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El reto
Desde la publicación de sus primeras obras, la fama de Anton Chejov no ha hecho más que aumentar de día en día. Ahora, está considerado unánimemente como un escritor genial y como uno de los maestros indiscutibles en el difícil arte de la narración breve, junto con Guy de Maupassant y Katherine Mansfield. La sencillez de su estilo, su honda penetración psicológica, su fino sentido del humor y la suave melancolía que impregna la totalidad de su obra destacan entre sus mejores cualidades. Cualidades que brillan en todo su esplendor en EL RETO, obra rebosante de ternura y humanidad.
154 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
3 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Anton Chekhov
5,892 books9,761 followersDramas, 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 Alfred Dreyfus, his friendship with Suvorin ended
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 Alfred Dreyfus, his friendship with Suvorin ended
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 5, 2017
Vengo pensando que una obra maestra se reconoce porque, más allá del gusto personal, más allá de si los temas que toca te llaman la atención o no, cuando la lees no puedes sino encontrarla fascinante.
A mí me sorprendió la capacidad de Chejov para cautivar con una historia tan sencilla, tan mundana, con tan pocos artificios. Este relato sobre la redención es simplemente muy hondo y muy bello.
A mí me sorprendió la capacidad de Chejov para cautivar con una historia tan sencilla, tan mundana, con tan pocos artificios. Este relato sobre la redención es simplemente muy hondo y muy bello.
June 10, 2021
Compré este libro de pequeño formato y tapa dura, editado por Plaza & Janés en 1969, a solo 150 pesos argentinos en un puesto de Parque Rivadavia. Nunca puedo resistirme a incrementar mi humilde biblioteca de autores rusos, de la poca literatura que elijo atesorar en papel, y estoy muy contenta con la compra.
Como el título anticipa, "El reto" se trata de un duelo, esa práctica tan extendida en torno al honor romántico pero que para el momento en que Chéjov escribió la novela, las postrimerías del siglo XIX, ya se encontraba en decadencia (su absurdo queda en evidencia también en el relato). Sin embargo, los acontecimientos que lo desencadenan no se hacen presentes hasta el último tercio del libro.
"El reto" es una novela corta en la que el conflicto no se centra realmente en el duelo, sino en la búsqueda de la verdad. Es de esas obras del realismo ruso que me encantan por la profundidad de los temas que abordan, adecuadamente acompañados por el desarrollo de los personajes, cuya psicología nunca deja de fascinarme, cuestión en la que los autores rusos clásicos han demostrado una maestría difícil de superar.
Definitivamente no se trata de una de las obras más destacadas de la literatura rusa, mucho menos del autor, ya que la mayor destreza de Chéjov se ve reflejada en sus cuentos, pero no decepciona. En este caso la recomiendo especialmente a quienes como yo disfrutan de la literatura rusa decimonónica, o a quienes quieran incursionar en ella pero no se sientan preparadxs para sumergirse en libros tan extensos como las grandes obras de Tolstói o Dostoyevski.
Como el título anticipa, "El reto" se trata de un duelo, esa práctica tan extendida en torno al honor romántico pero que para el momento en que Chéjov escribió la novela, las postrimerías del siglo XIX, ya se encontraba en decadencia (su absurdo queda en evidencia también en el relato). Sin embargo, los acontecimientos que lo desencadenan no se hacen presentes hasta el último tercio del libro.
"El reto" es una novela corta en la que el conflicto no se centra realmente en el duelo, sino en la búsqueda de la verdad. Es de esas obras del realismo ruso que me encantan por la profundidad de los temas que abordan, adecuadamente acompañados por el desarrollo de los personajes, cuya psicología nunca deja de fascinarme, cuestión en la que los autores rusos clásicos han demostrado una maestría difícil de superar.
Definitivamente no se trata de una de las obras más destacadas de la literatura rusa, mucho menos del autor, ya que la mayor destreza de Chéjov se ve reflejada en sus cuentos, pero no decepciona. En este caso la recomiendo especialmente a quienes como yo disfrutan de la literatura rusa decimonónica, o a quienes quieran incursionar en ella pero no se sientan preparadxs para sumergirse en libros tan extensos como las grandes obras de Tolstói o Dostoyevski.
October 11, 2022
Mmm, este libro se mantiene plano en mas de la mitad de la "historia", para decir verdad no te cuenta una historia consecutiva, ni hay un máximo desarrollo de personajes o situaciones, tampoco llegas a conocer dichos personajes, no recuerdo ningún nombre de ellos a la fecha.
Tal vez, el nombre y algunas reseñas en internet me vendieron diferentes expectativas a lo que es, o sentí.
En lo personal siempre he escuchado muy buenas reseñas del autor, así que quise darle chance a mi biblioteca, de algo de literatura rusa, pero desafortunadamente caí en una mala obra, o una que no me hizo sentir nada más que estar leyendo.
Mi reseña es corta, cómo las estrellas que le doy al libro. Lastimosamente se suma a la lista de libros que no volvería a leer jamás. Y por consiguiente, no lo recomiendo.
Tal vez, el nombre y algunas reseñas en internet me vendieron diferentes expectativas a lo que es, o sentí.
En lo personal siempre he escuchado muy buenas reseñas del autor, así que quise darle chance a mi biblioteca, de algo de literatura rusa, pero desafortunadamente caí en una mala obra, o una que no me hizo sentir nada más que estar leyendo.
Mi reseña es corta, cómo las estrellas que le doy al libro. Lastimosamente se suma a la lista de libros que no volvería a leer jamás. Y por consiguiente, no lo recomiendo.
March 19, 2021
Novela corta, pero que profundiza bien en los personajes. Al más puro estilo de las historias rusas, lo fundamental son las motivaciones y traumas de cada uno de los protagonistas. Final bonito y para reflexionar.
March 2, 2013
Flaubert, Tolstói y Shakespeare resumidos en esta excelente novella.
May 23, 2022
Es uno de los libros más malos y aburridos que he leído
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews