekhov expected to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. Hard conditions on the island probably also weakened his own physical condition. From this journey came his famous travel book.

Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. During these years, Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion." Because he objected that the paper conducted against [a:Alfred Dreyfu

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure if I read this exact edition. Mine was published by Black's Readers Service Company, and it's not 678 pages but rather 632. It is notably missing one of Chekhov's most famous plays, Uncle Vanya, and it only has one of his novellas, The Shooting Party.

That said, this was amazing. It's not the best to read straight through, given the uniformly tragic and depressing nature of Chekhov's short stories and plays, but almost each story contains beautifully ornate descriptions of scenery along with profound insights into the human psyche. The aforementioned novella is masterful, not only with an intriguing story but also an ingenious narrative device in which Chekhov, writing in first person, publishes a murder story submitted by a dubious aspiring writer who turns out to be the murderer himself.

I'm not an expert on theater, but I found his plays ("The Cherry Orchard," "Three Sisters," and "The Seagull") extremely captivating and moving. The real treat, however, comes with his short stories. Raymond Carver said about Chekhov:

Chekhov's stories are as wonderful (and necessary) now as when they first appeared. It is not only the immense number of stories he wrote—for few, if any, writers have ever done more—it is the awesome frequency with which he produced masterpieces, stories that shrive us as well as delight and move us, that lay bare our emotions in ways only true art can accomplish.

. . . and I agree completely. While it doesn't seem like my collection contained perhaps Chekhov's most famous story, "The Lady with the Dog" (unless it was translated to a different name in my edition), there are many moments of pure genius, almost too many to count: "The Kiss," "La Cigale," "The Black Monk," "Verotchka," "A Husk," "Rothchild's Fiddle," "The Princess," "The Cossack," "Art," "Ward No.6," and "In the Ravine" (names may differ due to translation).

These are only the most perfect of his stories, but all of them are worthwhile. Most of them contain cruel, hypocritical, or otherwise unhappy characters who are struggling to live happily in a world without meaning. Not an original subject matter perhaps, but Chekhov was the first to do it this well, and he creates a personality with such subtle strokes that you almost don't realize it's happening until they insinuate themselves completely into your heart and mind as you read. He forsakes the light humor of Gogol and the fantastic melodrama of Dostoyevsky to go straight for the pathos. It's odd to think that he considered most of his works (the plays at least) to be comedies, when they are almost universally considered tragedies nowadays. I guess the Russians have a strange sense of humor.

For any aspiring writers, or for fans of Russian literature, Chekhov is a must-read. For fans of good literature in general really. Just don't get discouraged at his mastery.

@pointblaek

[LeAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complete Stories of Anton Chekhov, vol 1 1882-1885 (not listed in GR)
I think what I dislike about short stories is the disruption of finishing one and moving on to the next. Theoretically, reading, one can pause and savor in between, but I was listening to the audio, which just went straight on with new characters and a new situation with no time to absorb the previous story’s conclusion. Those new characters all have complicated Russian names, too. Duh. It’s a Russian author writing for a Russian audience, but for me, an American, it was challenging to keep them straight. Most of the characters are ridiculously foolish. It took me a while to adjust to the culture enough to realize that that foolishness was intended to be ridiculous in the manner of a comedy of manners ala Jane Austin. Once I understood that, it was easier to enjoy the stories for what they were—classics of the Russian language. A few times I even laughed out loud. I don’t regret reading (or rather, listening) to these, but I think if I pick up Chekov again, it will be in a print or e-book form where I can dip into one at a time.

[Ira Bespalova · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite classical Russian writers 🇷🇺💖

[Edith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the version of this available from openculture.com which has 60 stories. The selected stories accurately show Checkov's mastery of the short story, and more importantly for me, his ability to portray many aspects of 19th century Russian life. I was assigned Checkov as an undergraduate (in the 1980's), and wanted to revisit the author because I did not really remember any of the stories. Well worth the effort, and I plan to listen again in a few years.

[John Bykowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chekhov rocks.

[Veysel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anton Çehov - Şişman ile Zayıf
Üçü de ezici, büyük bir şaşkınlığın altındaydılar…

[Paulo Reimann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always classic

Anton Chekhov isto be read, re read, books, short stories, randomly, extemporaneously, whenever, great writer and person. A must read

[H.c.heartland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have not read all of them but of those I’ve read I always enjoy.

[Ksusha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Makes me think of my grandmother.

[Fahad · Rating 2 out of 5]

The strong impression yet good to read

[Nathan Grimes · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[Rick Haag · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was listening to a radio show talk about Russia last month and I decided to again visit Anton Chekov. I don't know why...I just do things like that. What follows can be classed as a review; however, it is more my musings about some of his work that stood out during the read.

I find Anton Chekhov to be an interesting figure from both a literary and humanistic perspective. The Lady with the Dog was a journey into the mind of Anna Sergeyevna and her view on herself, her life and how she feels about her actions. In brief moments reading the text, I thought of Lacan’s mirror stages and how we see ourselves and how others perceive us.

I found many parallels in other texts that read with this story. The romantic novel theme pops up again and again. We see it in Madam Bovary and something similar in Don Quixote. The idea of a life unfulfilled and the divergent paths these unsatisfied characters take, allow the reader insights into the minds of the characters. Chekhov does a masterful job of weaving the complexities of the lives and the relationship of Anna and Dmitri. I also felt some stylistic similarities with James Joyce in Chekov. I am not sure in what way, but I wonder if Chekhov was influential for Joyce?

The Lady with the Dog shows the changes in Dmitri and who has not viewed women in the best of “lights.” He was a bit of a “player” and it started out that way with Anna. However, he changed and consequently, his perspective on women (at least Anna) changed. He comes to a self-revelation about the differences in how he is perceived by women and how he perceived himself. In Anna, he had found a love that was true and it completely altered his views.

Chekov’s short stories delve into the lives of an assortment of characters. In Gusev, two sick and dying men discuss the world from very different views. One speaks of injustice, the other mostly of home and the responsibilities he has there. The tale is sadeven depressing, but demonstrates Chekov’s ability to get the reader to invest in the story of the two men. Everything happens on board a ship, and it becomes the universe that the story plays out in.

I admire Chekov’s ability to write and his descriptive abilities. His prose seems to be clean, stark, and direct. He was very much"the Russian" in his work. He was a gifted realist writer. However, I found many of his stories a little grim for a steady diet. Many (if not most) of his stories deal in some manner with death by disease. The reality of tuberculosis and typhoid was a very literal aspect to 19th century life; nevertheless, I found it rather depressing. I found myself enjoying The Lady with the Dog more than the rest of the his stories.

I appreciate the fact that Chekov wrote about those things he knew; this gives him added credibility. He does focus on the dramatic, but seemed to wed the real with the fictional, and in so doing, his stories are very believable. I could see many of the things he wrote about happening. The endings of many of his stories do have a feeling of hope and/or continuum. The reader often wonders just what exactly will occur next.
The closure that Chekov gives the reader is decidedly Russian.
--Rick Haag 2017

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is one of those crappy walter black editions from the 1920s, so lots of typos and smudged print, no footnotes, or even a credit of who did the translations, which seem inconsistent with one another. some don't appear to be constance garnett after comparing with project gutenberg but who knows really. the content itself is great - this volume contains mostly short stories, the novella "the shooting party" and four dramas. there isnt much overlap with the other chekhov volumes i have, so i only skipped anna round the neck, the peasants, in the ravine, and all the dramas except for "the wedding", a short comedic one-act. there are a few other light hearted comedic moments in here - the match, the proposal, fish and children, which nicely balance out the dark tone of the other stories. highlights include the grasshopper (oddly translated as la cigale), sleepyhead, an event, rothchild's fiddle, an adventure and ward no 6. i really liked the novella too, even though the twist was made pretty obvious by the deliberate foreshadowing filtered through the framing device

[Winston-Daniel Cabral-Silvero · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is simple fantastic!

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I prefer his shorter stories. A Gentleman Friend for example.