The Horse-Stealers and Other Stories

Tales of Chekhov #10

by Anton Chekhov

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The Horse Stealers and Other Stories (1921)

1. The Horse-Stealers
2. Ward No. 6
3. The Petchenyeg
4. A Dead Body
5. A Happy Ending
6. The Looking-Glass
7. Old Age
8. Darkness
9. The Beggar
10. A Story Without a Title
11. In Trouble
12. Frost
13. A Slander
14. Minds in Ferment
15. Gone Astray
16. An Avenger
17. The Jeune Premier
18. A Defenceless Creature
19. An Enigmatic Nature
20. A Happy Man
21. A Troublesome Visitor
22. An Actor's End

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

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1986

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

[Tien T. S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always amazing that so much can come from such short stories like his.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ward 6 is the presumptive highlight. Its dialogue is excellent, but its ending is too staged to ring true.

[Vadim Melnik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first chekhov book. Hes lauded as one of the all-time best authors of short fiction, and it shows in this varied collection. Some stories show the compassionate side of human nature, like "Frost" and "The beggar". Others, like "ward no. 6", lavish in irony and cynicism. Others seem inconsequential, like "a dead body" where two men are sitting vigil, and one of them gets up and leaves; or "an avenger" where a man starts to buy a gun, but changes his mind. Still others seem like there's a death tacked onto the end so the author comes across as edgy and unconventional.
Translation was decent, but lexicon was obviously limited.. I have no doubt that the original Russian text would have bumped my rating to 5

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

chekhov had every idea about the fragile beauty of humanity and wrote a perfect story/novella for every one of them and you do not love Chekhov enough

[Ben Guterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tenth volume in the thirteen-volume set translated by Constance Garnett, whose reputation, I've learned recently, is perhaps not as stellar as I understood when I embarked on this set a few years ago. Still, I'm finding Chekhov as enjoyable and indispensable as Francine Prose warned me I would in READING LIKE A WRITER (http://quarterlyconversation.com/read...), and the translation seems fine to me. Chekhov, famously, is as adept at sustained drama as he is at moments of insight, indecision, and misapprehension--humor, too. The highlight in this volume is the lengthy "Ward No. 6," though I enjoyed the rapid window-views of the short twenty-odd other works. Exhausting and awesome; I'm ready for the next three volumes.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad that I found these stories and now I want to go find other Chekhov stories. If you're new to Chekhov, his stories range from old style dialogue, to insightful on the human condition, to comedic, to just clever. There's such a variety, you start one and you have no idea what it's going to give you. I like the comedy but I guess I'm most impressed with the insights about people that apply no matter what culture and era you're in. You can't go wrong with this collection.

[Rachel]

Favorites:
Ward No.6
The Looking-Glass
A Story Without a Title
Frost
The Petchenyeg
An Avenger
An Enigmatic Nature

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Includes Ward No. 6, one of Chekhov's most noted stories.

[John Bowis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having enjoyed Chekhov's plays and visited his Crimean house near Yalta, I looked forward to sampling his short stories. This collection of twenty-two (often very) short stories are of varied impact. To me his best was the longest - 'Ward No. 6' - which is a harrowing description of how mental patients were treated in remote rural Russia and culminates in the doctor becoming the patient. A number of the others have pithy endings while some end with questions posed but left in the air. A quick and sometimes satisfying read.