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Stories, Volume 1 Heron Great Masterpieces of Russian Literature
The Lady with the Dog; The Horse-Stealers; The Bishop; In the Ravine; Sleepy; Ionitch; At Christmas Time; My Life; The Chorus Girl; The New Villa; The Teacher of Literature; The Witch; An Anonymous Story; The Beauties; A Transgression; Gusev; A Woman's Kingdom; Mire; Easter Eve.
470 pages, Hardcover
First published June 14, 2010
About the author
Anton Chekhov
5,810 books9,980 followers
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
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
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 22, 2024
Classics for a reason. Not that enamoured with the narrator this time but, seeing as how he also translated and edited the collection, due props.
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December 14, 2021I really enjoyed this collection of subtly funny vignettes from the life of 19th century small town Russia, even though the performer's British-Russian accent took some time getting used to. There was something odd that I didn't remember about Chekhov's stories at all, but which caught my attention this time- their climax was as subtle as their wit, and seemed to take place way before the end, or not at all.
March 27, 2018
The publisher of this volume of Chekhov's short stories is Miniature Masterpieces. I like how they put it together with a forward that gives you some insight into who Chekhov was and about the times that he lived. This may be intended for school age readers but I found it useful because this is the first time that I've read Chekhov. At the end of this volume is a four page biography along with a list his Chekhov's most famous quotes.
I enjoyed this volume and Chekhov's style of writing. The stories are short and easy to read but laden with meaning. They are at times deep and kind of sad and at other times humorous. Sometimes they are sad and humorous at the same time. Chekhov was a doctor an he considered medicine his primary calling. It seems that he brings that doctor's perspective to the human condition.
From the story Lights:
'All these thoughts of the transitoriness, the insignificance and the aimlessness of life, of the inevitability of death,of the shadows of the grave, and so on, all such lofty thoughts, I tell you, my dear fellow, are good and natural in old age when they come as the product of years of inner travail, and are won by suffering and really are intellectual riches; for a youthful brain on the threshold of real life they are simply a calamity! A calamity!' Ananyev repeated with a wave of his hand. 'To my mind it is better to have no head on your shoulders at all than to think on these lines. I am speaking seriously, Baron. And I have been meaning to speak to you about it for a long time, for I noticed from the very first day or our acquaintance your partiality for these damnable ideas.'
From the story A Story Without An End:
'Man will never understand the the psychological subtleties of suicide! How can one speak of reasons? To-day the reason makes one snatch up a revolver, while to-morrow the same reason seems not worth a rotten egg. It all depends most likely on the particular condition of the individual at the given moment...'
'Wasn't I right when I told you it was all absurd? My God! I have had burdens to bear that would have broken an elephant's back; the devil knows what I have suffered-no one could have suffered more, I think, and where are the traces? It's astonishing. One would have thought the imprint made on man by his agonies would have been everlasting, never to be effaced or eradicated. And yet that imprint wears out as easily as a pair of cheap boots. There is nothing left, not a scrap. It's as though I hadn't been suffering then, but had been dancing a mazurka. Everything in the world is transitory, and that transitoriness is absurd! A wide field for humorists! Tack on a humorous end, my friend!'
I enjoyed this volume and Chekhov's style of writing. The stories are short and easy to read but laden with meaning. They are at times deep and kind of sad and at other times humorous. Sometimes they are sad and humorous at the same time. Chekhov was a doctor an he considered medicine his primary calling. It seems that he brings that doctor's perspective to the human condition.
From the story Lights:
'All these thoughts of the transitoriness, the insignificance and the aimlessness of life, of the inevitability of death,of the shadows of the grave, and so on, all such lofty thoughts, I tell you, my dear fellow, are good and natural in old age when they come as the product of years of inner travail, and are won by suffering and really are intellectual riches; for a youthful brain on the threshold of real life they are simply a calamity! A calamity!' Ananyev repeated with a wave of his hand. 'To my mind it is better to have no head on your shoulders at all than to think on these lines. I am speaking seriously, Baron. And I have been meaning to speak to you about it for a long time, for I noticed from the very first day or our acquaintance your partiality for these damnable ideas.'
From the story A Story Without An End:
'Man will never understand the the psychological subtleties of suicide! How can one speak of reasons? To-day the reason makes one snatch up a revolver, while to-morrow the same reason seems not worth a rotten egg. It all depends most likely on the particular condition of the individual at the given moment...'
'Wasn't I right when I told you it was all absurd? My God! I have had burdens to bear that would have broken an elephant's back; the devil knows what I have suffered-no one could have suffered more, I think, and where are the traces? It's astonishing. One would have thought the imprint made on man by his agonies would have been everlasting, never to be effaced or eradicated. And yet that imprint wears out as easily as a pair of cheap boots. There is nothing left, not a scrap. It's as though I hadn't been suffering then, but had been dancing a mazurka. Everything in the world is transitory, and that transitoriness is absurd! A wide field for humorists! Tack on a humorous end, my friend!'
October 30, 2020
I am sadly coming to the conclusion that the Russian authors as just not for me (with the exception of Boris Akunen, perhaps!) These stories were interesting, but they do not resonate with me much. I did listen to them, and perhaps that was not doing them justice, and reading them would have served better. Still, there you have it. Between these and my earlier Dostoyevsky, I am done with Russian literature for a while!
July 11, 2021
I listened to the audiobook and it was fairly entertaining. In this selection of short stories from Checkhov, my favourite is Oh! The Public, I couldn't help, but feel amused at the exchange between the customer and train conductor. It reminds me of the frustration of modern day customer service. My second favourite story was Her Husband, where the wife just wanted to sleep, but the husband had an idea stuck i his head and couldn't stop 'sharing' it.
January 4, 2021
Çehov'un kalemini seviyorum. Kent'i konu alan ve insan hikayelerinden oluşan kitapta psikolojik tahliller , dönem Rusya'sında insanların yaşayış tarzı ve düşünce biçimleri ele alınmış. Yazarın gözlem yeteneği ve bunları aktarma tarzını seviyorum. Kitabın başında yazarın hayatını anlatan bölümler de çok güzeldi.
April 23, 2022
Consists of eleven stories (including “In a Strange Land”) which focus on various aspects of contemporaneous Russian culture during the twilight of the Tsarist regime … a window on the past …
December 15, 2023
Who am I to give Chekhov a lowish rating? I know!! These six stories simply did not resonate with me, not because they are dated but because I felt nothing.
April 22, 2026
Interesting stories but they are way too short!
January 1, 2009
This was a selection from Audible.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews