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The Little Trilogy
Anton Chekhov wrote three interconnected short stories, sometimes referred to as "The Little Trilogy." The three are: "The Man in a Case," "Gooseberries," and "About Love." These individual tales are well loved in their own right, but read/listened to together, they reveal interrelated, reoccurring characters and themes. The three stories read here in public performance, are now available as a single iPod or MP3 audiobook. Please select the version appropriate to your player.
2 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 1898
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About the author
Anton Chekhov
5,996 books9,809 followers
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
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
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 25, 2018
4.5/5
"Gooseberries" was my favorite.
"Gooseberries" was my favorite.
April 3, 2025
LOVE Chekhov. Man in a Case is my favorite, though Gooseberries is most topical to the American Dream/rat race/general pursuit of happiness (with an objective metric).
April 13, 2025
I actually rlly like Chekhov’s writing, for classical literature I feel like it’s less abstract, which means def more easy for me to think about Hahahah
Also a super good balance between a nice interesting story but also exploring concepts that make you think.
What should you be like as a person? Are we all in some ways the man in the case, what are we hiding from behind our societally acceptable jobs, etc. what is happiness? what is love? Honestly don’t even know where to start answering these questions but he rlly challenges these ideas
podcast notes:
- byelikov is trying to portray and project and certain vision of himself in this mould, but varenka’s uncontrollable laughter is the one thing that breaks through it, bc that kind of laughter cannot be faked
- byelikov is not so unusual, when even after he has passed away, nothing has changed
- we are all the man in a case, he is universal and we are all trying to exert some sort of control on the world
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4l8h...
Also a super good balance between a nice interesting story but also exploring concepts that make you think.
What should you be like as a person? Are we all in some ways the man in the case, what are we hiding from behind our societally acceptable jobs, etc. what is happiness? what is love? Honestly don’t even know where to start answering these questions but he rlly challenges these ideas
podcast notes:
- byelikov is trying to portray and project and certain vision of himself in this mould, but varenka’s uncontrollable laughter is the one thing that breaks through it, bc that kind of laughter cannot be faked
- byelikov is not so unusual, when even after he has passed away, nothing has changed
- we are all the man in a case, he is universal and we are all trying to exert some sort of control on the world
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4l8h...
March 11, 2017
This was better than I'd expected. Even though I've read Chekhov's plays, I'm not typically a fan. However, this three-story collection of shorts, told as a Russian-doll narrative-within-a-narrative, is a captivatingly beautiful portrait of self-disillusionment. Lovely little trilogy.
March 4, 2017
Read as part of the Chekhov-Saunders Humanity Kit. The stories themselves weren't that interesting to me outside of reading them in the context of the kit.
October 28, 2025
Overall, it's a great trilogy of short stories by Anton Chekhov. Personally, I found Gooseberries particularly interesting.
A man has everything he needs to make himself happy, yet he craves happiness. It's a beautiful tale that teaches us to be content with wherever we are and whatever we have.
A man has everything he needs to make himself happy, yet he craves happiness. It's a beautiful tale that teaches us to be content with wherever we are and whatever we have.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews