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Chekhov: The Comic Stories
The first substantial volume in English devoted solely to the full range of Chekhov's comic mastery--forty stories in all, employing a variety of techniques and twists, and all with a sense of fun and infectious good humor. Tolstoy, who disliked Chekhov's plays, was reduced to helpless fits of laughter by his comic stories. Translated from the Russian and with an Introduction by Harvey Pitcher. Penetrating social satire and trenchant character analysis....In story after story, Chekhov displays techniques--especially the use of a few telling details to suggest a whole--that he would later employ to stunning effect. --Philip Gambone, New York Times Book Review
218 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1886
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 5, 2019
These are uniformly great and a nice corrective collection to the usual pinched, austere view of Chekhov's work. The exclusion of these hilarious short pieces from usual assessments of Chekhov is lamentable, since he apparently had a great and wicked sense of humor. Many of these stories are laugh-out-loud funny which I find to be rare in much fiction:
Coffins appear at random in houses, chance encounters by the river result in naked women hiding inside instrument cases, names that can't quite be remembered and elusive fish result in unending chains of mutually-reinforcing idiocy, and murder mysteries take astonishing turns despite the best intentions of the only intelligent person around.
Most of these are 1-2 pages and thus make for quick, fun reads.
Coffins appear at random in houses, chance encounters by the river result in naked women hiding inside instrument cases, names that can't quite be remembered and elusive fish result in unending chains of mutually-reinforcing idiocy, and murder mysteries take astonishing turns despite the best intentions of the only intelligent person around.
Most of these are 1-2 pages and thus make for quick, fun reads.
June 23, 2017
The Comic Stories by Anton Chekhov are slightly misnamed. The 40 brief pieces collected in this paperback were written as newspaper fillers and provided the playwright some much-needed income. Most of the stories are between the light of heart and smile inducing but a few are poignant and even a little sad.
The Romance of a Double Bass would be made into a small humorous film by John Cleese. In the original it is something of a semi-adult ghost story. The closing story: the Darling has its light moments but it’s really the story of a loving woman with a very mixed fate. Given how much of Russian literature seems to be focused on titled lords and ladies, warfare and royalty; these stories are almost exclusively of the middle class. Russian middle class was heavily populated with mid-level government employees with only the occasional successful craftsman or businessman.
These short stories mostly written in the 1880s and 1890s are very class conscious. Consequently much of the humor grows out of the ability of people only slightly ahead in the civil service system to control the destiny of underlings and the security of their families. The obsequious behaviors, the ongoing tensions and the power granted by being one or two rungs up creates the comic tensions that drive bulk most the stories. Two short slice of life stories both, almost without humor are published back to back. The first, and one of the longest is Kashtanka. This is the story told from the point of view of a little lost dog whose rescuer is a circus clown. It has its light moments but I would hardly call it a comedy. It is followed by a shorter story, Grisha. In a few pages we have a little boy not yet three years old from a apparently well-to-do family who was taken by his nanny on what is his first outing away from home. He is witness to some events that are probably not the experiences his parents would want him to have but Chekhov has cleverly captures the child’s innocence lack of comprehension.
Overall I would rate Chekhov’s comic stories as comparable to like stories by Mark Twain They match him in tone with each being representative of their respective societies late 19th century Russia in the case of Chekhov in late 19th century America in the case of Twain. These stories would be appropriate bedtime reading for relatively young children. That is there is nothing in the way of overt sex naughty language or disturbing violence. Some of the content and many of the references are of a world and a society that may not make sense to younger children.
My own experience with Russian literature is that it tends to be very grand, very heavy and very demanding of the readers. These stories are very relaxing very pleasant and very much recommended.
The Romance of a Double Bass would be made into a small humorous film by John Cleese. In the original it is something of a semi-adult ghost story. The closing story: the Darling has its light moments but it’s really the story of a loving woman with a very mixed fate. Given how much of Russian literature seems to be focused on titled lords and ladies, warfare and royalty; these stories are almost exclusively of the middle class. Russian middle class was heavily populated with mid-level government employees with only the occasional successful craftsman or businessman.
These short stories mostly written in the 1880s and 1890s are very class conscious. Consequently much of the humor grows out of the ability of people only slightly ahead in the civil service system to control the destiny of underlings and the security of their families. The obsequious behaviors, the ongoing tensions and the power granted by being one or two rungs up creates the comic tensions that drive bulk most the stories. Two short slice of life stories both, almost without humor are published back to back. The first, and one of the longest is Kashtanka. This is the story told from the point of view of a little lost dog whose rescuer is a circus clown. It has its light moments but I would hardly call it a comedy. It is followed by a shorter story, Grisha. In a few pages we have a little boy not yet three years old from a apparently well-to-do family who was taken by his nanny on what is his first outing away from home. He is witness to some events that are probably not the experiences his parents would want him to have but Chekhov has cleverly captures the child’s innocence lack of comprehension.
Overall I would rate Chekhov’s comic stories as comparable to like stories by Mark Twain They match him in tone with each being representative of their respective societies late 19th century Russia in the case of Chekhov in late 19th century America in the case of Twain. These stories would be appropriate bedtime reading for relatively young children. That is there is nothing in the way of overt sex naughty language or disturbing violence. Some of the content and many of the references are of a world and a society that may not make sense to younger children.
My own experience with Russian literature is that it tends to be very grand, very heavy and very demanding of the readers. These stories are very relaxing very pleasant and very much recommended.
August 20, 2023
First off, one must acknowledge that Russian humor is a thing unto itself, entirely apart from the sort of stuff that western Europeans or North Americans generally see as amusing. In its pre-revolutionary version — of which Chekhov was a product — Russian humor was the product of a feudal society dominated by a stifling bureaucracy, an idle, ineffectual aristocracy and a clergy that had changed little since medieval times. So in these trifling stories, Chekhov’s characters, although not burdened with the tragic overtones of his great plays, are nevertheless victims of the environment in which they live. They are often portrayed as pretentious fools, overweening petty officials or simply unlettered peasants, often addled by excessive consumption of vodka. And Chekhov revels in the absurd. A number of these stories could scarcely be considered humorous at all, but rather just everyday portrayals of human frailty.
One of them, “The Objet d’ Art” stands quite apart from the rest; it comes close to being the sort of circular tale that O. Henry might have dreamed up, where a fellow falls victim to his own scheme. But the rest are all of a piece, ranging from mildly amusing to somewhat pathetic, in an absurdist vein. Perhaps the best example is the little farce titled “A Man of Ideas”, concerning the use (or abuse) of punctuation, in which, as many others, whatever difficulty the characters find themselves in is best resolved by having a few more drinks of vodka. While that may indeed reflect a reality of Chekhov’s world, like many another cliché, it soon becomes tiresome. For today’s readers. It seems to me that Chekhov’s humor comes across as mean-spirited, showing little empathy for the victims of his farces.
Most of these stories began life as newspaper fillers, throwaway pieces that Chekhov tossed off to pay the rent, meanwhile saving his stellar talent for the great plays for which he is justly famous. So it seems fair to judge them for what they are: minor musings.
One of them, “The Objet d’ Art” stands quite apart from the rest; it comes close to being the sort of circular tale that O. Henry might have dreamed up, where a fellow falls victim to his own scheme. But the rest are all of a piece, ranging from mildly amusing to somewhat pathetic, in an absurdist vein. Perhaps the best example is the little farce titled “A Man of Ideas”, concerning the use (or abuse) of punctuation, in which, as many others, whatever difficulty the characters find themselves in is best resolved by having a few more drinks of vodka. While that may indeed reflect a reality of Chekhov’s world, like many another cliché, it soon becomes tiresome. For today’s readers. It seems to me that Chekhov’s humor comes across as mean-spirited, showing little empathy for the victims of his farces.
