Short Stories

by Anton Chekhov, Ralph E. Matlaw (Editor)

The thirty-four stories in this volume span Chekhov's creative career. They present a wide spectrum of comic and serious themes and a variety of techniques. (His short novels, available in another Norton volume, Seven Short Novels by Chekhov, have been omitted.) Two of the stories have been translated for this edition by Professor Matlaw; the other translations, by Constance Garnett, Ivy Litvinov, and Marian Fell, have been revised in accordance with contemporary usage. Footnotes have been supplied wherever necessary to explain peculiarities of Russian life and the historical era in which Chekhov lived and wrote.

"Backgrounds" includes a rich selection of Chekhov's letters, in new translations by Professor Matlaw, and Gorky's celebrated essay on Chekhov, translated by Ivy Litvinov. The critical essays offer general views of Chekhov's art and achievement and detailed analyses of particular stories. The critics are D. S. Mirsky, A. B. Derman (whose essay has been translated from the Russian especially for this edition), Renato Poggioli, Gleb Struve, Donald Rayfield, Karl Kramer, Virginia Llewellyn Smith, and Nils Ake Nilsson.

A Selected Bibliography directs readers to resources for further study.


Chameleon (1884) --
Oysters (1884) --
A living chronology (1885) --
The huntsman (1885) --
Misery (1886) --
The requiem (1886) --
Anyuta (1886) --
Agatha (1886) --
Grisha (1886) --
A gentleman friend (1886) --
The chorus girl (1886)--
Dreams (1886) --
Vanka (1886)--
At home (1887) --
The siren's song (1887) --
Sleepy (1888) --
The grasshopper (1892) --
In exile --
Rothschild's fiddle (1894) --
The student (1894) --
The teacher of literature (1889-94) --
Whitebrow (1895) --
Anna on the neck (1895) --
The house with the mansard (1896) --
The pecheneg (1898)--
A journey by cart (1897) --
The man in a case (1898) --
Gooseberries (1898) --
About love (1898) --
A doctor's visit (1902) --
The darling (1899) --
The lady with the dog (1899) --
The bishop (1902) --
The betrothed (1903).

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Russia, Russian Literature, Literature, 19th Century

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

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

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are thirty-four stories by the master in this volume and I might write about every single one in the book – they’re all like pearls: some just a little bit bigger and some just a little bit smaller…

Vanka Zhukov, a nine-year-old boy, sent three months earlier to be apprenticed to the shoemaker Aliakhin, did not go to bed on Christmas eve. He waited till master and apprentices went to church, then took a bottle of ink and a pen with a rusty nib from the master’s cupboard, spread out a rumpled sheet of paper in front of him, and began to write. Before tracing the first letter, he looked fearfully several times at the doors and windows, cast a sidelong glance at the dark icon, surrounded on both sides by long shelves of shoe lasts, and heaved a choking sigh. The paper lay on a bench, and he himself knelt down by the bench.
“Dear grandpa, Konstantin Makarych!” he wrote. “So I’m writing you a letter. I wish you a Merry Christmas and all good things from the Lord God. I have no father or mother, you are the only one I have left.”

The stories are sad and they are funny… They are full of laughter and they are full of tears…

“And yesterday they gave me what-for. The master dragged me out to the yard by the hair and thrashed me with a belt, because I was rocking their baby in the cradle and accidentally fell asleep. And last week the mistress told me to clean a herring, and I started with the tail, so she took the herring and began shoving its head into my mug…”

The tales are sweet and they are bitter. The tales are bittersweet. The compassion is blended with irony and misery is mixed with hilarity…

In the evening, while we were having tea, the cook served a full plate of gooseberries. They weren’t bought, they were his own gooseberries, the first picked since the bushes were planted. Nikolai Ivanych laughed and gazed silently at the gooseberries for a moment with tears in his eyes – he couldn’t speak for excitement; then he put one berry in his mouth, glanced at me with the triumph of a child who has finally gotten his favorite toy…

Humans are quite different – some wish for the stars in their pockets and for some a plateful of gooseberries is enough…

[Sergio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non ho mai nascosto la mia predilezione per Anton Cechov da quando durante il periodo del lockdown ho cominciato a leggere i 2 volumi della Garzanti intitolati “Racconti di Anton Cechov”, ma poco pratico delle finezze dell’editoria italiana, a fine lettura mi sono illuso di aver conosciuto tutta la prosa breve di questo grande autore russo, con il rammarico che spesso si accompagna quando si apprezza un’ottima lettura; per fortuna successivamente qualcuno mi ha spiegato che i due libri non riportavano il titolo “Tutti i Racconti” ragion per cui erano da considerarsi un’ampia antologia ma non l’opera completa. Ho scoperto poi che anche Mondadori e Rizzoli hanno pubblicato antologie simili, corpose ma incomplete e Feltrinelli che dal 2014 si sta adoperando per favorire il mio desiderio promettendo la pubblicazione in otto volumi dell'opera completa ma purtroppo con tempi biblici visto che, dopo il terzo volume edito nel 2015, la pubblicazione si è interrotta…Ad ogni modo ho appena terminato di leggere questo primo volume che raccoglie i racconti di un giovanissimo e ancora inesperto Cechov, vale a dire quelli editi in riviste e giornali tra il 1880 e il 1884 quando il nostro non era ancora noto al grande pubblico con quelle sue opere teatrali che gli hanno dato fama e successo: si tratta per lo più di racconti brevi e brevissimi, finanche di una sola paginetta, caratterizzati dall’ironia, dal tono scherzoso, schizzi letterari che puntano il dito su difetti caratteriali e/o comportamentali dei protagonisti, piacevolissimi dialoghi raramente noiosi, gradite descrizioni di paesaggi urbani e della campagna russa. Su tutti i racconti di questa prima fase spiccano “Il Fiammifero Svedese” racconto investigativo perfettamente calibrato su un delitto solo apparentemente di facile soluzione, “Il Camaleonte” attualissima disamina del condizionamento dei potenti sui sottoposti, “La Calunnia” che racconta, tra il serio e il faceto, come il giustificarsi non richiesto del proprio operato possa suonare piuttosto come un’ammissione di reato” e “Dal Barbiere” dove spicca una caustica ironia.

[David Fleming · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Short Stories of Anton Chekhov

Of course, any fan/writer/enthusiast of the short story should read this book! I would recommend reading this in conjunction with either Stephen King's Graveyard Shift or Edgar Allan Poe's collected works.

That probably sounds like a strange recommendation but Anton Chekhov was a very caring writer that, as a medical doctor, obviously had access to both the upper and lower rungs of society. His emphasis is more on the broad sweep of society and on emotion. Both King and Poe have a very strong inclination toward the lower depths of mankind and, unlike Chekhov, their stories show a very strong inclination toward structure, particularly toward plot and definite endings. So, by reading a couple collections, someone new to short stories could get a decent feel for the spectrum of possibilities. Of course, there are many other collections to choose from such as "You've Got to Read This" and "Fifty Great American Short Stories."

I really can't say enough about this collection. It's to be admired and not imitated. Chekhov's style is one of an infinite number of possibilities. But academic teachers of the short story seem to have been treating it for the past ten years or so as if it were the end-all-be-all. Teaching Chekhov to eager college freshman and first year MFA students who long to pen the next great novel is about the dumbest thing a teacher could do.

The reason for this is that Chekhov has no style. So trying to teach a Chekhovian style is obviously a fool's errand. His genius is an outgrowth of both his physician-like caring for all of his countrymen and his encyclopedic knowledge of the places and times in which he lived.

'About Love' may very well be my favorite all-time story and 'Gooseberries' is definitely in my top-five.

