Notebook of Anton Chekhov

by Anton Chekhov

"This volume consists of notes, themes, and sketches for works which Anton Chekhov intended to write, and are characteristic of the methods of his artistic production. Among his papers was found a series of sheets in a special cover with the inscription: "Themes, thoughts, notes, and fragments." Madame L.O. Knipper-Chekhov, Chekhov's wife, also possesses his note-book, in which he entered separate themes for his future work, quotations which he liked, etc. If he used any material, he used to strike it out in the note-book. The significance which Chekhov attributed to this material may be judged from the fact that he recopied most of it into a special copy book."

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Russian Literature, Russia

146 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1921

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

[Oziel Bispo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tchekhov efetuava anotações de ideias para serem usadas em seus livros e contos futuros. Eram temas, fragmentos, pensamentos e notas.
No dia 28 de março de 1896 ele faz a seguinte anotação:" Tolstoi veio me ver. Falamos de imortalidade. Contei-lhe a essência da história de Nossilov, “O Teatro dos Voguls”, e ele evidentemente ouviu com grande prazer.”
Fala também sobre a influência do casamento na vida das pessoas” : “Observo que depois do casamento as pessoas deixam de ter curiosidade.”
Às vezes era até divertido 🤪 “Ela não tinha pele suficiente no rosto; para abrir os olhos ela tinha que fechar a boca e vice-versa”.
Anotou frases que se tornariam famosas: “O homem é o que ele acredita.” Polêmicas: “Antigamente, um homem bom, com princípios, que quisesse ser respeitado, tentava ser general ou padre, mas agora se dedica a ser escritor, professor…” Profundas: “O sol brilha e em minha alma há trevas.”
Enfim há várias deliciosas frases e anotações. Vale muito a pena ler.
É tchekhov meus amigos…

[John Tessitore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many writers keep books like this. But Chekhov isn't just any writer. Read this to learn about writing. Read it to learn about observation. And read it for the stories that live in Chekhov's carefully recorded details.

[raShit · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Hayatı olduğu gibi değil, olması gerektiği gibi de değil, hayallerde olduğu gibi tasvir etmek gerekiyor."

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because something I had read earlier quoted it, and after reading this, I've decided that I need to read some of Chekhov's other works.

[Tatyana · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Two wives: one in Petersburg, the other
in Keroch. Constant rows, threats, telegrams. They nearly reduce him to suicide:
At last he finds a way: he settles them both
in the same house. They are perplexed, petrified; they grow silent and quiet down."

"Women deprived of the company of men pine, men deprived of the company of women become stupid."

"Love, friendship, respect do not unite people as much as common hatred for something."

"People love talking of their diseases,
although they are the most uninteresting
things in their lives."

[Raúl Tello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente libro donde se puede conocer más sobre este gran cuentista ruso. Recomendable para los que se inician en el mundo de las letras.

[Evan Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A peek inside the mind of one of the world's great writers. If you're a Chekhov can or a writer it's well worth a read.

[Rozzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but difficult. These are random jottings of all kinds of things that Chekhov obviously felt were worthy of further consideration: anecdotes, funny names, odd facts, true stories, observations, insights, details and striking real-life conjunctions. In many instances it's quite difficult to discern just what Chekhov thought valuable or notable about them. Or, quite possibly, there may well be both a linguistic problem here as well as a social problem in our understandings of late Russian imperial times. Not for all the entries, but for a substantial number. And it's all too probable that Chekhov's notes were his own mental shorthand, intended simply to jog his memory when re-reading for the full facts and circumstances around each of his notes.

This is particularly a problem when a person, writer or not, is simply making notes for him or herself as opposed to drafting some kind of communicative piece intended to be read and understood by another person. To read this collection is not to gain insight into Chekhov's writing process, only to get a basic understanding of his initial screening process as he proceeded day by day to scan his environment and choose items he thought were interesting or possibly useful. Does this collection in some manner demonstrate Chekhov's specific talent or literary stature? I don't believe so. The notes, when taken as a whole, are difficult to see as strikingly different from a collection of similar notes taken down by any other writer or aspiring writer. Chekhov's excellence and skill as an author obviously came mainly from his compositional skills rather than his basic gathering process. But that observation is based on the actual text of the notes, rather than on Chekhov's full memory of each noted situation, which, as stated, could well have been substantially larger and richer than what we read here.

To me at least, even the semi-random jottings of a great writer are interesting, as is everything that could possibly yield up insight into their work. It was such a curiosity that led me to read this collection. But though mildly interesting (like reading a volume of an encyclopedia), I, personally, didn't find in this book much help in trying to gain insight into Chekhov.

Available here: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1...

[Nayeli · Rating 3 out of 5]

En un principio es algo difícil de leer, tienes que acostumbrarte a las ideas aisladas de cada párrafo. Tiene entradas repetidas, pero escritas un poco diferente, así que me imagino que decidieron incluirlas porque incluso se repetían en los verdaderos cuadernos (este libro se compone de varios diarios diferentes).

Tiene algunas notas al pie, pero me hubiera gustado que tuviera más, porque aunque me gustan mucho sus historias no he leído suficientes y mi memoria no es tan buena. A fin de cuentas es interesante y ligeramente trivial (¿justo como Chéjov?).

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Chekhov's stories with a fervor, and found his letters almost as enlightening as his stories. The notebook felt sketchy (as a notebook can be, I suppose) and had some moments but I suppose I was expecting too much.

[Denim · Rating 3 out of 5]

lil snippets of ideas and storylines: Checkov's diaries from around the turn of the century (1890s - 1900s)

[Raúl Sánchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una reseña completa en ésta revista:

http://hermanocerdo.com/2011/10/un-ho...

[Vincent Odhiambo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sketches of a writer's mind.

[Sneh Pradhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ultimate indulgent read for me ....... to witness first-hand the mind of the writer ..... Voyeurism has its joys !!!!

[Thomas Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun quick read of some good thoughts. Parts of stories, names for characters, stories about people he met, things he heard. Picked it up in an Russian Souk at Burning Man 2014.

[Ehab mohamed]

لا أعتقد أنه من الانصاف تقييم تعليقات وتدوينات ونواة لأفكارة غير مكتملة، وتأملات شخصية قد لا تصل إلينا بشكل كامل لأنها لم تكن موجهه أصلا إلينا. ولكن تمنحنا مذكرة تشيخوف الشخصية الفرصة لنبحر في عالم تأملاته وتدويناته، فرصة لنعلم كيف كان يلاحظ ويلمح ويراقب، فرصة لنعلم ما كان يلفت نظره ليدونه، وما يثير فكره فيتأمله. فرصة لنرى أنه كان ساخرا حتى مع نفسه وتدويناته الشخصية وأنه مغرم بتضمين أفكاره في قصص قصيرة جدا جدا جدا بها من المعاني أكثر من الكلمات.

في الواقع أنا لم أعد أهتم بتقييم أعمال تشيخوف لأني صرت أحبه وأحب من يحبه وأحب كل ما كتبه ومن كتب عنه أو أتى على ذكره وأحب كل ما قرأه واستحسنه وإن لم أكن قد قرأته بعد، وتقييمي لن يغير شيء من هذه الحقيقة كما أنه لن يكون موضوعيا بأي شكل من الأشكال.