Classics and the Western Canon discussion

Chekhov for the holidays? Seriously?

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov has a bit of a reputation as a downer, I know, so his work might seem unsuitable reading for the holiday season. But there's more to Chekhov than poverty, illness, and anxiety. He began his writing career by contributing short pieces, usually comic ones, to local journals when he was a university student. His first published piece was a parody, and at least one of the stories we will be reading (The Swedish Match) is in a similar vein. Some of the stories might even remind you of today's TV sit-coms. I'll be interested to hear what you think.

Everyman in his announcement to the group said we would be reading one story per week, but I have modified that just a bit. There will be two stories per week, but one of them will be very short. Chekhov's truly "comic" tales tend to be quite short, so I have paired one of these with one more substantial story, and I've tried to avoid the really heavy ones. (Some of which are truly excellent, by the way.) Not all of the really short ones are comical, but most of them are.

Nov 2 - An Incident at Law *&* Excellent People
Nov 9 - In the Dark *&* The Swedish Match
Nov 16 - Oysters *&* Happiness
Nov 23 - The Chameleon *&* The Darling
Nov 30 - The Student *&* The Man in the Case (Also translated as "The Encased Man")
Dec 7 - Fat and Thin *&* Gooseberries
Dec 14 - A Work of Art *&* About Love
Dec 21 - Vanka *&* Boys
Dec 28 - Romance with a Double Bass *&* The Grasshopper

All of these with exception of two are available at the Eldritch Press Chekhov page:
http://www.eldritchpress.org/ac/jr/

Click here for An Incident at Law

and here for Romance with Double Bass.

Thanks for posting the schedule and links, it looks great and I'm looking forward to starting.

Looks great! Are you going to open a separate topic for each story, or one for each week encompassing both stories?

Everyman wrote: "Looks great! Are you going to open a separate topic for each story, or one for each week encompassing both stories?"

I'll start a thread for each story, even if the short shorts don't generate a whole lot of discussion. (Though I think a couple of them will.)

One other thing, as a point of interest: the three longer stories between Thanksgiving and Christmas make up the "Little Trilogy." That is, The Man in the Case, Gooseberries, and About Love.

Great! Thank you, Thomas, for the list! I look forward to getting to know Chekhov's writings (finally! (for me)), and no better way than with this group!

I'm still in planning mode today, finishing this biography Chekhov which is very interesting, although not a typical biography. It's more an examination of his work, placing each piece in the context of his life events. I've skimmed some sections as they're spoiler heavy on his plays and stories, but it's an insightful look at his life and the background to his writing.

Pink wrote: "I'm still in planning mode today, finishing this biography Chekhov which is very interesting, although not a typical biography. It's more an examination of his work, placing each piec..."

Thanks, Pink. I was thinking about picking up the Pritchett bio because I don't know all that much about Chekhov, though now it sounds like it's not exactly a bio. The most comprehensive biography appears to be Anton Chekhov by Donald Rayfield, but it's a bit more than I'm up to tackling right now.

Chekhov claimed in a letter to a colleague that he had "autobiographobia," but he did provide this tongue-in-cheek 200-word biography for a friend in 1892, when he was 32.

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/20...

Hi Everyone,
Some of you may already be familiar with the BBC Radio 4 podcast called In Our Time. I listen to the Culture section hosted by Melvyn Bragg. Each podcast consists of a discussion of a different work or works of literature, an author, a musician, a cultural movement, a historical event, etc. etc. Bragg can be a little irritating because of his constant interruptions. But the great thing about these podcasts is that Bragg invites university professors in England who are experts on the topic. I just listened to the one on Chekhov. It provides a good overview of Chekhov's life and a discussion of some of his short stories and plays.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r5qc1
I hope I've added the link to the episode, but there is a distinct possibility I screwed up. I'm still a bit of a novice with this stuff. If the link doesn't work, I hope someone else can add it.
Thanks.

I read A Life in Letters and found the book intriguing, and terribly sad towards the end when he knew that he was dying and couldn't prevent it. I also hadn't realized that he had lived in many different parts of Russia.

Thomas, that 200 word biography was short but to the point. I wonder what additions he'd have made for the last 12 years of his life.

I'm enjoying the Pritchett book more, it's still not a biography, but a good tool for pointing out when his stories were written, how they were received, which are supposed to be the best, or worst etc. which is quite helpful for our purposes as we're about to undertake a reading of several of them.

Tamara, I'll check out the In Our Time podcast as I quite like these and don't find Melvyn Bragg too annoying. Like you say, he has some good experts to discuss each topic, so it should be worth a listen. Thanks for linking.

Rosemarie, that letter collection sounds good. From what I gather he was quite a brilliant letter writer and a lot of his letters (if not the replies) have survived. I've read a few extracts in the bio I'm reading, which also details just how much he moved around, he seems to be on one endless journey both within Russia and abroad.

Ah Pink, my mother always told me that only convicts moved around like that. :D

Haha...or it seems consumptives!

Tamara wrote: "Hi Everyone, Some of you may already be familiar with the BBC Radio 4 podcast called In Our Time."

Thanks, Tamara. The link worked for me, and the podcast was a useful introduction. The idea that Chekhov leaves the reader with a "lot to do" was a relief to me – with Dostoevsky and The Brothers Karamazov, I feel like I've been hammered over the head.

Oh yes, I forgot to say that I also listened to the podcast last night. Thanks again for the link Tamara, I really enjoyed it, even though I found Melvyn Bragg to be particularly irritating, you weren't wrong about that!

Huh! I bought the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov, but looking at the list of the selected short stories (for our group discussions) ...this edition does not have many of them! Did I get the wrong translation or book? Well, I know they are online but a bit surprised so want to verify.

Sue wrote: "Huh! I bought the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov, but looking at the list of the selected short stories (for our group discussions) ...this edition does not..."

There are several good collection of Chekhov stories, but with interim reads we don't expect anyone to have a particular book at hand -- the main requirement is that the reading is available online. We also wanted to focus on some of his lesser known stories, including his early comical work, which most of the "selected stories" don't include.

So you didn't get the wrong book, but the one you got is very good, even if it doesn't have all of the stories we are going to be reading. No single book does. (Not even the 13 volume "Tales of Chekhov" translated by Constance Garnett!)

12 volumes of Constance Garnett's translation are available for free on Kindle from Amazon (these are the same stories and translations on the Eldritch Press site, but I find them easier to read on my kindle than in web browser) :

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...

Thomas wrote: "12 volumes of Constance Garnett's translation are available for free on Kindle from Amazon (these are the same stories and translations on the Eldritch Press site, but I find them easier to read on..."

Thanks for the tip!

Gutenberg.org actually has 14 volumes of stories. Haven't checked against the Amazon list to see which are additional.

Edit: Sorry, actually 12. Not sure how I miscounted.

They can be read in your browser, or downloaded in almost any format. One thing I find interesting is that the epub format (used by the Nook and many other devices) is about a third the size of the Kindle formats (the Kindle format was an early format for e-books, and I don't think has ever been changed since I can still read new Kindle books on my generation 1 Kindle). But it means I can get a lot more books on my Nook for the same disk space as I can on the Kindle. FWIW.

If anybody figures out which volumes the stories are in and posts that, it would help those who have downloaded the Amazon or Gutenberg volumes!

Sorry, I don't think I can join, though thank you for posting the schedule, Thomas. I clicked on the link on 'An Incident at Law' and two pages in, there was no more available. I had downloaded a kindle collection but I'm not sure how many, if any, of these are included. Thank you and do enjoy. This confused person is bowing out! :-)

Hilary wrote: "Sorry, I don't think I can join, though thank you for posting the schedule, Thomas. I clicked on the link on 'An Incident at Law' and two pages in, there was no more available. I had downloaded a k..."

The only two stories not in the 12-volume kindle collection are "An Incident at Law", and "Romance with a Double Bass"; for which Thomas provided the extra links. But you should still be able to take part in the rest of the discussions, beginning with this week's "Excellent People" (No 90 in the Eldritch Press collection linked above).

Hilary wrote: "Sorry, I don't think I can join, though thank you for posting the schedule, Thomas. I clicked on the link on 'An Incident at Law' and two pages in, there was no more available. I had downloaded a k..."

"An Incident at Law" is only two pages long.

Hilary wrote: "Sorry, I don't think I can join, though thank you for posting the schedule, Thomas. I clicked on the link on 'An Incident at Law' and two pages in, there was no more available. I had downloaded a k..."

That is a problem with Google books, but in this case the story is so short that the whole thing is there, or at least it was the last time I checked. .

Also keep in mind that you don't have to read all of the stories. They all stand on their own, so if you want to read one here and one there, that's great. I expect with the holidays coming up that a lot of people will be doing that.

thanks Thomas for your help. I'm afraid that the whole story is not available on the link. Roger, this is a preview and it breaks up part way through a sentence. then it says that the next considerable number of pages are not available on this preview. I couldn't find anything else on the page that wasn't a preview.

Hilary wrote: "thanks Thomas for your help. I'm afraid that the whole story is not available on the link. Roger, this is a preview and it breaks up part way through a sentence. then it says that the next consider..."

I just looked at it now and it shows me the whole story. How strange! Maybe it depends on where you are? My apologies, in any case. I would not have selected this story if I had known it would not be available to everyone.

Hilary wrote: "thanks Thomas for your help. I'm afraid that the whole story is not available on the link. Roger, this is a preview and it breaks up part way through a sentence. then it says that the next consider..."

Very strange. It comes up for me.

However, do try the others from the Eldritch Press links. It would be a shame to lose your insights because one story didn't load properly! (Maybe something about the EU copyright issues?)

Those who are having trouble accessing the two stories on google books, or who like me just prefer reading from a hard copy, should note that the book they are found in, while now out of print, is readily available second-hand. https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Se... (for U.K. readers, prices starting at £2.80)
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear... (for U.S. readers, prices starting at $3.94)

As far as I can tell, all the versions from Abacus, John Murray, OUP, or Collier all contain the same stories, translated by Patrick Miles and Harvey Pitcher

The Volume entitled The Comic Stories, translated by Harvey Pitcher and published by Ivan R. Dee in the US and André Deutsch in the U.K., also contains both stories in a different selection, and is available to purchase for Kindle.

Shouldn't be EU copyright issues, I'm in the UK (and we're still in the EU for now!) and the link works fine for me.

Hilary, as mentioned above, only 2 of the stories are absent from your kindle version, you should have the other 16 if you still want to join in with some of them :)

Thank you, Thomas, Everyman, David and Pink for your kindness in helping me. I have tried the link several times. I think that I'll ask one of my children to try because it could well be me!

It's strange, Pink, I'm in Ireland, the North (so in the U.K.). Even still in the EU, as you say, Pink! I am an avid 'remainer' along with most of NI, so if things go awry I may have to hop across the border permanently! Then any such links may absolutely refuse to work! :p

Ok, my daughter managed to access the whole story on my iPhone!! Duh me!!! So sorry everyone. What happened was because my phone has a tiny screen I tried the tablet. (Android). On it, I cannot access the whole story. Very strange!!! It is so tiny to read on iPhone but I shall have to try!! :D

I always check MobileRead for a polished EPUB version of the Gutenberg editions. I found this link to the 13 volume Garnett translation (no copy rights - 2.4 MB, direct download!): Tales of Chekhov

Thanks for the tip, Wendel. That's good to know! :)

To locate the stories in my edition I had to check the year of original publication. I copy this info from my notes for those interested. I think there is a change of style somewhere in the late 1880s when Chekhov (born 1860) became more confident about both his literary status and his financial situation.

An Incident at Law - 1883
Excellent People - 1886
In the Dark - 1886
The Swedish Match - 1883
Oysters - 1884
Happiness - 1887
The Chameleon - 1884
The Darling - 1899
The Student - 1894
The Man in the Case - 1898 (The Little Trilogy 1)
Fat and Thin - 1883
Gooseberries - 1898 (LT 2)
A Work of Art - 1886
About Love - 1898 (LT 3)
Vanka - 1886
Boys - 1887
Romance with a Double Bass - 1886
The Grasshopper - 1892

Wendel wrote: "To locate the stories in my edition I had to check the year of original publication. I copy this info from my notes for those interested. I think there is a change of style somewhere in the late 18..."

Thanks for that information. Very useful.

I thought the group might enjoy this piece on Chekhov's early stories.

Anton Chekhov: A Post-Post-Modernist Way Ahead of His Time

http://lithub.com/anton-chekhov-a-pos...#

David wrote: "I thought the group might enjoy this piece on Chekhov's early stories.

Anton Chekhov: A Post-Post-Modernist Way Ahead of His Time"

Does that link take us where you intended it, David? Didn't seem to work for me???

Lily wrote: "Does that link take us where you intended it, David? Didn't seem to work for me???"

Sorry about that...it worked in testing. I replaced the link and provided the URL. both seemed to work after editing.

Thank you, David, for taking the trouble!

Thomas wrote: "Chekhov for the holidays? Seriously? Anton Pavlovich Chekhov has a bit of a reputation as a downer"

Hi, Thomas. I was wondering if you could tell me which are the saddest works of Chekhov. I'm in the mood for some depressing words.

Iván wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Chekhov for the holidays? Seriously? Anton Pavlovich Chekhov has a bit of a reputation as a downer"

Hi, Thomas. I was wondering if you could tell me which are the saddest works of C..."

I haven't read even half of Chekhov's stories, but I can tell you that one I considered and rejected for this interim read is "At Christmas Time." I thought it sounded perfect, but it's not a merry tale at all.

Another story for a melancholy mood might be the "The Bishop," a late story that V.S. Pritchett says "is one of his finest works and reads like a sustained anthem to his own death." "The Black Monk" is another one, sad but also sort of eerie. (A similar kind of mood to "Happiness," I think.)

Thinking about Iván's question has me wondering about the relation between humor and melancholy in Chekhov's stories. It strikes me that even in the comic stories there are moments of melancholy, and in the sad stories there are hints of humor, or at least humorous observations. It's not always easy to separate one from the other. Nabokov remarks on this in his Lectures on Russian Literature, where he says this about Chekhov:

Chekhov’s books are sad books for humorous people; that is, only a reader with a sense of humor can really appreciate their sadness. There exist writers that sound like something between a titter and a yawn – many of these are professional humorists, for instance. There are others that are something between a chuckle and a sob – Dickens was one of these. There is also that dreadful kind of humor that is consciously introduced by an author in order to give a purely technical relief after a good tragic scene – but this is a trick remote from true literature. Chekhov’s humor belonged to none of these types; it was purely Chekhovian. Things for him were funny and sad at the same time, but you would not see their sadness if you did not see their fun, because both were linked up.”

Thomas wrote: " "Things for him were funny and sad at the same time, but you would not see their sadness if you did not see their fun, because both were linked up.”"

Amazing! I've been carrying this thought for years and sometimes trying to share it with my friends. Only about a very different author - Nikolai Gogol!!

Amazing! I've read probably not more than 10% of what Chekhov wrote, but I seem to see that he fits that description very well, too. At the same time.. he's so different from Gogol.

It seems this pair Humor and Sadness has a non-trivial relation between them.

To Ivan:

There is a very short and very depressing story: 'Sleepy'.

There is a long short story: 'In the Ravine'.

It opens with a very funny passage. You get warmed up into the story quickly. And yet you're guaranteed to get depressed all f./d./whatever right by the end.

Yes, I agree if you want some tragic Chekhov, In the Ravine is the story that comes to mind.

Thank you all! Thanks also for the quote, Thomas; I'll certainly read the next stories with that in mind.