Selected Stories of Chekhov

Author: (Russian) Chekhov/Ruyong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-11-01
Features:
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860—1904) had a short life. Tuberculosis took his precious life when he was only forty-four. In Russian history, the era in which Chekhov lived was a time of transformation. "At that time, the old things collapsed irrevocably before everyone's eyes, and the new things had just begun to take shape, and the social forces that formed these new things did not truly manifest themselves in a wide range of public activities across the country until 1905."① Chekhov's thoughts and creations were formed and developed under this historical backdrop. Chekhov was born in Taganrog, Rostov Province. His ancestors were serfs. In 1841, his grandfather redeemed his own and his family's personal freedom. The writer's father opened a grocery store in Taganrog, selling small goods such as tea, sugar, and soap. The stern father often ordered his son to stand behind the counter and engage in business during his studies, so Chekhov later said that he "had no childhood." In 1876, the father went bankrupt, and the family moved to Moscow one after another, leaving only Chekhov to continue studying in Taganrog. He supported himself and his studies by teaching at private schools for three years, which were quite difficult. In 1879, Chekhov entered Moscow University to study medicine. In 1884, after graduating, he began practicing medicine in Voskresensk and Zvenigorod near Moscow. This gave him the opportunity to interact with various people such as peasants, landowners, officials, and teachers, broadening his horizons and enriching his life experiences. Chekhov's literary career began in 1880. That March, in the humorous magazine The Dragonfly (Issue 10) published in St. Petersburg, Chekhov published what he later called his first publicly published "small thing"—A Letter to an Educated Neighbor, mocking an ignorant and arrogant landlord. The same issue of The Dragonfly also published another of Chekhov's early works: What is Common in Long, Medium, and Other Novels, which revealed the young writer's dissatisfaction with the clichés prevalent in literature at the time. The 1880s of the last century were a period of rampant reaction in Russian history, and the social atmosphere was suffocating. Vulgar humorous publications (Entertainment, The Dragonfly, Cricket, Gossip, and Alarm Clock, among others) emerged, publishing humorous pieces for the petty bourgeoisie to entertain and distract themselves. At that time, the young Chekhov, still relatively young, once conformed to the trend, writing many tedious humorous stories, such as A Mirror of Injustice and Mysterious Characters (1883), which were among such pieces. However, the young Chekhov was different from the many contributors to the humorous publications from the very beginning. His gaze was sharper, and his laughter was healthier. Under the pen name "Chonchon," he published many excellent humorous works, such as The Death of a Clerk, On the Nail, The Victory of the Victor, and A Happy Event. The outstanding humorous short stories by Chonchon all had profound content and perfect form. The Death of a Clerk focuses on exposing the ugliness of the bureaucratic world. In the bureaucracy of Tsarist Russia, the strong were arrogant and domineering, while the weak were servile. The worm-like Chervyakov① and his servile mentality were products of such bureaucratic life. The humorous short story The Fat Man and the Thin Man begins with two childhood friends meeting at the station, hugging, kissing, and shedding tears—undoubtedly a natural human response. However, when the thin man, who had been a "second-class clerk for two years," learns that the fat man is now a "third-class clerk with two stars," he "suddenly turned pale," "shouldered up," "bent down," and "shrunk into a ball," and when the fat man extends his hand for a farewell, he dares only to "extend three fingers and bow his whole body." Written in 1884, The continues and develops the thematic ideas of the aforementioned two works. In Tsarist Russia, even a dog kept by a general was more important than an ordinary person. Figures like the police officer Okhmelov kowtowed before the powerful person's dog but showed their teeth to the common people. Chekhov's The is a mirror he presented to the world, and it is not difficult for readers to see the shadow of "the" in some modern people a hundred years later. The aforementioned works show that Chonchon's humorous short stories were fundamentally different from the vulgar stories and humorous pieces popular at the time. In his laughter, there was a sense of melancholy and bitter tears. No wonder Gorky said, "I hear a calm yet profound sigh from a pure heart in every humorous short story of Anton Pavlovich. It is the disappointment and sigh of a person who feels full sympathy for those who do not respect their own dignity." The humble Chekhov knew how to respect himself. He advised his brother to "be aware of his dignity," asked his older brother to "overcome" "petty bourgeois habits," and advocated "bit by bit" to "squeeze out the servility" from himself. It should be said that this was the dominant thought of young Chekhov. Although this thought was limited to maintaining personal dignity, it did reflect the young writer's dissatisfaction and resistance to the corrupt society. Lenin once said when discussing the reaction of serfdom reform in Russian society: "This reflection is 'the general improvement of character.'"① Therefore, humorous short stories such as The Death of a Clerk, The Fat Man and the Thin Man, and The, which aim to mock servile mentality and uphold personal dignity, all have social significance. In Tsarist Russia, not only were titles and power used to humiliate human dignity, but also money. The short story At Sea (1883) exposed the corrupting influence of money and the moral decay of the upper class. On a ship sailing across the sea, a newly married pastor sold his first night to an elderly banker for "a stack of money." The short story The Mask (1883) mocked a proud and arrogant millionaire and the "intellectual" who kowtowed before him. And The Dowry (1883) revealed another absurd phenomenon: materialism over people. The daughter of Chikhamasova, Manechka, was about to marry, and her mother and daughter sewed many clothes. But unfortunately, Manechka passed away, and the lonely, grieving mother still kept sewing and preparing "dowry." Poverty, an empty heart. Between 1884 and 1886, Chekhov began to portray the hardships of laborers, writing excellent short stories such as The Oyster (1884), The Musician (1884), Sorrow (1885), Grief (1886), Vanka (1886), Anna Demyan (1886), The Ballerina (1886), and The Storm (1886).