Most of these stories began life as newspaper fillers, throwaway pieces that Chekhov tossed off to pay the rent, meanwhile saving his stellar talent for the great plays for which he is justly famous. So it seems fair to judge them for what they are: minor musings.
May 7, 2022
Δεν θα έλεγα ακριβώς αστείες τις ιστορίες που εμπεριέχει το βιβλίο.. Έχω διαβάσει και καλύτερα διηγήματα από τον Τσέχωφ, όπως η συλλογή με τον Βάνια, ίσως για αυτό να απογοητεύτηκα λίγο, περιμένα κάτι παρεμφερές. Σε κάθε περίπτωση ήταν μία ευχάριστη ακρόαση ενός μικρού και σύντομου βιβλίου (το άκουσα σε audiobook).
March 20, 2014
I guess the title "Checkhov: The Sort-Of Less Depressing Stories" was too long, so they just used the word "Comic"
July 31, 2023
If I feel like this is supposed to be ‘Mr. Bean’ funny. Not for slapstick but for the sense of superiority we are supposed to hold over someone so stupid. To laugh at these stories is to look down at fellow man, or dogs. The lives in these stories are severely imagined. Emotional people are supposed to be wrongdoers for following their hearts. The best I got was the reactions of the inspectors in ‘Swedish Match.’ It’s an old fashioned laugh, not worth much to me. ‘Rapture’ kept me on the edge of laughter the whole time. Blue balls.
There’s so much more to joke about socio-politically. The specificity is gone. It’s that blockbuster appeal. Life watered down.
Wish I was Russian I guess… not? Maybe.
(Book ruined my day and the NZIFF movie I watched after, ‘Mars Express.’ Currently depressed, not even that beauty could rip me out of it. Though it’s nothing William Gibson and ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ haven’t realised with effecting impact.)
There’s so much more to joke about socio-politically. The specificity is gone. It’s that blockbuster appeal. Life watered down.
Wish I was Russian I guess… not? Maybe.
(Book ruined my day and the NZIFF movie I watched after, ‘Mars Express.’ Currently depressed, not even that beauty could rip me out of it. Though it’s nothing William Gibson and ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ haven’t realised with effecting impact.)
February 6, 2017
Leggo per la prima volta questo autore e già lo amo! Personaggi grotteschi, smascherati da lui stesso, equivoci, giochi di parole, adorabile e divertente! Peccato non averlo letto prima! (Questo era un audiolibro e una menzione speciale va a Massimo Malucelli che ha recitato splendidamente! Inoltre le musiche erano perfette!)
August 5, 2023
Russian humor. You get it or you don't. If you do, these stories can be pretty funny. If not, they can seem repetitive and nearly pointless. It's also a pretty hefty collection. Plan on spending some time.
February 27, 2020
Very entertaining but marvel fans may not find it to be so. But who cares about marvel fans? Right.
May 8, 2018
Chekhov is mentioned by Harold Bloom (How to Read and Why, p. 36) as one of the short story authors who had:
...achieved something like perfection in their art.Bloom sees the lineage from Shakespeare to Turgenev to Chekhov to Hemingway, which stems from their:
affinity with their landscape and human figures...It is interesting that Mortimer Adler (How to Read a Book) doesn't mention Chekhov (or Turgenev), yet Bloom and Italo Calvino (Why Read the Classics, p. 185) see Chekhov as focused on:
the relationships between the facts of existence... [and] the prototype for so much modern narrative.I wonder if this is the result of Adler's focus on the Western canon (in its narrowest sense of the term)? The interesting thing about this particular set of short stories is its relatively recent translation into English, and its focus on comedy. Calvino mentions The Steppes) while Bloom mentions several other stories, none of which appear in this collection. So there is more reading of Chekhov for me to do. Yet this collection is funny. I wondered whether Oscar Wilde had anything to say about Chekhov. Interestingly, it was Stephen Fry (who played Oscar Wilde in the 1997 movie Wilde) who puts the two together in an interesting way. Fry writes:
Chekhov is probably better known in Britain for his plays than for his prose. For many, however, it was his short stories that mark the high water of his genius. It might at first glance be hard for those not used to his style of narrative to see what the fuss is about (and fuss there is: for most authors and lovers of literature Chekhov is incomparably the greatest short story writer there ever was): these tales appear to be about nothing.Fry also says (and I quote at length):
Anton Chekhov is a case in point. Grim. Russian. Gloomy. Stark. Bleak. Melancholic. Sorrowful. Suicidal. Tragic. Well, I’ll give you Russian. He was that all right. As for the rest. Grim? Chekhov? Bleak? No, no. Chekhov was the foremost comic artist of his age. If by comic we mean something more than slapstick, farce or revue. There are satirists, like Swift, who cannot hide the fact that they believe humanity in all its forms from the grandest king to the lowliest serf to be nothing short of pathetic, ludicrous and disgusting; there are others, like Chekhov who find it just as hard to conceal their sympathy, kinship and fellow feeling.Having read almost all of Hemingway's short stories, Turgenev's Sketches from a Hunter's Album, and Guy de Maupassant's A Parisian Affair, I see similar assumptions of human nature, and indeed a similar philosophy and aesthetic with Chekhov picking up from where Turgenev (channelling Shakespeare) left off. Whether I could put this correctly in a theory-of-literature perspective is another thing, but certainly the brilliance is obvious. Some of Chekhov's stories could easily be adapted to the social life of Canberra, Australia's capital, and its concentration of public servants. Maybe less so now, but certainly in the 1990s and early 2000s. And stories of musicians, doctors, and emerging technologies (such as the telephone) retain their humour despite more than a century of time past. The test of good literary work is its ability to stretch beyond ephemera. Chekhov does that, and his sense of humour is not lost on a contemporary audience.
February 18, 2020
Pretty enjoyable, like a bag of assorted snacks, but they don’t seem to make a lasting impression. Maybe they’re not meant to? But either way, this is my first introduction to Chekov, and I enjoyed the bright/vibrant dialogue and the various ways Chekov subverts expectations and creates visually comedic scenes (one example is in “The Burbot” when just the mental image of four men standing in water up past their chests, all crowded into arm’s reach of this elusive fish hiding under a willow tree root, cursing each other and slipping into the water, is enough to make you smile).
January 14, 2021
Ci sono due possibili spiegazioni:
1. Non colgo l'umorismo russo
2. Potrei cogliere l'umorismo russo solo dopo una bottiglia di vodka liscia
Non avendo intenzione di scolarmi della vodka a stomaco vuoto, perché non voglio morire giovane, mi accontento della spiegazione numero 1 e passo a letture più adatte a me.
1. Non colgo l'umorismo russo
2. Potrei cogliere l'umorismo russo solo dopo una bottiglia di vodka liscia
Non avendo intenzione di scolarmi della vodka a stomaco vuoto, perché non voglio morire giovane, mi accontento della spiegazione numero 1 e passo a letture più adatte a me.
February 28, 2025
Capolavori senza fine, non si può non volere bene a Chekhov e a tutti i suoi personaggi.
Non sono così umoristici nel 2025 come lo erano quando furono scritti, ma secondo me continuano a resistere bene al tempo.
Non sono così umoristici nel 2025 come lo erano quando furono scritti, ma secondo me continuano a resistere bene al tempo.
February 8, 2020
Brevi racconti umoristici, ovvero piccole chicche di esilarante cinismo.
March 3, 2020
A pleasant, easy read full of quirky characters.
December 9, 2021
Joki mūsu laikmetam vairs nav tik izteikti, bet stāstiņi labi un sniedz gandarījumu, jo ir gaužām īsi.
