Status Updates From Greatest Short Stories

“Kashtanka” is a story about a dog that gets separated from her owner and unintentionally joins the circus. It’s rather unsettling, bordering on horror.

“The Joke” in conjunction with “The Kiss” is beginning to make me think either Chekhov himself was rather socially awkward, or he knew a lot of awkward people and loved writing about them.

“The Black Monk” is a haunting tale that explores the line between creative genius and madness. While interesting, it doesn’t have quite the impact of “Ward No. 6” for me.

“The Kiss” a story of an awkward officer who gets accidentally kissed in the dark goes through love and loss in his mind. In short, he remains ever awkward.

“I love life; I love it passionately. I have the mania of persecution, a continual agonizing terror; but I have moments when I am overwhelmed by the thirst for life, and then I am afraid of going mad. I want dreadfully to live, dreadfully!”

From “Ward No. 6” now an all-time favorite story for me.

“The past, he thought, is connected with the present in an unbroken chain of events flowing one out of the other. And it seemed to him that he had just seen both ends of that chain: he touched one end, and the other quivered.”

From “The Student”

“The Bet” is a powerful tale about a man agreeing to be imprisoned for 15 years stemming from an argument about which is worse, the death penalty or life imprisonment.

“The Darling” was also a story included in Saunders’ book, but it’s a great story to re-read. This one’s about a woman who has a compulsive need for love and companionship. It starts off sweet, gets weird, and ends on a bitter note.

After reading A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, I knew I needed to read more Chekhov.

“The Lady with the Toy Dog” was a great first story about a married man meeting a married woman and their illicit affair turning to love.