The Exclamation Mark

by Anton Chekhov, Rosamund Bartlett (Translator)

A civil servant stands accused of not understanding the rules of punctuation. He begins to go through the correct use of commas and semicolons before arriving at the exclamation mark, which, he realizes, in 40 years of writing, he has never used. From here he develops a bizarre and paranoid fantasy in which everyday objects transform into malevolent exclamation marks. Written when Chekhov was on the verge of becoming a literary celebrity, this is an enlightening new selection that reveals the author’s often neglected comic talents.

Contents:
The Exclamation Mark (A Christmas Story); New Year Martyrs; Competition; A Failure; On the Telephone; Kids; Grief; Conversation Between a Drunkard and a Sober Devil; The Requiem; Bliny; A Little Joke; In Springtime; A Nightmare; The Rook; Grisha; On Easter Night; A Tale; The Literary Table of Ranks; Romance With Double Bass; Superfluous People; A Little Joke (1899 revised version).

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Russia, Classics, Language

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1886

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

[Connie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the short story "New Years Martyrs" from this collection. There was too much good cheer for the civil servants starting the new year!

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

One can never have too much Chekhov in one's life. Probably the most pretentious sentence I have ever written, but still true.

Impishly observed snippets of life in a bygone age.

[عماد العتيلي · Rating 2 out of 5]

‏


Well, I’m sure now! I made up my mind: I don’t like Anton Chekhov!



I’m shocked as well!
But, you know, I read one of his most famous plays years ago, The Three Sisters, and I didn’t like it then. Now, after reading this anthology of some of his short stories, I made sure that he’s not my type! I don’t like his writing style and I don’t find his ideas that impressive!

The first story The Exclamation Mark was very good, and two more other stories were good. But most of the stories were just boring! I can’t understand why so many people love his stories that much! Maybe there is something wrong with me!

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I noticed The Exclamation Mark (Hesperus Classics, 2008) in my local library so decided to read it as a start to my Chekhov reading for 2015. It consists of twenty-one stories, all published between December 1885 and June 1886, as well as a later version of one of the stories. For the record here is the total listing:

The Exclamation Mark (A Christmas Story); New Year Martyrs; Competition; A Failure; On the Telephone; Kids; Grief; Conversation Between a Drunkard and a Sober Devil; The Requiem; Bliny; A Little Joke; In Springtime; A Nightmare; The Rook; Grisha; On Easter Night; A Tale; The Literary Table of Ranks; Romance With Double Bass; Superfluous People; A Little Joke (1899 revised version).

I wasn't sure what to expect with this collection from his early period as I'd only previously read stories from his later period. A quick look at the first story, when I was in the library, suggested that they were short frivolous pieces and some of them are just that; some of the 'stories' are little more than one page comedy sketches that were written for a comic weekly called Oskolki but there are also some surprisingly mature stories in this collection as well.

In the introduction, Rosamund Bartlett mentions that this period was significant for Chekhov as he received a letter from a fellow writer, Dmitry Grigorovich, urging him to concentrate on more serious writing. However, the comic works are still quite amusing. For example, we have the title story The Exclamation Mark (A Christmas Story) in which a civil servant goes to bed feeling insulted after a young work colleague declares that he doesn't know how to use exclamation marks properly; in New Year Martyrs we get the amusing account of another official Sinkleteyev who has collapsed in the street after making his rounds on New Year's Day drinking the health of friends, family members and colleagues; my favourite is the farcical Romance With Double Bass in which a double bass player, Smychkov, goes for a swim on a warm summer's day, meets a beautiful girl asleep whilst fishing, decides to play a prank on her which misfires. He then notices that someone has stolen his clothes. The girl also has her clothes stolen and, well, they meet up naked under a bridge, he offers to hide her in his instrument case and then promptly loses her and believes that he's inadvertently killed her...it's all very silly but funny nonetheless. I enjoyed The Kids as well; it's a five-page story that is just about a group of children alone playing cards whilst waiting for their mother to return home from a christening.

There are also two versions of the story, A Little Joke; the original version was published in 1886 and the revised version is from 1899. It's a simple and repetitive tale where the narrator encourages his reluctant fiancee to go tobogganing; when he does convince her he says in a low voice, 'I love you, Nadya!' but Nadya is unsure whether to believe her ears under the noise of the wind and the toboggan runners. Her fear of tobogganing is overcome by her desire to hear the narrator declare his love to her. The early story has an optimistic ending whilst the later version is less so. It's interesting seeing the two different versions and although there is nothing wrong with the original version I feel that the later version is better.

One of the longer stories is On Easter Night which didn't seem to go anywhere but I was more impressed with A Nightmare which centres around a businessman Kunin and the impoverished local priest Father Smirnov. Not much happens but Kunin, who is initially contemptuous of Smirnov, begins to feel compassion for the young priest.

In summary: this book contains a good variety of early stories by Chekhov.

[Ciahnan Darrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accusation rocks Perekladin’s world: he, his accuser sneers, doesn’t understand the rules of punctuation. Enraged, Perekladin sits down to justify himself, outlining the rules for commas and semicolons, and running face first into the realization that he has never once used an exclamation point in forty years of writing. Suddenly the world is rife with vicious, changelings, exclamation marks disguised as mundane objects and bent on Perekladin’s torture.

Short, bizarre, and darkly comic, The Exclamation Mark presents an opportunity to read a novella Anton Chekhov wrote before he became famous, and discover that his range was even greater than we imagined.

The book is unique and fun, but more entertainment than nourishment. 3.75/5

[Dushan Hanuska · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book as it was referenced in Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation that I read earlier. I really enjoyed all short stories, Chekhov's humor and the way he uses the language to convey the story. Plus, I kept my eye on hoe the punctuation marks are used.

[Wei Lun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps not the best way to get acquainted, but this short story collection was my introduction to Chekhov. The strongest impression I got of Chekhov's writing was his incisiveness, using Russian society and characters as a foil for the human experience in general.

I particularly enjoyed the humor frequently featured in his writing, from his jibes at the sycophantism and expediency of civil servants in 'The Exclamation Mark' and 'Conversation between a Drunkard and a Sober Devil'; to the slapstick in 'Romance with Double Bass'; to the ridiculous elevation of the Russian dish bliny (a type of pancake) to a mystical object essential to Russian society.

A touch of sentimentality also recurs in this short story collection. The despair of a grieving father who's recently lost his son comes through poignantly in 'Grief'. And one can't help but wonder from the nostalgia in the ending of 'A Little Joke (1899 revised version)' if this mischievous story was in fact an episode from Chekhov's own youth.

In any case, this tantalizingly short short story collection has left me curious to read more of Chekhov's writing, which I will try to do soon!

[Asiuol K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought Chekhov would be too advanced for me, but this is actually a fun book. There are some funny stories, some sad stories, and others that just discuss Russian life during that time. There's a story that's literally just a character trying to make a phone call. Everything is just bloody brilliant.

[Forked Radish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good punctuation tips!

[kimberly_rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

3.5 overall, but the majority of the stories had me glazing over, so I had to knock the rating down a bit.

"On the Telephone": ah, how new technology frustrate us, no matter what era we are born to; a laugh-out-loud story

"Conversation Between a Drunkard and a Sober Devil" and "The Exclamation Mark": creative, fun, colourful, and full of unique, stimulating thoughts

"A Nightmare": a story that was humourous yet not so much so that its sharp social point was dulled

The title story:

...filled me with a mixed response. After reading another reader's response, I was struck by a psychological truth: we may all understand a story at the same nomothetic (general) level--that's how we can discuss it and know we are all talking about the same story--but how wide the difference in our response at an idiographic (individual/specific) level--that's when the book discussion gets white-hot and personal, that's when I rate it one and my friend rates it five! I thought the story was about the man's self-insight that he has created his own excitement, no matter how tedious and dull his job, while the other reader thought the job itself was worthy of exclamation marks. Speaking of understanding...

Perhaps it is just my literary fiction illiteracy (I'm trying!) or maybe I'm just intrinsically gauche, but I don't understand why the majority of the punctuation in "The Exclamation Mark" is so atrociously wrong! Is it supposed to be part of a joke? or maybe it's metaphoric? ironic? I mean, what is "..?" and "!.."? And those are only two of many examples.

The rest:

...were unremarkable, leaving me dispassionately uninterested.

[g026r · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of primary interest to confirmed Chekhov fans or those interested in his development as a writer. Despite the short period covered — Dec. 1885 – June 1886 — a vast improvement in form, style, and content can be seen between the earliest works published in Fragments, and the later ones published in St. Petersburg papers.

The former are at best humorous but slight, and at worst merely slight. The latter, though perhaps not as accomplished as his more celebrated, later stories, show a degree of sensitivity and insight not found anywhere in the Fragments pieces. (A much later rewriting of one of these stories is appended to the collection, providing a ready contrast between Chekhov the relative newcomer, and Chekhov the literary giant.)

A must for the English-speaking Chekhov devotee, due to the prior unavailability of many of these works in that language, but likely not the best introductory collection for the uninitiated.

[Kassie Borreson · Rating 4 out of 5]

i've only recently fallen in love with some of the great russian masters, after reading two short stories of there's within the last 6 months. in paris, we stumbled upon 'shakespeare and co.' and i felt compelled to buy something. if not for the cool stamp on the inside cover, than just to support them. the first author that came to mind was chekhov. the selection was a tad limited, but i ended up with this small collection of short stories. so far, though, i'm enjoying it quite a bit.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Exclamation Mark' is a collection of just over twenty short essays, by a master of that genre Anton Chekhov.
Most of these compositions are just a few pages in length, one or two are just half a page, all but two date to 1886.
Strange little tales from Anton that often left me with a wry smile. Sadly, although he was a qualified doctor, tuberculosis took him in 1904, aged just 44.

[Sophie]

Odd, but enticing. A Christmas gift from my dad.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful collection of short stories that points out the absurdities in life.

[Karena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This particular collection was interesting, but I was less than enthusiastic in reading a lot of them. I enjoyed About Love better.