Meisternovellen.

by Anton Chekhov

Enthaltene Novellen
- Krankenzimmer Nr. 6
- Die Dame mit dem Hündchen
- Eine traurige Geschichte: Aus den Aufzeichnungen eines alten Mannes
- Der Student
- In der Schlucht
- In der Osternacht
- Die Schalmei
- Die Steppe: Die Geschichte einer Reise
- Missius: Erzählung eines Künstlers

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

608 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1946

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

[Peter]

Ich habe den Kurzroman "Die Steppe" zu Ende gelesen. Die anderen Erzählungen in dieser Sammlung werde ich aber nicht lesen. Der Grund ist die hölzerne und teilweise schlichtweg falsche Übersetzung durch Rebecca Candreia. Die Übersetzungen von Karl Urban sollen viel besser sein. Eine Wertung gebe ich nicht, weil sie Tschechow Unrecht tun würde.

[Mike]

I have nothing new to say about Chekhov, so let me just borrow a quote by my favourite director:

"I certainly love Chekhov. No question about that. He's one of my favourites, of course. I'm crazy about Chekhov. I never knew anybody that wasn't! People may not like Tolstoy. There are some people I know that don't like Dostoyevsky, don't like Proust or Kafka or Joyce or T.S. Eliot. But I've never met anybody that didn't adore Chekhov." - Woody Allen

Highly recommended. Especially "The Fiancee", "A Boring Story", "The Lady with the Dog" and "The Student"

[Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chekhov's full talent is evident in the longest novella in the book, The Steppe . The story is captivating—even though not much happens—and always focused on the good, on real life, and always hopeful despite the suffering that surrounds it.

In the novella The Pipe, a dialogue about the approaching end of the world could not be more topical: surprisingly, it is not about political issues, but about declining biodiversity and increasing drought. Very astonishing.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,1/5

★★★★★ : Flattergeist, Krankenzimmer Nr.6
★★★★: Eine langweilige Geschichte, Die Dame mit dem Hündchen, Die Braut
★★★: Der Student

[Satoshinakamoto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eigentlich nur Handlungen mit offenen Enden, aber voller Substanz. Einer der besten Kurzgeschichten hier drin.

[Jörg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains 9 novellas and short stories. My first experience with Chekhov. These novellas and stories show his mastery of miniatures on the human condition. Humans are shown with all their weaknesses, in their quest to bestow meaning on life, or simply to make a living.

1. Ward No. 6 - *****
Probably my favorite story. A doctor has lost all interest in his patients and his hospital after many years. He only lives for his books and his personal philosophy. He's convinced that the external circumstances of a human's life don't matter. It's the thoughts and ideas that matter, the search for meaning in life. He's disappointed that there are no interesting men to talk with in his small town. So much the greater is his surprise when he discovers that there's an intelligent man in his ward no.6 (the madhouse) whom he can philosophise with. From thereon, he turns up daily in this ward. This raises suspicion among the 'sane', getting him interned in the ward himself. Once confronted with the wrongness of his philosophy and ultimately the meaninglessness of his life he's left with no other choice than dying.

2. The Lady with the little dog - ****
A dog for life - the story of a notorious adulterer seeking the meaning of life in the chase of women. What is left once the chase is successful?

3. A boring story - From the notebook of an old man - *****
Another favorite. A professor of medicine is looking back at his life as he has diagnosed himself as moribund. Again, the meaninglessness of life is the theme. What was considered important once is insignificant in hindsight.

4. The student - ***
A biblical allegory that is lost on me.

5. In the ravine - ****
A truly evil woman prevails in the end, the good woman gets chased out of home, her child murdered, the father-in-law suffers the same fate. Life isn't moral.

6. Easter eve - ***
The one I remember the least of. A monk is left alone in his grief for a fellow brother on Easter eve as he has to man a ferry across a river. Is it just me who senses traces of homosexuality in this one?

7. The pipe - *****
If it ever needed a proof that things used to go downhill eternally and that 'things were better before', this is it. A shepherd plays a sad tune on his pipe, lamenting on the end coming near. My third favorite in this collection.

8. The steppe - ****
The longest and most meditative story. An eleven year old boy accompanies his uncle on a trading expedition across the steppe to a distant town where he is to enter school. Chekhov ruminates on the momentariness of human relations, on reality vs. fiction, on the inequalities of society.

9. An artist's story - ****
Dolce-far-niente of a rich slacker is confronted with the social engagement of a do-gooder. Worlds collide and move apart again.

[nogene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anton Chekhov is one of my favourite authors, because his writing is so delightful and moving. I wish I could read his works in Russian. This is real art and will outlive humanity. And if someday a supernatural existence should visit our planet- I’m not a ufo believer or a conspiracists- they should read this to get an impression of humankind.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Meistererzählungen" by Anton Chekhov includes some of the author's best-known short stories. Chekhov succeeds with great art in presenting the essential events in a clear and rhetorically skillful manner.

[Linnéa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sehr viele Erzählungen - manche haben mir besser als drei Sterne gefallen, andere weniger gut.

[Leni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Angenehme Sprache, aber langweilige Handlungen. Vielleicht bin ich gerade auch einfach von den Gesellschaftsnormen seiner Zeit genervt.