[Jonfaith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one recalls beery evenings when I still shuddered from the emotional impact of such simple stories. I suppose most folks at the time - the early 1990s - were swayed by Carver or Bukowski. I worked ALL the ime but recall buying this new at hawley Cooke and then being floored. The Grasshopper is the one which lingers, assuming a parallel position with Joyce's Araby and tales from Sherwood Anderson as the haunting foundation of a life spent between pages.

[Tess van Brummelen]

"I am going to order you to do something new, if you haven’t done it already. Get a collection of the short stories of Chekhov and read every one. Then read “Youth” by Joseph Conrad. I’m not suggesting that you do these things. I am ordering you to do them." - Kurt Vonnegut's life-advice to his children

[Mark Rizk Farag · Rating 4 out of 5]

How does one review the stories of one of the greatest short story writes of all time? Well stick around and you won't find out, because I won't attempt it 😂. All you're getting here is a meandering.

Chekhov's short stories are profound and very far removed from the notions and trends of modern story telling. The stories are diverse and cover themes such as melancholy, love, loss, death, loneliness, poverty and hopelessness. They do so with depth, emotional maturity and introspection, that not much at all needs to happen in each story to paint you a picture. Many of our characters are going about their daily lives or experiencing life events, but they arouse such feelings in the reader and for me at least, made me think of many aspects on my own life!

We also get a look at the 'Chekhov's Gun' technique in which nothing is brought up in these short stories, unless it's directly relevant to the plot. The reader also gains insight into Russian society towards the end of the 19th century, with the social customs, religious norms, plight of the lower classes and seeming indifference and aimlessness of the upper classes.

My favourite story and the one that left a profound impact on me was Gooseberries, but the rest were also amazing and I loved 'The Bishop' and 'The Lady With the Dog'. As I read the book, I'd put it down and spend a long time thinking about the philosophical and moral aspects of some of the stories, and oftentimes, whichever story I read last was my favourite.

I'd recommend these stories to you if:

- you like short stories and want to see a master at work.

- you want something new to read within the genre of 'literature' (whatever that means)

- you're a fan of Russian literature (such as Tolstoy, Dovstoyevsky, Bulgakov)

- you want to get into Russian literature, but you think Tolstoy and Dovstoyevsky books are thicc

- you like feeling blue, or enjoy books that are melancholy

- you are interested in pre Soviet Russia..... The seeds of revolution are present in this text in the conditions of the Lower class

Not recommended if:

- you want a light read that will pick you up and fill your heart with warmth.

-you like happy endings

[Angela Paquin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorites: Gooseberries and Lady with a Dog

Without sounding too pseudo-intellectual, I now love Chekov. I used to avoid him like I would avoid men with goatees in coffee-bars, because frankly they would either quote from Baudelaire Fleurs de Mal or Chekov or worse yet have a dog-eared copy of Chekov in their hands while sipping a latte in a coffee bar.

We did a staged version of Lady with a LapDog at the ART a couple of years ago and Three Sisters last year. Now I understand his importance in the theatre and with writing in general. Remember he was a doctor first, a writer second. No one unerstands the subtleties of the human condition like Chekov does.

It's a great book to have on the bedstand... When I'm not ready to start a whole book or tired of the New Yorker... An anthology of Chekov's shorts is just what I need to clear my head.

[Jenny Schow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the books I could've had checked out when my city shut down for a pandemic, I am glad it was this one. Chekhov has a style that would make even the most absurd situation feel relatable and regular. I spent many nights flipping to a random story and reading, and it did well to get me through the worst of these trying times.

[Stephan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easygoing stories. Epic style. The stories are transmuting all the way to the point of catharsis. I loved the fact that every story had a point, a message, or critics against the wrongs in society and in humanity. Truly healing and magical.

[Daniel Klawitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

"People who lead a solitary existence always have something in their hearts which they are eager to talk about."

--from the short story, About Love, Chekhov.

[marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn't find the edition I read anywhere, but it was a simple one with three short stories: Varka, La Cigale and Dreams.

[Elisala · Rating 2 out of 5]

J'hésite entre 2 ou 3 étoiles: c'est pas mauvais, mais je me suis quand même un peu ennuyée, mais aussi, je ne suis pas une grande fan de nouvelles, et puis il m'en reste tout de même une impression globale assez marquante, m��me plusieurs mois après la lecture, ce qui est plutôt bon signe: une impression d'ennui poisseux, certes, mais pas pour moi, pour les protagonistes!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won't attempt to review the writing itself, Anton Chekhov is someone anyone interested in good literature should experience for themselves; he's one of my all-time favorite writers. To be honest, I suggest if you really want to read Chekhov, don't look at too many, if any at all, reviews of his work (or at least don't take them to heart), many people have conflicting critical views of himself and his writing, the best way to get to know Chekhov is in a personal way, by delving into his work without preconceived notions. Yet now, I will review this collection and translation. First off, any Norton Critical edition is a good buy, there are always great and insightful essays about the writer and the work itself included. This is by no means a comprehensive collection of Chekhov's short stories, not even close, plenty of his better known works are not included, though plenty of them are too. Either way, this is a wonderful introduction to the writing of a very talented man. The translation itself is good in my opinion, though good translation is 'in the eye of the beholder' really, it may not be what everyone considers the best, but it is a translation that captures Chekhov's style well. I suggest that anyone really interested in finding "the best", or rather their favorite, translation of anything, simply look at different ones and compare them; the Garnett translations are all available for free online. Still, there isn't too much difference between many of the popular translations of Chekhov's short stories. I'll end this by once again commending Anton Chekhov, his writing is wonderful and unique, it will really make you think, and every story in this collection is worth reading many times over.

[Omar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dont know if this review can warrant justice to the magnificence and brilliance of Anton Chekhov. All you need to do is read one story. That's all. And you'll be finding any time possible to read each and every other remaining story. Each of the Russian greats have their talents of analyzing the human psych. For Chekhov, his is the ability to develop characters. You see it in every one of his work. And this talent enables him to delve deep into the souls of these characters, yet still maintaining fidelity in perspective. And as the reader, it is sometimes overpowering that we start questioning and developing our own character.
My one and only advice. Read it!!

[Crito · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find a lot of the time the critical portions of Norton Criticals to have quite a bit of chaff stuffed with the wheat, but this one is great; the letters are interesting, there's a good balance of close readings and broader criticism, and there isn't an excessive amount of it.
As for Chekhov himself, I'm in a tight place where I can recognize his talent but he's not quite for me.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decided to read Chekov for 'fun'...it's not that fun but I'm broadening my horizons.

[Saman Perera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! The "The Lady with the Dog" was exceptional!

[Reetwika Banerjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legendary.

[Mahmoud Adel selem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a great experience

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chekhov's short stories are just as good as his full-length plays, as far as I'm concerned.

[Countess of Frogmere · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love "The Lady with the Dog" and "Misery."

[Ethanhkelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The master of doing the most with the least.

[Zach Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a real Great Literature™ moment when reading this collection by Chekhov. I thought that maybe he was just great and ahead of his time in the context of 19th century literature. Turns out his writing is timeless.

His stories are so potent, so full of emotion, so full of love, pain, and humanity. It makes me ache. The moral tales do not moralize. The humorous or lighthearted tales make you laugh without being showy or yucking it up. The nostalgic or sad stories absolutely rip your heart out without even a whiff of sentimentality.

I don't know how to articulate it, but Chekhov is somehow able to condense the power of a full length novel into stories that are sometimes as brief as four or five pages. When he's at his best, he makes me feel like I was dropped into the middle of a novel. By that, I mean that the characters and settings and general vibe of the story are so quickly yet masterfully established that it feels like I've already read fifty pages of a novel featuring them. There is so much depth and invisible background work that he's able to create with nothing more than subtle implications.

The breadth of stories he writes, the empathy and humanity with which he crafts characters from all classes of Russian society — it approaches transcendence. His stories also do what I want all great literature to do, which is to tell meaningful and entertaining tales while also allowing me to really learn and feel what it was like to be alive at a given time and place. I've never done any serious reading on 19th century Russian society, but I feel like I've learned a ton about it — how it was organized, the social conflicts, the beliefs, the morals, the food and culture — just from this collection of thirty-odd stories.

I simply could not be more impressed with Chekhov. I know I have encountered truly great literature because I can only describe what it makes me feel and how deeply it makes me feel those things, but am at a complete loss to describe how the hell it does it. These stories feel like true, loving, intimate glimpses into real human lives across the social strata of 19th century Russia. These glimpses do not judge, do not preach, do not aim to be didactic — Chekhov, like a small god, creates little worlds that allow us to observe and come to our own conclusions.

[James F · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m on a short story binge this month, mainly because one of my friends is reading stories and I want to discuss them with her, but also to catch up on my numbers after my worst reading month in the last fifteen years.

A Norton critical edition (the first edition; there is a newer version titled more accurately Selected Stories), this book contained thirty-four of Chekhov’s short stories, in chronological order, from the early, very short comic stories like Chameleon [1884], Oysters [1884], and A Living Chronology [1885], through his “middle period” of more serious stories in the later 1880's, and his masterpieces from the 1890's, to his last two stories, The Bishop [1902] and The Betrothed [1903]. Particular highlights were The Darling [1899] and The Lady with the Dog [1899], but all of these stories are worth reading. It was I think a fairly representative selection of his best work other than the plays and longer works.

[Sanjana Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t believe it took me 30 years of my life to discover the works of Anton Chekhov. The short stories feel like modern day reels but of course with greater depth, meaning and intellect. Chekhov has a commendable ability to describe a seemingly ordinary event in a person’s life yet, leaving the readers with a deep sense of reflection and empathy. Each of the stories, however absurd and minimalist, invoked a profound emotional awareness in me about the complexities of human nature. I plan to revisit these stories from time to time as I’m convinced that they have a way of unfolding differently with each read.

[Mary Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Technically, I didn’t finish this entire book. However, I read several the introduction, several stories, and several of the analyses in the back of the book. I did not understand the stories at first. They end so abruptly, they hardly seem like stories at all. However, studying them with guidance from other authors and scholars helped me really grow to not only appreciate, but love these tales of miscommunication between common people.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. Anything y Chekhov is a true classic.
These stories give a clear insight into Russian society in the 19th century. There are no heroes, no villains; just real people leading real lives with loves, concerns and tragedies. Some, such as The Bishop, are pictures of relationships; all are exquisite.

[Bryce Doty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my bus book for the past couple months. His earlier storied are well suited for such a purpose as they are all less than five pages and my commute is quite short. I enjoyed my daily dive into Chekhov's short stories for about a month, but the prospect of inching my way, five or so pages a day through his world grew less and less appealing and I quickly finished the last ten stories in a day. And what kind of world is the world of his short stories? My first impression is it is a world of dreariness and unfulfilled or unsatisfied desire. In as much as his stories resolve, they really just resolve in a way that life resolves. Things happen. Beauty and grace burst through the commonplace. Life and death occur with plenty of injustice along the way. In riding the 15 bus, a particularly rowdy bus for Denver, I couldn't help thinking that all the myriad of riders on it would have served as character fodder for Chekhov.

[Alex Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first foray into Chekhov, and I quite enjoyed it overall. His focus on being concise and objective in portraying realistic characters (of whom many of which find themselves stratified into a life that they want to escape from) did a great job of saying much with little.

[Vessela Desheva · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing style was beautiful and exquisite, but the stories were too melancholic for my taste... Still, there was one short story I really loved - 'The Beggar'. I highly recommend it as it really warmed my heart and I greatly enjoyed the unexpected twist at the end! :)