The Beauties: Essential Stories

by Anton Chekhov, Nicolas Pasternak Slater (Translator)

New translations of the greatest stories by the Russian master of the form

Chekhov was without doubt one of the greatest observers of human nature in all its untidy complexity. His short stories, written throughout his life and newly translated for this essential collection, are exquisite masterpieces in miniature.

Here are tales offering a glimpse of beauty, the memory of a mistaken kiss, daydreams of adultery, a lifetime of marital neglect, the frailty of life, the inevitability of death, and the hilarious pomposity of ordinary men and women. They range from the light­hearted comic tales of his early years to some of the most achingly profound stories ever composed.

Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) was born in Taganrog, Russia, the son of a grocer. While training as a doctor he supported his parents and siblings with his freelance writing, working as a journalist and composing hundreds of short comic pieces under a pen name for local magazines. In his twenties he began to write major works of drama, including The Seagull, Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard, but he continued to write extraordinary short stories up until his death from tuberculosis at the age of 44.

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

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1888

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

[Adina ( not enough time ) · Rating 3 out of 5]

From A to Z around the World – R is for Russia
I made a recap of my reading in the past 2 years and I realized that I tend to read novels written mostly by American and British writers. This year I plan to read more internationally so I set a new challenge for myself. The goal is to read least a book from a country corresponding to almost each of the alphabet. I wanted to start from A but it hasn't been feasible from different reasons. Last week I read a novel from Norway and this week is time for Russia.

The Beauties is a newly translated collection of 13 stories written by Anton Chekhov and published by Pushkin Press. I have been planning to read the famous Russian short story master for some time but the occasion never seemed to arise. When I saw this slim collection on Netgalley I realized it was an opportunity I could not miss.

The plan was to write a few words about each story, a tentative which was shortly dismissed. The reason is that there isn’t much to write about the plot. Each story recalls a moment from life in Russian countryside. Nothing dramatic happens, however it doesn’t mean that I did not feel anything. I was drawn in the story, I marveled at the beautiful and simple depiction of the setting and I connected with the writer’s intent. However, after I finished reading I quickly put the stories at the back of my mind and forgot about them. None of them remained in my memory or impressed me with their power. They all are readable and contain some sort of beauty in them but are also forgettable.

Please take my opinion with a grain of salt as I am not a significant consumer of short stories and have no previous experience with Russian storytellers, only novelists.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[BookHunter M ُH َM َD · Rating 3 out of 5]

فإذا وقفت أمام حسنك صامتاً
فالصمتُ في حَرَم الجمال جمالُ
كَلِماتُنا في الحُبِّ .. تقتلُ حُبَّنَا
إن الحروف تموت حين تقال..

صورتان عابرتان فى الزمن خالدتان فى الوجدان
الأولى لحسناء ارمينية تملى حسنها بصمت تام لعدة ساعات حين كان طفلا و الأخرى لحسناء روسية كانت كطيف عابر او سحابة صيف اظلته للحظات فى محطة القطار و هو شاب.

كلتا اللقطتان استحقتا منه تأمل الحسن و الجمال الذى ينتهى حتما بالذبول و الموت.

فلسفية بامتياز.

[Pakinam · Rating 3 out of 5]

الحسناوان قصة قصيرة لتشيخوف بيوصف فيها بمنتهي الرقة والعذوبة جمال المرأة و إحساس الرجل عندما يري امرأة جميلة وقد ايه بيكون مفتون بها بس في نفس الوقت حزين لإنه يعلم إنها ليست له ولن تكون...
قليلة الصفحات ولكن معبرة جداً..

(مع إن يا تشيخوف في ستات حلوة كتير بس أول ما يتكلموا تبقي مش عاوز تشوفهم تاني:)

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anton Chekhov, who has been hailed by many as the greatest short story writer of all time, is someone I read while in university, and who, up til recently, was filed in my brain under "all memories of my reading experience are wiped clean as though it never happened" along with E.M. Forster's A Passage to India, and others. This mysterious black hole of literary amnesia disturbs me. How could I forget the greatest short story writer of all time?!

Now that I've read this newly translated collection, I sort of get how it might have happened. I read a few stories every day. And the next day, when I'd pick this up to continue reading, I had a curious experience: I couldn't remember anything about the stories I'd read previously. They had completely vaporised into nothingness.

It's not because the stories are forgettable, or irrelevant. They are just so minimalist, and deceptively simple. Deceptive because you could read them like I did on the first try, and just lazily slide past what Chekhov is saying, nothing sticking, nothing resonating. It was only on my second, more thoughtful and conscious reading of these stories that I connected to the material.

One great example of Chekhov's minimalism is found in The Beauties, a very short "story" - I use the term loosely, because it is really just two snapshots, two unrelated anecdotes in which a man describes seeing true beauty in two different women. These women are imperfect, yet enigmatically alluring. There is no plot to speak of; it's more a meditation on the mystery of beauty.

A Blunder is also a very short scene in which parents are listening in on a conversation between their daughter and her suitor, and just when they think he has made intentions to marry her, they burst in with their religious icons to seal the deal. In their haste and desperation, they make an error, and the man flees.

A few in this collection are short fables, which have didactic elements and require a certain suspension of disbelief. The Bet is such a fable. It begins with an argument about which is worse, the death penalty or solitary confinement. One man bets 2 million rubles that his friend couldn't last 15 years in solitary confinement, and what happens when the first man follows through (see what I mean about unrealistic?).

Then, there are a few longer ones that are more traditional as stories, but even in these, not a lot actually "happens". These stories are very internal and are more about the characters' state of mind and personal inner struggles. The Lady with the Little Dog is about a transformative, adulterous love. The Kiss, the most heartbreaking of the bunch for me, depicts the temporary daring, soaring hopes an accidental kiss gives a lonely officer. When meaning is stripped from a normally intimate act, it can feel very empty indeed.

All the stories share the same existential threading, with a refusal to give an easy solution. They are meaningful, and memorable, if you take the time to look - and I'm glad that I did.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[فايز غازي Fayez Ghazi · Rating 3 out of 5]

- قصة انطباعية اخرى يطغى فيها الوصف على السرد، وهذا ما يعطيها قيمتها..
- تصوير الجمال صعب، وصعب جداً اذ انه نسبي ويختلف من شخص لآخر، لكن تشيخوف قد رسم في مخيالاتنا صورة الفتاة الأرمنية والاخرى الروسية بإتقان.. واذا تبادلنا الأفكار فكلنا قد رسم على هواه.. وهذا الجمال بعينه...

[Issa Deerbany · Rating 3 out of 5]

فتاتان يصادفهما بطل القصة في اثناء تجواله.
روعة القصة في وصف الجمال لهاتين الحسناوات بشكل رائع يجعلك تشعر انك تراها بشكلها بتصرفاتها بحركتها بحديثها.
وكذلك الجمال كما هو، لو عجبك أنف او فم حسناء لوجه حسناء اخرى فأكيد ستكون قبيحة.
كل وجه له ما يناسبه ومتناسق مع الشعر والجسم.
فسبحان الله

[Duane Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The most beautiful face I have ever met in real life or in my dreams". These are the words of a young Russian describing the beauty of the young Armenian girl, Masha. She has the kind of beauty that is so striking, so absolute, that it's impossible to explain. Chekhov's extraordinary ability to give detail to the scene, to the girl, to his feelings, gives the reader a sense of what he is feeling, and gives us a sense of the beauty that he sees. This happens to him again later in life with another girl, in another place. In both instances he makes no connection, doesn't even speak, but is touched forever by the profound beauty he has seen.

[Heba · Rating 4 out of 5]

وأما عن الحسناء الأولى ، كان جمالها ساكناً وديعاً ،لا يملك قلبك أمام هذا الجمال سوى أن يتناغم في صمت ، فهو يأخذك بعيداً ويسلبك من عالمك..." كغروب الشمس " وقت الأصيل...
طيف حلم لو كان له أن يتداعى ...سيختفي كما لو لم يكن...
بينما الحسناء الأخرى كان جمالها رشيقاً ، رهيفاً وخاطفاً ، وجيب قلبك يحاول أن يلاحقه ..فهو يداهمك كلقاء " غزلان صغيرة أو شجيرات وليدة..."...
ولو كان لهذا الجمال أن يتداعى لتناثر بتلات ناعمة ..بلورات ملونة....
بنهاية المطاف...سواء هذا الجمال أو ذاك يولد شعوراً مبهماً بالحزن والأسى ، طالما "" إنه ليس لنا ولن يكون لنا ابداً.....""

[Alaa Malek · Rating 3 out of 5]

الحسناوان.. تجربة محيرة مع ملك القصة القصيرة. القصة بتعتمد على الحالة النفسية أكتر من الأحداث. هل الجمال نعمة ولا لعنة بتخلينا نحزن على حالنا؟ مكنتش واضحة بالنسبة لي أوي، لكن وصف تشيخوف للمشاعر كان دقيق وموجع. 3 نجوم لأنها قصة 'جميلة' بس 'باردة' ومحبطة للآمال.

" وكلما لاحت أكثر أمام عيني، ازداد حزني وطأة".

[smsma mostafa · Rating 2 out of 5]

تفنن فى وصف جمال المرأة والاحساس الجميل الذى تشعر به بمجرد النظر اليها ، يمكن لم أعجب بها لأنى لا أعجب بالشخصيات لمجرد أن شكلهم جميل

[Ahmed Ibrahim · Rating 3 out of 5]

ما يميز هذه القصة ليست أحداثها ولا المعنى المقصود منها، بل روعة السرد ودقة الوصف.. يقحمنا تشيخوف في عالم آخر من الجمال والرقة والعذوبة.

[عبـد الرَّحْمَٰن فَتْحــي · Rating 4 out of 5]

أعتقد أن علي كتاب عصرنا الفقراء إعادة قراءة قصص تشيكوف ليتعلموا كيفية وصف الأماكن والمشاهد والنواحي وما ترسمه الطبيعة حول الأماكن ...لوحة فنية ..فقط يرسم تشيكوف لوحة فنية بقلمه ..
وهنا علي الأخص ..رأيت انها لو كانت القصة فقط أن يصف لي تشيكوف الأماكن التي تنقل بينها..والله لكانت أعجبتني للغاية ..تلك نقطة :)

الثانية .وصف الفتاتين الحسناوين.
ما السطحي في وصف الجمال نفسه يا جماعة !
حتي أن وصف تشيكوف كان رقيقا نقيا أنيقا.
هل وصف جسد أو ماشابه ؟ ...
يكون سطحي اذا تحرك ناحية الغريزة السطحية والحيوانية..
لكن هنا أنطون لم يفعل ..
من منظور فتي في السادسة عشر من عمره ..بالطبع سينبهر بالجمال وبالحسناوات. . ستقل لي الجمال زائل
أقل لك أنه قال ذلك بالفعل :) ...

الوصفين ::

لم تخطيء الطبيعة فيه خطأا صغيراً واحداً. .ولسبب ما يخيل إليك أن المرأة المثالية الجمال ينبغي أن يكون لها أنف مثل أنف ماشا..أنف مستقيم محدوب قليلا .ومثل هاتين العينين الواسعتين السوداوين ومثل هذه الرموش الطويلة والنظرة الساهمة. وأن شعرها الأسود المموج وحاجبيها تنسجم أيضاً مع جبينها وخديها الأبيض الرقيق .كما تنسجم أعواد القصب الخضراء مع النهير الهاديء :) .
______
كان سر جمالها وسحره يكمن بالضبط في هذه الحركات الصغيرة .الرشيقة بلا حدود .وفي ابتسامتها وفي تعابير وجهها ونظراتها السريعة نحونا..وفي الجمع بين الرشاقة الرهيفة لهذه الحركات وبين الصبا والنضارة ونقاء الروح ..والذي كان يتجلي في ضحكتها. .ذلك الضعف الذي نعشقه في الأطفال والطيور والغزلان الصغيرة والأشجار الوليدة ..جمالا فراشيا تنسجم فيه أنغام الفالس وخفقان الأجنحة في البستان ...
-----------------------------------------------
لا ضرر من وصف الجمال ذاته .كما نصف الزهور والحدائق والعصافير ..

العمل رأيته نقيا للغاية ..جميلا كالصباح :)

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Only when misfortune strikes do people realise how hard it is to be master of one's own feelings and thoughts."

Quite a few obvious masterpieces in here: Grief, The Beauties, The Man in a Box, About Love, A Misfortune, The Bet, The Kiss. But nothing that isn't thought-provoking and moving in some strange, incomparable way.

[Samia chellat · Rating 3 out of 5]

سبحان الله !
حتى الحزن يكون أحيانا تعبيرا عن التأثر بالجمال !

ما أبدع أوصاف تشيخوف ..

[Fdwa Omar · Rating 3 out of 5]

الجمال سحر ،لوحة تمتزج بتفاصيلها حتى تصبح جزء منها.
والأجمل القدرة على وصف هذا الجمال بكل تفاصيله وتأثيره الذي لا ينسى..

[Amina (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a lovely short story where a young man sees a girl, thinks she's beautiful, a couple of years later, he sees another girl, thinks she's beautiful and that's it, nothing happens, twice.
What made the story interesting is its richness in feelings, the force of descriptions and the preciseness of the narrator's observation..
Light and enjoyable!

[Driss El bouki · Rating 3 out of 5]

حسنا سيقول الكثيرعن أن تشيخوف كان سطحيا في هذه القصة،وأقول أنا متى كان وصف الجمال شيئا سطحيا
فهل يمكن أن تعجبنا الوردة لشكلها أم لروحها؟
حسنا أنتم لم تسألوا يوما هل للوردة روح؟
من السطحي إذا؟
الجميل من كل هذا هو نقله لحوار الذات عن رؤية الجمال
وكيف يظلُّ المرء فاغرا فاهه أمامه
لقد أبدع فعلا في رسم هذه اللوحة الرائعة بحق

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two vignettes observing a beautiful young woman. Nothing happens just observing the effect on those around them and then a feeling of melancholy.

[Mahrous · Rating 4 out of 5]

عن الحزن والأسى اللامفهموم الذي يصيب الإنسان لرؤيته الجمال الأخاذ العابر

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

“… it seemed as though a gust of wind blowing over the platform, or a fall of rain, would be enough to wither the fragile body and scatter the capricious beauty like the pollen of a flower.”

I love Chekhov’s stories. They don’t tell you much, but his descriptions are so exacting, so unique and so powerful that you feel when you’re done reading like you’ve had an important experience.

What goes through your head when you see someone or something exceptionally beautiful? Surprise? Awe? Reverence? Desire? Chekhov tells us of two encounters the narrator had with beauty, and the reaction that surprised him, and may surprise the reader too.

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I had read any Chekhov before this. I was attracted by the beautiful cover and by the fact it is published by Pushkin Press. Boy, am I glad I read these stories. I understand why Chekhov is said to be a master of short story writing. They are all amazing. The settings, the characters, the language - it's perfect!

Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diminutive Pushkin Press editions are so hard to resist, and Chekhov's short stories had been recommended to me, so I borrowed The Beauties: Essential Stories from the library. It collects a series of elegant, compact, and anecdotal tales of nineteenth century Russian life. Some are comic, others tragic, but most include elements of both. Love, death, and how deeply annoying people can be are the main themes. There are some wonderful portraits of pomposity, as well as pathos:

My uncle quickly bent forward and sniffed at a tulip. Everything he saw delighted him and roused his curiosity, as if he had never before in his life seen a garden or a sunny day. This strange man seemed to bounce around on springs, and never stopped chattering, never allowing my mother to get a word in. All of a sudden Podedimsky appeared from behind an elder tree at a bend in the path. This was so unexpected that my uncle gave a start and took a step backwards. On this occasion my tutor was wearing his best long-sleeved cape, which (particularly from behind) made him look very like a windmill. He had a solemn and majestic air. Pressing his hat to his breast in the Spanish style, he took a step towards my uncle and bowed the way marquesses bow in melodramas - forwards and a little sideways.

This a brief collection and some stories are very short indeed, however it gave me a valuable introduction to and feel for Chekov's fiction. I enjoyed The Beauties, despite unfortunately finding Chekhov's play Three Sisters terribly dull when performed.

[Nadin Doughem · Rating 2 out of 5]

النوفيلا اسمها الحسناوان بناءاً على مصادفته لفتاتين في مرحلتين من حياة الشاب حاكي القصة.

ولكن لم يخطر ببالنا انه قد ايضاً اطال وصف الأرمني الثري ذو الملامح المنفرة.

لست على دراية بمكنون القصة ولا أملك من الثقافة الأدبية الكافية لأسبر أغوار معناها .. ولكن ربما ينسى القبيح على غرار الجميل من الحياة..

[Sonia Almeida Dias (Peixinho de Prata) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher that have provided me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

One could argue that a short story book is not as fulfilling as a full novel, however it is enough to read this book to understand that they don't even compete in the same category. Chekhov creates a full book with snippets and insights, masterfully crafted around life in rural Russia in the end of the XIX century.

There's not really a story, or characters, however the book is full of situations, moments, people, whose sole purpose is to make us think and reflect, and be taken in the direction the author wishes. It is no surprise that Chekhov also excelled as a play writer, as we can clearly visualize all the scenarios and characters portrayed.

My 2 favourite short stories were "The Man in the Box" and "The Blunder" as they were such an accurate portrait of a certain type of people that we can find them everywhere in the world, be it Russia 1800's, or Portugal in the 2000's

Highly recommended to everyone who enjoys a good classical book.

Review in Portuguese below:

https://peixinhodepratablog.wordpress...

[Ola Al-Najres · Rating 4 out of 5]

سرد جميل من تشيخوف في وصف الجمال وتأثيره في النفس، وما يمكن أن تثيره في القلب لحظة جمال خالصة من شجن وحزن وألم عذب، سواء أكان الجمال هادئاً كنسمة أو صارخاً كعاصفة، في الحالتين يترك لوعته داخلنا لأنه ليس لنا ولا بوسعنا امتلاكه …

كان حزني هو ذلك الإحساس الخاص الذي يثيره في الإنسان تأمل جمال حقيقي

[Youssef Al-Brawy · Rating 2 out of 5]

هل نال مني الغباء في قراءة هذه القصة لأنني لم أفهم المغزى منها، أم أن هذه القصة ليس لها مغزى أصلًا... لا أعلم، كل ما أعلمه في هذه القصة أن من أكثر ما أعجبني فيها هي مشاعر الحيرة التي تملكت الصبي من قرية "بلشايا كريبكايا" عندما رأى تلك الفتاة الحسناء في تلك القرية الأرمنية الكبيرة التي تسمى "بخش – صالي" حيث أنه لم يكن يعلم هل هو مبهور من شدة حُسْنِها وتناسق جسدها وتكامل مواصفاتها أم أنه أحبها، وما التفسير لشعور الحزن الذي أصابه كما أصاب جدَّه ذلك الرجل الحازم عند رؤية تلك الحسناء... كل هذه تساؤلات تبادرت إلى ذهني أثناء قراءة هذه القصة لم أجد لها إجابات محددة وواضحة، ومما أعجبني أيضًا في هذه القصة هي الترجمة فقد أحسن الدكتور أبو بكر يوسف في ترجمة هذه القصة مستخدمًا طريقة سرد رائعة وأسلوب أكثر روعة، كما أعجبني وصف تشيخوف كما هو المعتاد منه لبعض المناظر مثل منظر القرية ومنظر الغروب ودِقَّةُ ذلك الوصف الذي يأخذ القارئ إلى عالم خيالي جميل، ويجعله يسبح في بعض تخيلات الكاتب العظيم أنطون تشيخوف، فيرى بعض المناظر بطريقة أكثر جمالًا وأشد روعة من طبيعتها.

في هذه القصة بعض الكلمات والأشياء التي تعسر عليّ فهمها مثل عملية الدراس وهي عملية دوس القمح، ونوع من الخيول الذي يسمى البلق وهي الخيول التي يختلط لونها بين الأبيض والأسود، والبيدر وهو الموضع الذي يُجمع فيه القمح ونحوُه ويُدرَس بالنورج، والنورج هو حديد المحراث، والعرم وهو وسخ القِدْر، والبرغشات وهو البعوض اللَّسَّاع، ولكنني كنت سعيدًا بمعرفة كل ذلك، والتقييم: 4 من 10.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

زوايا تشيخوف في الكتابة مخيفة لكثرة ما هي حقيقية، أن يكتب عن الجمال فيتحدث عن الآسي والحزن الذي يصيب من يراه فهذه شيء مخيف.. قصة تطغي فيها الوصف علي السرد، انطباعية وحقيقية.

[Mela · Rating 3 out of 5]

An atmospheric story about the perception (and impact) of beauty.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Beauties is a wonderful short story collection, showcasing some of Anton Chekhov's best tales. I recognised a couple of the titles, but most of these were new to me; it was an absolute delight, too, to reread 'The Lady and The Little Dog'. Chekhov's writing is beautiful, particularly with regard to the descriptions which he gives of Russia. Engrossing and engaging, The Beauties is a must for anyone who is already a fan of the great master's work, or who wants to become acquainted with it.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful study of human nature-the effect of beauty on all ages-how it beguiles,heartens,makes miserable- but is never boring.The author gives only a hint of what beauty itself might be thinking-but,as always with Chekhov,the hint speaks volumes and at least the listener is chastened!