November 9, 2022
les russes sont chauds en littérature qd même
May 15, 2024
I couldn’t get past 20% of the book because it was super boring. I couldn’t understand the point and the irony of the stories
August 25, 2013
The usually portrayed serious and melancholy Russian writer of the 1800s, Anton Chekhov, is quoted as saying, “Medicine is my lawful wife; literature is my mistress.” This collection of forty short and very short stories is written to make his mistress laugh. The stories are brief and often told as though they were being delivered as jokes during happy hour.
“Did you ever hear the story about the one fine morning they buried Collegiate Assessor Kirill Ivonovich Babylonov?” Chekhov might have leaned over to say. A flash fiction story then follows of not over a thousand words that ends with sardonic humor.
Through the stories the reader is reminded human nature doesn’t change, taxes and government are everyone’s bane, toothaches are always painful, and admitting you were once a circus clown can add to marital entertainment and bliss.
The stories are told forthrightly without preamble in as few words as possible. One is through the eyes of a dog, another told about a man who claims he would rather be home writing his thesis titled, “The Dog Tax: It’s Past and Future,” but instead is slowly enticed into an engagement with a woman he claims not to like. Chekhov lets the emotional lives of characters reveal itself through quick thought and action in vignettes that reveal the world he lived in.
Chekhov appears to write his stories from the view of a sympathetic observer who enjoys the frailties of human nature without demeaning it. Weaved through all of it is the unvarnished portrayal of people struggling to pay the rent, make a marriage work, deal with telephones which is the new technology of the day, or the pleasure of a good meal preceded by a drink. “Now don’t pour the darling (vodka) into an ordinary wine glass, but into a little silver beaker that’s been in the family for generations, or one of those pot-bellied glasses with ‘Even The Monks Enjoy Their Tipple’ inscribed on it, and don’t down it immediately, but heave a contented sigh, rub your hands, glance casually at the ceiling, and only then, still taking your time, raise the vodka to your lips and at once you’ll feel a fiery glow spread from your stomach right through your body ...”
“Did you ever hear the story about the one fine morning they buried Collegiate Assessor Kirill Ivonovich Babylonov?” Chekhov might have leaned over to say. A flash fiction story then follows of not over a thousand words that ends with sardonic humor.
Through the stories the reader is reminded human nature doesn’t change, taxes and government are everyone’s bane, toothaches are always painful, and admitting you were once a circus clown can add to marital entertainment and bliss.
The stories are told forthrightly without preamble in as few words as possible. One is through the eyes of a dog, another told about a man who claims he would rather be home writing his thesis titled, “The Dog Tax: It’s Past and Future,” but instead is slowly enticed into an engagement with a woman he claims not to like. Chekhov lets the emotional lives of characters reveal itself through quick thought and action in vignettes that reveal the world he lived in.
Chekhov appears to write his stories from the view of a sympathetic observer who enjoys the frailties of human nature without demeaning it. Weaved through all of it is the unvarnished portrayal of people struggling to pay the rent, make a marriage work, deal with telephones which is the new technology of the day, or the pleasure of a good meal preceded by a drink. “Now don’t pour the darling (vodka) into an ordinary wine glass, but into a little silver beaker that’s been in the family for generations, or one of those pot-bellied glasses with ‘Even The Monks Enjoy Their Tipple’ inscribed on it, and don’t down it immediately, but heave a contented sigh, rub your hands, glance casually at the ceiling, and only then, still taking your time, raise the vodka to your lips and at once you’ll feel a fiery glow spread from your stomach right through your body ...”
August 6, 2011
He Quarrelled with his Wife *****
Notes from Memoirs of a Man of Ideals **
A Dreadful Night *****
From the Diary of an Assistant Book-keeper **
An Incident of Law ****
The Daughter of Albion *
Foiled! ***
A Woman Without Prejudices ****
The Complaints Book **
The Swedish Match ***
Rapture ****
Vint *
On the Telephone *
Romance with Double-Bass ****
The Death of a Civil Servant ***
Overdoing It ****
Surgery **
In the Dark ***
What You Nearly Always Find in Novels, Stories etc. ***
The Flying Islands **
Hard to Choose a Name for This One ***
From the Diary of a Young Maiden ***
Hoow I Entered Into Lawful Matrimony ***
The Decoration *****
Grisha *****
Fat & Thin ****
The Object d'Art ****
A Horsy Name ****
At the Bath House *
The Chameleon *
Revenge ***
The Orator **
The Exclamation Mark **
Notes from the Journal of a Quick Tempered Man ****
A Man of Ideas **
The Siren **
The Burbot *
The Civil Service Exam ***
Boys **
The Malefactor ****
No Comment ****
Sergeant Prishibeyev **
A Living Chronology **
Double-Bass Flute ****
A Rash Think To Do *****
Cooks Being Marriaged ****
A Mystery **
The Vengeance-Seeker ****
On Morality *****
Notes from Memoirs of a Man of Ideals **
A Dreadful Night *****
From the Diary of an Assistant Book-keeper **
An Incident of Law ****
The Daughter of Albion *
Foiled! ***
A Woman Without Prejudices ****
The Complaints Book **
The Swedish Match ***
Rapture ****
Vint *
On the Telephone *
Romance with Double-Bass ****
The Death of a Civil Servant ***
Overdoing It ****
Surgery **
In the Dark ***
What You Nearly Always Find in Novels, Stories etc. ***
The Flying Islands **
Hard to Choose a Name for This One ***
From the Diary of a Young Maiden ***
Hoow I Entered Into Lawful Matrimony ***
The Decoration *****
Grisha *****
Fat & Thin ****
The Object d'Art ****
A Horsy Name ****
At the Bath House *
The Chameleon *
Revenge ***
The Orator **
The Exclamation Mark **
Notes from the Journal of a Quick Tempered Man ****
A Man of Ideas **
The Siren **
The Burbot *
The Civil Service Exam ***
Boys **
The Malefactor ****
No Comment ****
Sergeant Prishibeyev **
A Living Chronology **
Double-Bass Flute ****
A Rash Think To Do *****
Cooks Being Marriaged ****
A Mystery **
The Vengeance-Seeker ****
On Morality *****
May 10, 2015
Chekov's stories are a joy to read. The American reader must remember that these stories are Russian and reflect the Russian culture of the times. As such they are a wonderful window into the beliefs, thoughts, daily life and hearts of the Russian people. If you have had the pleasure of knowing the Russians of today, you will feel these stories resonate with your experience. On the back cover we read that Tolstoy, who disliked Chekov's plays, "was reduced to helpless fits of laughter by his comic stories." Enjoy your read!
January 16, 2011
Pitcher's translation is overly British: mum, gaol, so I says to..., etc. If you didn't know it was written by a Russian originally, you'd think you were reading a book about 19th century England or a Monty Python script. And a good third of these stories are already in The Early Short Stories 1883-1888. Pitcher does note this, to be fair; but you might as well pass up his book and get TESS 1883-1888 because it has some excellent selections in it, away from the humor side.
July 17, 2016
Chekhov is brilliant. And I don't regret having picked up this book. It made me laugh out loud so many times, on the underground, on my commute to work. A few of the stories were poor, maybe because there are 40 stories in this book, but many more were brilliantly funny. He makes the ordinary and mundane, extraordinary funny. There is really no other writer like him. I am yet to have read any.
November 26, 2016
I read this for a library book group. The stories are not really funny when you are sitting alone reading them, but as we discussed them in the group, we chuckled at the absurdity of some of them. The stories on the whole were a commentary on the myopic view taken by many people, and how their own thoughts get them into trouble. Sometimes the outcome is funny, sometimes not.
May 21, 2016
I can't say it was funny but I understand that what we consider funny changes with time and so is in this. It was a quick pleasant read but not funny for me except some parts which I expected but again liked.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews