وحشی: کمدی در چهار پرده

by Anton Chekhov, پرویز شهدی (Translator)

حتا نیم‌نگاهی هم به من نمی‌کند. من زشتم، آدم قابل توجهی نیستم. هیچ چیز شاعرانه‌ای در من وجود ندارد. اگر هم روزی با من ازدواج کند، از روی حسابگری است… به خاطر پول…

آنتون چخوف (۱۹۰۴ – ۱۸۶۰) یکی از بزرگ‌ترین داستان کوتاه‌نویسان دنیاست که عمده آثارش در ایران منتشر شده است. او نمایشنامه‌هایی هم دارد که آمیزه‌‌ای از تراژدی و کمدی است و در ایران چندبار ترجمه شده و بارها به روی صحنه رفته‌اند.

این نویسنده روس حدود چهارصد داستان کوتاه و شش نمایشنامه بلند نوشت. شهرت چخوف به‌عنوان نمایشنامه‌نویس به خاطر نمایشنامه‌هاى مرغ دریایی، دایی وانیا، سه خواهر و باغ آلبالوست. بیش از هفتاد فیلم براساس نمایشنامه‌ها و داستان‌هاى وى ساخته شده است. شخصیت‌های اصلى نمایشنامه‌هاى او را بورژواهاى معمولى، ملاکان کوته‌فکر و آریستوکرات‌هاى کوچک تشکیل می‌دهند. آنها نمایانگر امیدهاى بربادرفته، فرصت‌هاى سوخته، تعلل و دل سپردن به قضا و قدر هستند. طنز تلخ مستتر در نمایشنامه‌های او از چنین مضامینی تشکیل شده و طی دهه‌های متمادی که از نگارش و اولین اجرای این نمایشنامه‌ها می‌گذرد، همچنان روزآمد و قابل تعمیم به موقعیت انسان امروز می‌نمایند.

پرویز شهدی که پیشتر نیز آثاری را از نویسندگان روس – به ویژه رمان‌هایی از داستایفسکی – به فارسی برگردانده، ترجمه‌ای تازه از نمایشنامه‌های آنتون چخوف به دست داده است.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Russia, Short Stories, Russian Literature, Theatre

198 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2015

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

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes it is worth reading the lesser-known works of a master like Anton Chekhov. Today I read The Wood Demon: A Comedy in Four Acts, which is a kind of dry run for Uncle Vanya. It did not disappoint; in fact, I loved it.

The play is named after a landowner/medical doctor named Michael Khrushchov, known to his friends and neighbors as the "Wood Demon." Of greater interest is that he is an early environmentalist who is outraged by his fellow landowners who sell their forests to be cut down so that they could afford the latest French fashions for their wives. Instead of burning wood at his house, he burns peat, which he digs up himself. In Act One, he says:

By all means cut timber if you really need it, but it's time we stopped ruining the forests. All the forests of Russia are crashing down before the axe, millions upon millions of trees perish, the homes of birds and beasts are devastated, rivers grow shallow and dry up, wonderful scenery disappears without a trace, and all because man's so lazy and hasn't the sense to bend down and take his fuel from the ground.

As such, The Wood Demon: A Comedy in Four Acts is quite contemporary in its effect.

[Shiva m · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب کاملتر نمایشنامه دایی وانیا بود با چند شخصیت بیشتر و نتیجه ای متفاوت...

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tio år före Onkel Vanja, skrevs detta familjedrama, som inte blev någon framgång, och alltså tio år senare skrev som till 'Onkel Vanja'. I 'the Wood Demon', år det fullt av karaktärer med komplicerade familjesamband. Det intressanta är Mikhail, läkaren som också äger mark, ömmar för träden, bryr sig om miljön, och försöker på sina grannar att förstå, att träden är värda att bevara, inte förstöra naturen för snöda pengars skull.

Som vanligt ser Tjechov drama, som 'mänsklig komedi'. Vilket inte alltid når fram till läsaren, i röran av tvång mellan släkt och vänner.

[_PARNIAN_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

_هر کسی حق دارد چرندیاتی بگوید، اما حق ندارد آن را خود ستایانه ادا کند.

با ادای عذرخواهی از دوستان گودریدزی‌ام، مدت زیادیه که از خوانشم گذشته و الان نمی‌دونم چه ریویی بنویسم. فقط یادمه نمایشنامه پرمایه و جالبی بود و از نمایشنامه‌های مشهورتر چخوف مثل دایی وانیا بیشتر دوسش داشتم.

[David Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play was fantastic. The more knowledgeable critics and Chekhov himself regard this early work of Chekhov's as very flawed and I have no doubt they are right but I give it five stars nonetheless because it is so brimming with energy, subtle dialogue, humor and humanistic insight. This play was later remade into Uncle Vanya which I hear is a masterpiece.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play is basically Chekhov doing an early draft of his later, sleeker heartbreak-comedies — but with more vodka, ennui, and middle-class despair.

Reading it, I kept thinking: “The guy was absolutely workshopping Uncle Vanya but didn’t want to admit it yet.” And honestly? That messy, experimental energy is half the charm.

The play spins around a bunch of emotionally constipated people stuck in the Russian countryside — classic Chekhov starter pack — all pining, complaining, philosophising, and generally refusing to get a grip.

The central conflict mixes ecological worry (Chekhov was low-key the original climate-anxiety king), unrequited love, and midlife crises that hit harder than your Monday morning alarm.

There’s this shimmering Chekhovian irony running through everything: the characters talk so much about meaning, purpose, and happiness, and yet somehow manage to sabotage their own lives like it's their full-time job.

But unlike the later masterpieces, The Wood Demon carries a lighter, almost goofy comedic rhythm. You can feel Chekhov still testing his palette — the humour is broader, the emotions are less layered, but the spark is already there.

For anyone who loves seeing an artist evolve, this play is like watching early demo tapes of a band that’s about to become iconic.

The emotional music isn’t fully mixed yet, but the melody is unmistakably Chekhov. And honestly, it’s a joy watching the chaos begin.

Recommended.

[Translator Monkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meandering dialogue; I'm not often befuddled by a "rich cast" of Russian characters, having tackled more than my share of character-stuffed Russian classics, but for some reason I found this one a task to push through. I was glad when the ride was over, and don't really have much good or terrible to say about it. I'm pleased we were eventually left with the Chekhov whose writing matured beyond this play, because the platitudes of characters waxing rhapsodic with the author's philosophical darlings grow tiresome rather quickly.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play is a precursor to Uncle Vanya, a play I adore. I wasn't such a fan of this, though. Lots of characters that I felt weren't well drawn, leading to confusion over who was whom. Chekhov usually ended his theatre pieces with ennui, but this has a patched-up, happy-ish ending that felt much too pat.

Side note: I interned at The Taper when Frank Dwyer, one of the translators, was working there. He was a lovely man and I wish I'd known at the time he'd just finished working on this.

[Georgy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable play, like most plays by Chekhov.
Shows the unhappy life of a professor's family. Him being old he remarried a young wife, while living with his deceased wife's mother and brother. Chekhov very nicely portrays the misery all of the family members experience.
The sympathetic character in the play is Leshij, who does everything in his power to save the forests, in this way being an early environmentalist!

[M. I · Rating 2 out of 5]

كان ينبغي حذف بعض الشخصيات ب، فمن الواضح أن تشيخوف لم يكن يمتلك بعد الإتقان البنيوي للحقيقة المشهدية. على الرغم من أنه بعيد عن الكمال، فمن المثير للاهتمام قراءة هذا العمل باعتباره ما قبل العم فانيا. والجمع بين الكوميديا والميلودراما هو روح الدعابة والسخرية. من الصعب تقديمه إلى المسرح.

[Juniper · Rating 3 out of 5]

a chekhov i hadn’t read. king of preventing climate change

[Mehdi · Rating 3 out of 5]

همون دایی وانیا هستش اما بدون حذفیات و اصلاحیه

[jimmy rostova]

Yelena..

[Jimgosailing · Rating 3 out of 5]

“you call me a Wood Goblin, but after all I’m not the only one, there’s a wood goblin lurking in all of you, you are all wandering through a dark wood and groping your way through life. Of If intelligence, understanding, and feeling we have only just enough to spoil our own lives and other peoples.”
- Khrushchov (3.8)

“On May 14, 1889, Chekhov wrote Suvorin:
‘The play turned out boring, pieced together like a mosaic. . . nowhere in the whole play is there a single lackey or peripheral comic character or little widow. There are eight characters in all and only three of them are episodic. As a rule I try to avoid superfluity, and I think i have succeeded.’
What Chekhov saw as a structural flaw, the play’s mosaic-like quality, would become a characteristic element of his playwriting in the future.”

FN1: Dr Khrushchov’s nickname, ‘Leshy,’ makes too diabolic an impression when translated as ‘Wood Demon.’ The mischievous sprite that the ancient Slavs and their posterity believed inhabited the forests is closer to Puck or Robin Goodfellow, in his fondness for leading travelers astray and imitating the sounds of various animals. In Chekov’s day, Russians said ‘leshy vozmi as a mild expletive, the way an Englishman might say, ‘Deuce, take it.’”

- all from Laurence Senelick’s Anton Chekhov: The Complete Plays

So interesting to read this having already read Vanya multiple times; so much has been carried over from this, but the emphasis has been amended; here is Chekhov’s play in its adolescence (a fine play), waiting for Chekhov’s maturity to catch up with him to pen Vanya.

Interesting also the shift in focus, from Khrushchov (Astrov) to Vanya (and Sonya, really) reflected in changing the title ftom The Wood Goblin to Uncle Vanya, again emphasizing Sonya’s role as it is she who makes Vanya an uncle.

3.5 stars, but only in comparison with Chekhov’s other work.

(And I always find it curious about Hemingway’s “iceberg” being attributed to him, when Chekhov was doing this in plays and short stories decades prior to Hemingway.)

[Tuomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting early version of Uncle Vanya. The plays seem very similar at first, especially act 2 is almost exactly the same; however, at the end of act 3, the story takes a completely different twist and act 4 is only vaguely reminiscent of Vanya. The ending is very different; instead of Sonya's unforgettable monologue, this ends with a stupid romantic comedy scene. Wood demon is actually supposed to be a comedy, but its serious tones make it quite unbalanced. Chekhov later wrote marvellous serious comedy in Cherry Orchard; at this point, he was just learning the trick.

You can often see a great author developing here, but comparing this with Uncle Vanya shows the difference between a pretty good play and a masterpiece. The wood demon has needless characters and subplots. Uncle Vanya had less characters, the plot was thickened and the dialogue was much sharper. It was a much more serious play. And most importantly, it had a MUCH better ending. However, many things that made Uncle Vanya such a great play can be found here, too.

Wood demon is worth reading; you don't often get a chance to read early versions of literary masterpieces, and it's interesting to see how a promising play develops into an unforgettable one. However, ONLY read this if you have read, or are planning to read Uncle Vanya. (Most people probably have read Vanya before reading this; I guess it would also be interesting to do it the other way around.)

[Julián C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Algunos personajes deberían haberse omitido por completo, es evidente que Chéjov no poseía aún dominio estructural del hecho escénico. Si bien dista de ser perfecta, es interesante leer esta obra como un pre-Tío Vania. La trama es atrapante y la combinación de comedia y melodrama es jocosa e irónica. Difícil de llevar a las tablas, bastante torpe, divertida y con pasajes bellísimos.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chekov's play THE WOOD DEMON was a failure, so he revised it. It was still a failure, so it revised so much that only trace amounts of the original can be found under its new title UNCLE VANYA. Interesting thing about THE WOOD DEMON, however: its environmental subplot just might have resonance with modern audiences.

[Zach]

The precursor to Uncle Vanya seems unpolished and cumbersome. And it is: there are too many characters and the ending is forced. There are some great turns of phrase here however, and it is interesting to see the sketches of a masterwork.

[Sjkaps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read Uncle Vanya in an earlier form, but you can definitely see how Chekhov was able to improve the play from its original form.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

human nature and environment

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5