A Doctor's Visit: Short Stories

by Anton Chekhov

Here is a unique collection of short stories by one of the world's most beloved storytellers, Anton Chekhov. Selected and with an introduction by author Tobias Wolff, these stories are some of Chekhov's most powerful and memorable works. Includes The Kiss and Dreams.

Included stories:

At Sea
Enemies
In the Cart
Neighbors
A Gentleman Friend
Peasant Women
The Bishop
Dreams
In Exile
A Doctor's Visit
Gusev
Heartache
The Kiss
The Lady With the pet Dog
The Man in a Shell
Gooseberries
About Love
In the Ravine
The Student

Genres: Short Stories, Literature, Russia, Fiction, Classics, Short Story Collection

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1902

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

[Aditi Jaiswal · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I am lonely. I have a mother; I love her, but, all the same, I am lonely. That's how it happens to be. . . . Lonely people read a
great deal, but say little and hear little. Life for them is mysterious; they are mystics and often see the devil where he is not. Lermontov's Tamara was lonely and she saw the devil."

[Judy Vasseur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughts about factory workers, the wealthy people who own the factories, and the lack of happiness among both the powerless and those in positions of power. Fifteen hundred or two thousand workpeople are working without rest in unhealthy surroundings, making bad cotton goods, living on the verge of starvation, and only waking from this nightmare at rare intervals in the tavern...

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorites by him

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story really just feels like an exercise in literary writing, because there is very little plot and no real conclusion.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blah blah blah "master of the short story," we heard it all. But it's true! Maybe it's cliche to say such things. That doesn't dismiss the accuracy and magic Chekov can pull off with the short form. Hold your nose against the stink of literary theory and love these stories for what they are and what they can do to your spirit.

"In The Ravine" we see a saintly transformation of a young girl that is socially ostracized. Like Bukowski, he transforms the "distasteful" people of the world into tender beings so that we may extend more compassion towards others we might not look at twice. Maybe saying hello to your friendly neighborhood homeless or offering them a sandwich.

My only regret is not savoring the stories long enough. I binged on them injecting as much dopaminergic boluses before my neurochemical stores gasped, wheezed, and puttered out. Minus 1 star for the post-reading depression.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK. It's Russian literature, as such, it means that you have to feel all the victorian burdens that the characters were feeling in order to feel the catharsis they feel through the course of the story. But also, since it's a short story, it doesn't go into much depth on their burden, as it is just assumed.

[Dale Lehman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection brings together 19 of Chekhov's short stories, translated by various translators. For the most part, these are portrayals of deeply flawed characters making their way through a deeply flawed world, sometimes finding a bit of nobility in spite of it all but most often just slogging through life as best as they can. At least, that's my sense of it. Tobias Wolff's introduction makes it sound a bit loftier than that. But the slog is something we're all familiar with, so either way we can connect.

In the main, these stories are slices of life rather than traditionally-structured stories with a conflict, rising tension, and a resolution. In many of them, things just happen and people cope as best as they can. "Neighbors" typifies this form. In this story, a man visits his sister, who has taken up with a married man, to demand that she come back home, but in the end he is unable to confront her, and the situation turns out to be more complicated than he had imagined. The tale concludes:

"From Koltovich's copse and garden came a strong whiff of lily of the valley and honey-laden herbs. Ivashin rode along the edge of the pond, gazed mournfully at the water, and remembered his past life. So far he had not done or said what he thought, he concluded, and others had repaid him in like coin, which was why all life now seemed as dark as this pond with its reflections of the night sky and its tangled waterweed. There was no mending the matter, either, he thought."

There are tales of wrongdoing in which nobody gets their comeuppance--"In the Ravine" containing the most horrid example--and stories in which the supposedly righteous outdo the sinners, such as the lead story "At Sea" in which a couple of sailors bore holes in the wall of an inn's "honeymoon cabin" to watch newlyweds on their wedding nights and to their horror discover a young pastor selling his bride's favors to an English banker.

Chekhov isn't peddling happy pills. He gives us a hefty shot of reality. At the same time, he doesn't seem to be too down on humanity, because his characters, in the main, do carry on, even when horrible things happen. Somehow, they make it through, and maybe that's the author's most important observation: that we can, too. Because that's what human beings do.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 4 out of 5]

A DOCTOR’S VISIT — The Professor received a telegram from the Lyalikovs’ factory; he was asked to come as quickly as possible. The daughter of some Madame Lyalikov, apparently the owner of the factory, was ill, and that was all.

[Layal Amer · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Lonely people read a great deal, but say little and hear little. Life for them is mysterious; they are mystics and often see the devil where he is not “

[Don Annand · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Chekhov’s short stories always has a pearl or two hidden away amongst them. Not that the others are just sand particles, they all reveal something of the nature of human nature, but depending on one’s mindset at the time of reading, the pearls glow.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nineteen short stories by Chekhov. Just when you think you are down, you can't take anymore Russian woe, the story ends and, hey, you are on to the next one! No problem!
Actually, this was my introduction to Russian literature, and I think I made a wise choice, as it is not too much all at once. There actually is also hope and beauty in these stories, don't let all the cheap gossip steer you wrong. There is hope in the hopelessness that is life, and with that, there is beauty. If you want a foray into the Russian lit world, but don't want to get too far above your station, start with this.

[Waven · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are a wonderful introduction to Chekhov, and to classic Russian literature in general I think. There is a lot of misery, of course, but there is also a good share of optimism, especially in the closing tale of The Student. I find most of his topics as relevant today as when these stories were written, and as interesting. I highly recommend this book and other stories by Chekhov.

[Teo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Language seems choppy to an English noob like me but I feel that the story is beautifully done.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I'm adding it just to say that I read A Doctor's Visit by Chekhov. I haven't read this book.)

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

[Leniw · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of stories. Certainly not an easy read. Actually, it was kind of a bad choice for a summer read.