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The Grasshopper

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"Все это было бы смешно, когда бы не было так грустно", - это, пожалуй, лаконичная и точная характеристика гениальных рассказов Антона Павловича Чехова, величайшего писателя, публициста и драматурга, которого и по сей день знают и любят во всем мире. Тонкий юмор, язвительный сарказм и вместе с тем трогательная до нежности чуткость ко всякому человеческому переживанию - отличительные черты произведений Чехова, неважно, написаны ли они в форме короткого рассказа или пьесы.

35 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 20, 2020

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About the author

Anton Chekhov

5,893 books10.1k 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

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
Profile Image for Rana.
396 reviews62 followers
July 11, 2026
أولجا فنانة في الثانية والعشرين من عمرها ، أما ديموف فهو طبيب يبلغ الحادية والثلاثين ، يعمل في مستشفيين ودخله متواضع جداً

الشخصيتان مختلفتان تمام الاختلاف
فديموف إنسان هادئ ورصين ومخلص ، بينما أولجا شخصية متقلبة لا تقدر قيمة الشخص الذي معها ولا الحب الذي يقدمه لها

كان كل همها أن تقترب من المشاهير والفنانين وأن تكون جزء من عالمهم
شخصية منبهرة بالمظاهر أكثر من اهتمامها بالجوهر

ومن وجهة نظري ، كانت أولجا شخصية متقلبة لا تؤتمن ، لا تقدر قيمة الأشياء ولا قيمة الأشخاص إلا بعد فوات الأوان

واقعية لكن لم تعجبني بشكل كافي ..
Profile Image for user061219.
141 reviews
January 30, 2022
Starfucker wife takes her gentile husband for granted and leaves him for an artist but when she realizes all artists are supremely annoying she tries to flee only to realize her obsession with fame is the PERSONIFICATION of annoying and now she has to pay for it BIG TIME.
Profile Image for TarasProkopyuk.
686 reviews108 followers
March 8, 2016
Порой мы чрезмерно увлечены и мечтаем о том, чего у нас нет и при этом не замечаем того, чего давно уже имеем но не ценим...

Самое грустное, что хуже всего, когда это касается человеческих отношений... трагичней всего, когда любви...

Чехов мастер, который в своём замечательном рассказе лаконично изобразил пример такого невежества.
Profile Image for Forked Radish.
4,299 reviews87 followers
June 27, 2021
. . . Then a giant grasshopper devoured them all, just as a gerbil eats sunflower seeds. Actually, a better translation of the title is "The Fidget" or "bouncy girl" or "jumper" or maybe Floozy?
Profile Image for Lourdes.
58 reviews7 followers
July 14, 2024
Me recordó a la Bovary de Flaubert y a la Dama de las Camelias de Dumas. La vida ordinaria, la sencillez, la simpleza... No siempre son superfluas. La grandiosidad no siempre se encuentra en la fama y las extravagancias. Es un cuento muy relevante en el mundo de hoy. En la era de la pseudo influencia.
Profile Image for Farah.
20 reviews
December 28, 2012
Wonderful portrayal of vanity, social corruption and mankind's futile aims toward worldly happiness.
Profile Image for Ahmed K-masterly {Cruel Sanity}.
370 reviews22 followers
May 14, 2020
بأسلوب عذب وساخر ، اخاذ وشاعري، حزين، خال من الكُلفه و الزخرف اللغوي والحشو البلاغي، قدم تشيخوف جوهره صغيره أدبيه، شبيهة "آنا كارنينا" لتالستوي ، ومهما كانت: قصه قصيره او مسرحيه، فهي نتاج قلم عظيم، مثلت الكثير من مشاكل الذي يرقد عليها المجتمع غير مدرك بهول القباحه الكامنه، ناقش الخيانه وهوس الجماهير المزيفه وعبادة المشاهير، العشق المزيف والوفاء الدائم، صور كثيره من الصعب حشرها في مؤلف أدبي صغير، لكن هذه هي هنا.
سمعت عن هذه القصه الكثير، حتى من اصدقائي فقد تبين ان المسرحيه معروفه على المستوى المحلي والكثير من معاهد التمثيل والمسرح قائمين على تقديم بروفات واداءات متقنه بعروض ايضاً، ما شجعني على قراءتها بشكل أسبق، رغم أن المجلدات الاربع التي تحوي المؤلفات الكامله لتشيخوف لم تكن تحوي على "الجراده" لكنِ قد وجدتها في كتاب اخر لمجموعه أخرى من ترجمة "خالد حسين" وهرعت لأنهائها.
In a sweet and cynical style, captivating and poetic, sad, free of cost, linguistic decoration and rhetorical filling, Chekhov presented a small literary essence, no matter how short or theatrical story, it is the product of a great pen, which represented many of the problems that lie on society unaware of the horror of the underlying ugliness, Discuss betrayal, obsession with fake audiences, celebrity worship, fake adoration and permanent fulfillment, many images that are difficult to be crammed into a small literary author, but this is here.
Profile Image for Niradhip.
41 reviews2 followers
August 26, 2016
'The Grasshopper’ is another mind-boggling story by Anton Chekhov. The story is based on post marital affairs by Olga Ivanovna, the female protagonist. Dymov the male protagonist and husband of Olga was a very gentle man and love his wife more than anything else in the world. Being introvert, he couldn't show his love to olga and may be this went against him. Olga fell in love with Ryabovsky, the artist. She found all the material happiness at Ryabovsky’s arms and continued cheating her husband. Nothing last forever, Dymov gradually understood it but choose not to create a scene out of it. Meanwhile Ryabovsky had decided to move on and insulted Olga. She understood her faults and thought to come out from the illusion and return back to her husband. Alas! It was too late; Dymov was his last stage and fighting against death. Soon he expired. Olga realized her fault but never get a chance to apologize and live rest of her life with the unbearable guilt. The message is clear, we never understand them who love us more than anything else and when realization happens they traveled so far away that nothing can be done.
Profile Image for Perla ✨.
262 reviews26 followers
January 10, 2024
"Yo no los comprendo, pero no comprender no significa rechazar."

"El pasado era trivial y aburrido, el futuro no tenía importancia, mientras que esta divina noche, única en la vida, iba a terminar pronto, diluyéndose en la eternidad. ¿Para qué vivir entonces?"

Relato corto que narra la historia de Olga Ivanova, una joven pintora que se casa con un médico modesto. Ella, una mujer caprichosa y superficial, se encuentra atraída por el mundo de los artistas. Él en cambio es un hombre trabajador pero que no comparte ni comprende la pasión de su esposa por ese mundo.

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Libro leído en el mes de Diciembre de 2023 para el Pequeño gran club de lectura.
11 reviews
September 30, 2020
Classical 'dont know what you've got till its gone'.
The disturbing aspect is the lack of pity or love for Osip that Olga has even in the end, only reserved for herself in the loss of what would be the jewel of her collection of shining stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Riaz Ujjan.
233 reviews4 followers
June 27, 2019
The walls, the ceiling, the lamp and the carpet winked at her mockingly, as if they wished to tell
her: ‘You’re too late! You’ve missed your chance!’
Great story.
Profile Image for LLOLL.
7 reviews
March 6, 2025
Бывает кажется, что твоя правда и твои интересы правдивее и интереснее всех других чужих. Это говорит в тебе попрыгунья.
Profile Image for Imad Koujii.
23 reviews12 followers
July 2, 2026
No wonder Anton Chekhov is considered a genius. The way he managed to evoke such powerful emotions in such a short story is absolutely remarkable. His portrayal of how people tend to underestimate the value of others simply because they don't share the same outlook on life is incredibly moving. I think Olga finally understood that you never truly know the value of something or someone until you've lost it.
Profile Image for Vedika.
144 reviews2 followers
January 22, 2026
Man! Dymov is too good for Olga.

Basically, Dymov and Olga are married. Dymov is very much in love with Olga. Olga, though, seems to only see her husband as a kind, generous, "magnanimous" man.

Olga, according to me, seems to be pretty self-centred. She is passionate about the arts and is described to be highly talented. Olga is also a very social, outgoing woman, particularly to seek out celebrities and make them her close friends and acquaintances. She hosts parties at her house every week wherein she invites her famous friends and they collectively indulge in artistic pursuits.

Things get messy when Olga gets romantically involved with one such close friend of hers, Ryabovsky, a fellow artist. They both have an affair and Dymov eventually realises this. Despite the awareness of his wife's disloyalty, Dymov continues to be good to her, forgive her, and encourages her to let the things of the past remain in the past.

Olga, though, does not make any efforts to ammends. She tells herself she will be loyal to her husband and proceeds to meet Ryabovsky. However, Ryabovsky soon becomes irritable at her presence. Olga is convinced that he does not love her anymore and her suspicions are confirmed when she realises that Ryabovsky has been having affairs with other women apart from her.

You know what they say, if a person can cheat with you, they can also cheat on you.

She no longer remembered the moonlit night on the Volga, or Ryabovsky’s declarations of love, or the poetic life in a peasant’s cottage. All she remembered was that for a foolish whim, for sheer mischievousness, she had got herself covered from head to foot with something filthy and sticky, and that she would never be able to wash it off.

Olga makes up her mind to stop seeing Ryabovsky and be a good wife to Dymov.
Too late, because Dymov is already in his death bed due to a disease.

And where are my friends now? Do they know about my trouble?

It is only then that Olga reflects on her life, her decisions, and arrives at a painful conclusion that Dymov was truly all she was looking for, and she had just been too vain to notice it.

She wanted to explain to him that it had all been a mistake, that everything was not yet lost, that life could still be beautiful and happy, that he was a most rare and remarkable man, a great man, and that she would worship him all her life, pray to him, and feel a sacred awe of him...

But Dymov dies.

I tried thinking about why the story was titled 'The Grasshopper '. I think, Olga here represents a grasshopper, hopping from one person to another, looking for a good time with celebrities.
Also, with reference to the popular 'Ant and the Grasshopper ' story, Dymov here may represent an ant, who works hard to keep her happy, while Olga is the merry grasshopper.
In a state of constantly seeking something new, she fails to see the actual person who loves her.

Read for book club.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for وليد jan.
44 reviews1 follower
July 30, 2024
قتلت رجلًا وفيًّا بعباداتها للفن والمشاهير..

التفاتة بسيطة لكنها مهمة (من شبّ على شيء شاب عليه) تذكروا ان الساقط ريابوفسكي بعدما أقنعها باسم الفن وخطفها وجرى ما جرى، مباشرة في اليوم التالي جحدها وانكر افعاله الخبيثة وندمت هي اشد الندم على ما فعلت ومن السقوط باسم الفن الى ارذل الرذائل، تبين فيما بعد في سياق الرواية ان ريابوفسكي ساقط وفعل فعلته مرارًا وتكرارا مع نساء اخريات، المهم انها بعد هذه الحادثة عادت الى افعالها الا وهي عبادة المشاهير والخ.. (الالتفاته) اذا تحول شيء الى عادة متجذرة لا تستطيع التخلص منه بسهولة
Profile Image for Yulia Basenko.
122 reviews3 followers
October 8, 2022
Прочитала историю Кувшинниковой и Левитана, а также как точно подметил в своём рассказе Антон Павлович характерные черты других своих и современников, и не удержалась, перечитала Попрыгунью.
В этой книге потрясающий язык, потрясающий сюжет, а когда знаешь историю прототипов, то она читается ещё увлекательнее.
Profile Image for Elizabeth Geynovich Douthit.
84 reviews
July 16, 2025
Chekhov does not disappoint.
I’m this story, the woman realizes too late that her simple doctor husband was indeed a Great man, by the way he lived… his devotion to medicine, knowledge, his patients, and providing for his wife and all her fancies. She regrets the disdain she showed for him and her unfaithfulness to him with a “great man”— an ass and imbecile involved in the arts.
Profile Image for Irene.
140 reviews5 followers
January 2, 2022
Un relato algo triste de una mujer irreflexiva y sometida al devenir arbitrario de sus emociones. Otra novela decimonónica que incide en el tópico del adulterio. Algo superficial en cuanto a los personajes, quizá lógico en el formato de relato corto, pero demasiado condensado para mí.
Profile Image for Hristos Dagres.
176 reviews17 followers
July 29, 2022
Διάβασα τις νουβέλες "Ξεμυαλισμένη" και "Βολόντια" στην έκδοση του Κοροντζή (1979) από τον ίδιο μεταφραστή, μια έκδοση χωρίς πρόλογο και με αρκετά ορθογραφικά λάθη. Μάλλον μέτριες νουβέλες, δεν μπορώ να πω ότι με εντυπωσίασαν, αλλά ούτε ότι απογοητεύτηκα.
Profile Image for Laura.
61 reviews3 followers
December 31, 2023
Chèjov retrata perfectamente la vanidad y superficialidad. Me hace pensar en situaciones frecuentes, en las dejamos de lado a personas maravillosas solo porque nos impresiona demasiado la apariencia de otros que en realidad están tan vacíos.
2 reviews
March 4, 2026
this short story reminds me somehow of Anna Karenina.
I found Olga an extremely selfish Person she is delusional thinks that she is special but rather she kissass anyone whom Talent is recognized within her society
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
126 reviews3 followers
March 15, 2022
Уловил тему соответствия героини и природы. Надо будет перечитать
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for doditsa.
14 reviews
April 10, 2022
Reading Chekhov is always a good idea. Short but good.
Profile Image for Nikola.
23 reviews1 follower
November 9, 2022
nie słuchałam w żadnym audiobooku, pięknie przeczytałam w oryginale……
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews