Die besten Geschichten

by Anton Tschechow

Tschechows Erzählkunst sucht in der Geschichte der russischen Literatur ihresgleichen: meisterhaft und wunderbar leicht, abwechselnd komisch und bitterernst, stets um die Veränderung der russischen Lebenswirklichkeit am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts bemüht.

Dieser Band versammelt zwanzig der schönsten Erzählungen des großen russischen Dichters, von frühen Werken wie „Wanjka“, „Die Austern“. „Der Tod des Beamten“ bis zu den späteren wie der berühmten „Dame mit dem Hündchen“ und „In der Schlucht“. Er spiegelt so die ganze Bandbreite seines einzigartigen literarischen Schaffens.

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

396 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

Variant spelling of Anton Chekhov

Reviews

[Afreen Khalid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Russian authors – Anton Chekhov is no exception. To be a good writer, one must understand the human condition, and Chekhov recognizes all it’s subtleties and absurdities. He describes his work as follows: “All I wanted was to say honestly to people: "Have a look at yourselves and see how bad and dreary your lives are!”

My favourites from this edition:


1. The Bet:

I first read this story as a child in school and always thought that it would be wonderful to be locked in a room full of books for years. The ending, now like before, disappointed me. But this still remains one of my favourite short stories of all time.


2. Lady With The Toy Dog

“He had two lives; one obvious, which every one could see and know, if they were sufficiently interested, a life full of conventional truth and conventional fraud, exactly like the lives of his friends and acquaintances; and another, which moved underground. And by a strange conspiracy of circumstances, everything that was to him important, interesting, vital, everything that enabled him to be sincere and denied self-deception and was the very core of his being, must dwell hidden away from others, and everything that made him false, a mere shape in which he hid himself in order to conceal the truth, as for instance his work in the bank, arguments at the club, his favourite gibe about women, going to parties with his wife—all this was open. Every man’s intimate existence is kept mysterious, and perhaps, in part, because of that civilised people are so nervously anxious that a personal secret should be respected.”

3. Misery
A scathing tale which portrays the limits of human empathy and the animal indifference with which we treat people who aren’t blood relations.

4. Ward No. 6
Vladimir Lenin said that this story made him a revolutionary. That aside, this was a wonderful philosophical commentary on the pitfalls of complacency and the struggle between fighting for social justice while also making peace with terrible situations

5. A Lady’s Story
A heart-wrenching story about regret, lost opportunities and the futility of social divides.

“I thought of the past, and all at once my shoulders began quivering, my head dropped, and I began weeping bitterly. I felt unbearably sorry for myself and for this man, and passionately longed for what had passed away and what life refused us now. And now I did not think about rank and wealth."

[Milo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chekhov was a revolutionary in the way short stories are written and he was one of the first to concentrate on a characters journey and not on his goal. The point of a typical Chekhov story is most often what happens within a given character, and that is conveyed indirectly, by suggestion or by significant detail. Chekhov eschews the traditional build-up of chronological detail, instead emphasizing moments of epiphanies and illumination over a significantly shorter period of time. As such, his best stories have a psychological realism and conciseness seldom matched by other writers.

[A. M. Faisal · Rating 5 out of 5]

একজন জীবনশিল্পীর সার্থকতা জীবনের রং-রূপ সৃষ্টিতে, চরিত্রচিত্রণে - কাহিনীবিন্যাস গৌণ মাত্র।

লেখকের সৌকর্য বিবেচনায় যদি এই কথাটি মেনে নিই, তবে আন্তন চেকভ ডিস্টিংশনসহ উৎরে যাবেন। খুব সরল, সাধারণ জীবনের টুকরো টুকরো ছবি। কিন্তু অসাধারণ অন্তর্দৃষ্টিসম্পন্ন। চেকভের মাহাত্ম্যটাই এখানে যে, তিনি অতিসাধারন কোন কিছু আড়ম্বরে প্রচার করতে চাননি। লিখে গেছেন, তৎকালীন রাশিয়ার বিভিন্ন শহরের ছোট ছোট ঘটনা নিয়ে। চরিত্র নিয়েছেন সামাজিক শাসক গোত্র থেকে নিচুতলার মানুষ - সবাইকে।

তিনি ভাববাদে আক্রান্ত ছিলেন না - এই বিষয়টা প্রতিটি গল্পেই মনে হয়। বেঁচে থাকার নির্মম সংগ্রামই মানুষের জন্য চরম বাস্তবতা-এই বাণী চিৎকার করে প্রায় সব গল্পে। আর এই জিনিসটা প্রকাশ করতেই তিনি এঁকেছেন বৈষম্যের ছবি, রঙ ফুটিয়েছেন মোহ-ভালোবাসার মতো অনেকগুলো আবেগের ও সামাজিক রীতির অন্তঃসারশুন্যতায়, রূপ দিয়েছেন হতাশা আর নিরানন্দে ভরা কিছু প্রায় উপেক্ষিত আবেগকে।

'কুকুরওয়ালি নারী'র গল্পে এক তীব্র বেদনার পাশাপাশি আমরা দেখি সামাজিক প্রতিবন্ধকতা নিয়ে হতাশা। মানুষের সংবেদনহীনতা আর প্রদর্শন-সর্বস্ব আচরণের প্রতি উপহাস দেখা যায় 'ছোট মাছি', 'শ্রাদ্ধ', 'দুর্দশা', 'বড়দিনে', '৬ নম্বর ওয়ার্ড', 'এক ইংরেজ মেয়ে', 'একটি লাশ', 'এক গ্রামের কুঁড়েঘর', 'এক শিল্পকর্ম', 'অয়েস্টার' গল্পে।

আবার, 'বাজি' গল্পটিতে একটি উদ্ভট বাজি নিয়ে যে গল্প ফাঁদা হয় তা দিয়ে চেকভ চেয়েছেন মানুষের জীবনের অনেক কাজের মূল্যহীনতাকে সামনে আনতে। সফল হয়েছেন কিনা সেটা পাঠকের উপর ছেড়ে দিতে হয়।

শাসক-শাসিতের মাঝে পার্থক্য ও দূরত্বকে বুঝাতে তিনি লিখেছেন 'একজন অপরাধী', 'মোটা ও পাতলা', 'কেরানীর মৃত্যু', 'এক মহিলার গল্প'। অন্যদিকে, হিপোক্রেসি নিয়ে 'গিরগিটি', 'খুন', 'কেরানীর মৃত্যু'। প্রান্তিক জনগণের দুঃখ-দুর্দশা নিয়ে 'ভাঙ্কা', 'গ্রামে এক দিন'। প্রেমাবেগ নিয়ে নারীজাতিকে কিঞ্চিৎ কটাক্ষ করে 'এক মহিলার গল্প', 'থিয়েটারের পর', 'পেট পাতলা'। ধর্ম নিয়ে সামান্য রা করার জন্য 'খুন', 'শিরোনামহীন গল্প', 'শ্রাদ্ধ', 'বাজি', 'ছাত্র' গল্প। মানবতার গল্প 'দ্য ডার্লিং'।

আর গভীর জীবনদৃষ্টির জন্য 'খাঁচার ভিতর মানুষ', 'গুজবেরিস', '৬ নম্বর ওয়ার্ড', 'বাজি', 'রথশাইল্ডের বেহালা'।

চেকভে আছে কিছু অভাগা মানুষের গল্প, আছে না পাওয়ার কষ্ট, আছে উঁচুশ্রেণীর তৃপ্তির ঢেঁকুর এবং সেই সাথে গভীর জীবনবোধ। এই সব মিলিয়েই চেকভের ছোট গল্প।

আরেকটি জিনিস যা চেকভকে আলাদা করে তা হল, পরিবেশ ও চরিত্রের বেশভূষার বর্ণনা। প্রকৃতির বর্ণনাতে তিনি আন্তরিক, আর মানুষের কথা বুঝাতে তীক্ষ্ণ নজরওয়ালা। এই ছাপই হয়তো বিভূতিতে আমরা আরো মায়াকাড়া উপায়ে পাই। ঘটনার বিস্তারেও দেখা যায় চেকভের আপন এক গতিময় ভঙ্গিমা। যদিও তা ইংরেজি অনুবাদকের ধারা কিনা জানা নেই। তবে এটা পাঠকের দৃষ্টি আকর্ষণ করবে। টানা ছোট ছোট বাক্যাংশ দিয়ে অবস্থার বর্ণনা। অদ্ভুত বৈকি!

ব্যক্তিগত প্রিয়ঃ '৬ নম্বর ওয়ার্ড', 'একটি রসিকতা', 'বাজি', 'মোটা ও পাতলা', 'ভাঙ্কা' (২০১৪ সালে এই গল্পের ছায়া অবলম্বনে কেরালা রাজ্য চলচ্চিত্র পুরষ্কার পাওয়া ছবি হয়েছিল। Ottal), 'গিরগিটি'।

Morality and logic don't come in, it all depends on chance. If anyone is shut up he has to stay, and if anyone is not shut up he can walk about, that's all. There is neither morality nor logic in my being a doctor and your being a mental patient, there is nothing but idle chance.
- Ward №6

It's the correct thing to say that a man needs no more than six feet of earth. But six feet is what a corpse needs, not a man.... -- it's not life, it's egoism, laziness, it's monasticism of a sort, but monasticism without good works. A man does not need six feet of earth or a farm, but the whole globe, all nature, where he can have room to display all the qualities and peculiarities of his free spirit. - Gooseberries

[Lesle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bet by Anton Chekhov is one of six stories (first published 1889)

So much in so little.

The Bet is made between a wealthy banker and a opinionated and smart lawyer of 25, over living 5 years in solitary imprisonment, a much better life than death (capital punishment). On the chance the lawyer would survive, a 2 mils bet from the banker.

The prisoner spent his time reading and throwing himself, as we tend to do into books we love, into the main plots of his readings. Spending time away and learning a great deal. Learning that the wisdom and the understanding of life is much more important, stronger.

The irony? Wealthy Banker is broke at the end and the Lawyer is now a prisoner who usually keeps people out of prison and adds 10 more years to the bet, losing to a broken down, pathetic aged man of 40 and gives up the bet for a better life learned.

Remorse and guilt lie at the end of this unwise bet.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Chekhov.

We never read Chekhov in high school. Or college. Why? Why did no teacher share the wonder that is Chekhov with me?

This is a short collection of stories, seven of them, read by Stephen Fry, and it includes An Avenger, A Blunder, Boys, The Huntsman, The Lady with the Dog, Misery, and Oysters. Chekhov starts right in with the action, with characters in trouble; all the extraneous material has been sliced away, leaving only the important. The stories are as mesmerizing as any I've ever heard before, with boys threatening to run away and doing so, with an estranged couple, with a starving man and his son nearing a restaurant, and more...I already want to read these again.

[Readers Bay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bless the day I changed my major to literature and was introduced to this one hell of an amazing writer!!! Recommended to everyone!

[Shabby -BookBistroBlog · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bet.
I had read this book in school and now picked it up again.
Fabulous Fact Finding tale of a modern society dilemma that started with a clash of opinions and ended on an ascetic high note. Wisdom is the main character which jumps from naivete of Five and twenty years of age. A green behind the years novice gets roped in on a bet, whereby he accepts to relinquish 15 years of his life to voluntary solitary confinement in exchange for 2 million dollars from a banker in 1870.
By 1885 a few hours before the bets ending, he gives up on his own volition, having been through the world via books. He has explored geography, history, theology, literature, music, gospels and languages. Lived in the virtual world. Watched through filigree of words the soul of the world around him.
This has now tested his patience and faith. His view and perspectives clash leaving him disheartened and disappointed.
I think it proves the motive of THE BET in the first place

"Capital punishment kills a man at once, but lifelong imprisonment kills him slowly. Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in the course of many years?”

A man's unbridled thoughts snatch his mental stability. We need other humans as a necessary lever of checks and balances. One sided delusional viewpoint destroys the mind ultimately.
5 stars for insanity resides within our minds
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[BarbaraW · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this is the best if his writing I would hate to spend time on the worst. Ok. Lot of gloom, darkness of spirit and death. Not a page turner and I had high expectations but there you go.

[Mohammed omran · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتب إدواردو جاليانو عن أنطون تشيخوف أنه"كتب كمن لا يقول شيئا، وقد قال كل شيء".
تضحكين، تضحكين فقط، لا تفعلين شيء غير الضحك وتكوني قد فعلت كل شيء. كل شيء جميل. ضحكتِك كل الأشياء الجميلة.
كان رحمانينوف-الموسيقار الروسي- يخجل وهو صغير من طول أصابعه، ولكنه، لما كبر، كان طول أصابعه هو أكثر ما ساعده في عزف البيانو، ليخلق أعظم الأعمال الموسيقية.
موسيقاه كانت ليل وديع، جلسة سمر حلوة، وفيها مسحة حزن البحث عن الضائع والمفقود.
أنتِ جميلة دون شيء، ولو لم تكوني شيء. أنتِ كل شيء.
أحب شاعر اسمه روبرت ديسنوس، كان يقول: كم هو غريب وبسيط كل شيء. كم هو غريب وبسيط جمالك. في واحدة من قصائده كان يقول:
في الليل
هناك
عجائب الدنيا السبع.
في الليل
لا توجد ملائكة حراس،
ولكن هناك نوم.
في الليل
هناك أنتِ
وفي النهار أيضًا
هناكِ أنتِ.
أنتِ هناك دائمًا. كل ما تخجلين منه هو جميل فيك. أنتِ جميلة لأنك أنتِ. تتقدمين في الأيام كما لو أنك تصغرين. واسع ظلك. أخضر يانع قلبك. جمالك وديع وثابت، لا كريستال لامع وزائف. جائزة كبرى، ودافئة كما نار لحبيس في الجليد. هناك مثل صيني يقول: عرفان بنقطة ماء لا يكون إلا بينبوع. جمالك معروف، معروف كبير، صنيع طيب. كيف يمكن العرفان به، إذا كان هو ينبوع؟

[whasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very nice short stories but also some very puzzling stories - fun to read tho

[Nihal · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” - Anton Chekov

This book contained the greatest short stories written by Anton Chekov. Some stories were really good, but some weren’t as compelling as the others. Stories like The lady with the toy dog and The murder were really nice; but at the same time, stories like Small Fry were really boring. Nevertheless, I liked reading the stories given in the book; and I finally understood why Chekov was known as the most famous short story writer in the 19th Century.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best short stories I've ever read, I'll give this a 6-star if I could. Comprises snapshots of russian rural life in the 19th century, poignant and full of humanity, yet so concise that you always lament that the stories end the way they do and crave for more. Not as spiritual and profound as Dostoyevsky's and Tolstoy's finest creations, but remarkable in its plot twists and mastery of human nature.

[Christine Covil · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories feel light and airy but they are in fact complex, unearthing a pivotal moment in a character's life. A rich tapestry of emotions sometimes explored through an internal monologue takes the character and the reader through a change. There is almost no preamble, no setting up of place or persons, this incredible author is able to find the words to take the reader straight into character and almost straight to the point.

[Ben Tipper · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get through much of this at all. The description attached to this book sets you up for writing that is truly magical. But then you get a couple of pages of antiquated jokes and characters and that is supposed to be the "story". Some of the stories get longer further in, but I didn't make it that far.

[Sham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poor translation ruined everything. Waste of money.
:(

[Natascha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eine langweilige Geschichte, Das Duell, Erzählung eines Unbekannten. Letztere am besten, erstere tut das, was sie verspricht. 3.5

[Nicolay Hvidsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think Murakami's are better 🤷‍♂️

[Raunak Milton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always wanted to read more of Anton chekov due to the story I had read called the bet , in my school... So I got this chance to read and most of the stories are tragic and nihilistic. But there are certain favourites of mine, such as the happy man and the orator which I really enjoyed because of their satire.

[Medha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars actually.

This is a very unique collection of short stories because Anton Chekhov does not follow the conventional idea of a story. There isn't usually a plot to speak of or a twist at the end. What makes these stories interesting is how they portray the human predicament. Taking ordinary situations such as meeting a childhood friend or an ex-husband, a woman reminiscing about the days of her youth or an old man taking a walk through the country with two orphans, he describes them with such poignance and simplicity that you just can't help feeling touched. Of all the stories, Ward No. 6 and The Bet were especially moving.

The flaws I found with the book can probably be owed to its translation. I found my attention wandering at times as the prose tended to be bland and a little tiresome.

[Emily D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed almost all these stories, the realism in them and their emotional effect. In many of the stories (Ward No.6, The Lady with the Dog, The Darling for example) I could feel the despair and frustration of the characters and even permeated throughout the setting. Chekhov portrays his characters so intimately that I often found myself sympathizing with them despite disliking them. The realism is so vivid that I found it frequently repulsive and yet relatable.

I liked this quote from The Student:

"And joy suddenly stirred in his soul, and he even stopped for a minute to take breath. "The past," he thought, "is linked with the present by an unbroken chain of events flowing one out of another." And it seemed to him that he had just seen both ends of that chain; that when he touched one end the other quivered."  

[Daniel Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read that Faulkner enjoyed reading Chekov and that's why I read this book. I was disappointed, I expected more. Maybe I missed stuff that an English Lit. prof would have shown me. I didn't like coping with Russian names I had trouble pronouncing, I didn't understand Russian customs or Eastern Orthodox Christian practices, and I wonder what was lost in translation from the Russian vernacular to English. Frequently his last sentences ending the stories seemed out of the blue--leaving me perplexed. I did appreciate Chekov's talent to sketch evocative and/or clever stories in just a few pages. This collection has twenty-three stories, some sad and depressing, some humorous, some with surprise twists of humor and/or irony, the latter is what I imagine appealed to Faulkner. The stories that I liked most were The Bet, A Story Without a Title, Tripping Tongue, A Joke, and a Work of Art.

[Matt Lanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find Chekhov's writing (or perhaps just this translation of him) more accessible and readable than what little Dostoevsky and Tolstoy I have tried to read. Chekhov is most at home when describing or analyzing the feelings of his characters, their motivations, or their internal reactions to the people and events in their lives. His ability to reveal raw emotion without making it seem contrived or exaggerated is brilliant, and makes for engaging reading despite each story progressing rather slow in terms of plot. I was impressed how progressive and thoughtful his work is, even by modern standards (especially in "Peasants" and "Ward No. 6") considering he was writing in the 1890s. It is easy to see how he influenced Lenin and became one of Russia's most celebrated authors.

[Ananta Regmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anton Chekov is one of the revolutionary writers in the sector of romanticism. When I was in class 12, I was in love with the story about love. Does love has always a sad ending? I am confused in my teenage time. When I read the story of Anton Chekov most of the stories have a sad ending. In the story Ariadne how Ivan Shamokhin travels with Ariadne in search of true love in Europe. we can found the flavor of travel, love, romance, emotions, craziness in Chekov this book.
My favorite character with whom I fell in love was Dr. Andrey Yefimitch Ragin from ward no.6.

[Arun Sankar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chekov's command over the genre of short fiction is evident through the entirety of the collection. From the lady with a little dog to a country cottage, each of the stories were truthful depictions of Russian life and its characteristic traits. At the end of the collection, I couldn't stop wondering how beautifully well had he portrayed a vivid image of Russian characters through his words. Anton Chekov is irrefutably one of the best short story writers ever lived on this planet.

[Kelsey Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read "The Lady and the Dog", "Rothschild's Fiddle", and "The Fiance" for my Russian Literature class. While of course I still have all the rest of Chekov's short stories to read I am marking this as read. :) Stone me later.

[wirrow wirrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

my first brush with Chekov and I mostly just can't believe how funny he is

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Characterization / Russian

[Mohib · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved most of the stories, but some more than others. I like the subtle humor.

[Runsheng Li · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a big hmmmm

[Charlotte (The Writers' Crown) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great stories in here.
Favourites were:
The Bet
Misery
Ward No. 6
The Looking-Glass
The Murder
A Lady's Story
A Work of Art
A Joke (I think this might have been my favourite?)