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Quatre contes russos

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Des de sempre, els russos han cultivat l'art del conte i han sentit una predilecció especial per llegir-los. Aquí presentem quatre dels contes més apreciats del dos segles anteriors. Els autors reunits en aquesta antologia exemplifiquen un tret característic de la majoria dels escriptors russos: entener el seu ofici com un compromís amb la societat; compromís que els porta a enfrontar-se, si cal, amb el poder i a assumir-ne les conseqüencies. I precisament és gràcies a aquest compromís que els lectors tenen confiança en la postura moral dels escriptors i és en la literatura on busquen les respostes ètiques i filosófiques.

"Un tret", Alexander Pushkin
"Els nois", Anton Chekhov
"El petó", Isaak Babel
"La petite étrangère", Nina Berberova

90 pages

First published January 1, 2009

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About the author

Anton Chekhov

5,968 books9,794 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 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Darío Luque Martínez.
373 reviews62 followers
January 12, 2016
Pero qué bonito es la literatura rusa y qué poca importancia se le da. Ah, y por cierto, ¡me acabo de enamorar de Nina Berberova! No conocía a esta escritora tan maravillosa; tiene un estilo muy dulce, pero también pícaro e irónico. Creo que el cuento que más me ha gustado ha sido el suyo.
Profile Image for Alicia Gadi.
Author 11 books65 followers
May 14, 2017
M'esperava molt més. És la primera vegada que he llegit autors russos, però d'aquest llibre només es salven dos: Alexandr Puixkin per la moralitat de la seva història i Nina Berberova per la tendresa de les seves paraules. La resta... bé, o no els he entès del tot o no tenen res especial. M'han semblat històries supèrflues. Hi falta sal!
Profile Image for Alberto.
366 reviews19 followers
December 18, 2021
Llibret desigual. El millor el conte de Puixkin i el pitjor el de Babel. Els altres dos estan força bé.
20 reviews
October 23, 2022
Un tret (Puixkin): 5
Els nois (Txèkhov): 4
El petó (Bàbel): 2
La nena estrangera (Berberova): 3.5
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

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