Selected Stories of Chekhov (Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: (Russian) Anton Chekhov
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860—1904) lived 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 were just beginning to take shape, and the social forces that formed these new things did not truly manifest themselves on a vast scale across the country and in various forms of public activities 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. Chekhov'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 free time, so Chekhov later said that he "had no childhood." In 1876, his father went bankrupt, and the family moved to Moscow one after another, leaving only Chekhov behind in Taganrog to continue his studies. He supported himself and pursued 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 year, in March, the satirical magazine The Dragonfly (Issue 10), published in St. Petersburg, featured Chekhov's self-proclaimed "first published work"—A Letter to an Educated Neighbor, which mocked an ignorant and arrogant landowner. The same issue of The Dragonfly also published another of Chekhov's early attempts at writing: What is Common in Long, Medium, and Short Stories, a satirical piece that revealed the young writer's dissatisfaction with the clichés prevalent in the literary world at the time. The 1880s of the last century were a period of rampant reactionary forces in Russian history, with an oppressive social atmosphere. Vulgar satirical publications (Entertainment, The Dragonfly, Cricket, Gossip, and Alarm Clock, among others) emerged, publishing humorous pieces to entertain and distract the petty bourgeoisie. At that time, the young Chekhov, still relatively young, once conformed to the trend, writing many tedious satirical stories, such as A Mirror of Injustice and Mysterious Characters (1883), which were among such works. However, the young Chekhov was different from the many contributors to the satirical publications from the very beginning. His gaze was sharper, and his laughter healthier. Under the pen name "Chonchon," he published many excellent humorous works, such as The Death of a Government 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 Government Clerk focuses on exposing the ugliness of officialdom. 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 official life. The humorous short story The Fat Man and the Thin Man begins with two childhood friends meeting at a train station, hugging, kissing, and shedding tears—undoubtedly a natural human reaction. 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 "cowered," and when the fat man extends his hand for a farewell, he dares only to "extend three fingers" and bow his whole body down. 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 considered more important than an ordinary person. Figures like the police officer Akhremovich trembled at the feet of the powerful, while they 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 popular satirical stories and humorous pieces of the time. In his laughter, there was a sense of melancholy and bitter tears. No wonder Gorky said: "In every humorous short story of Anton Pavlovich, I hear the calm yet profound sigh of a pure heart, a disappointment and sigh expressed by someone 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," demanded his elder brother to "overcome" his 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 spoke of the reaction to the abolition of serfdom in Russia, saying that this "reaction was the 'general improvement of character'"①. Therefore, the humorous short stories such as The Death of a Government 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 priest 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 human value. The daughter of Chikhamatsova, Manechka, was about to marry, and her mother and daughter sewed many clothes. However,ly, Manechka passed away, and the lonely, widowed mother, dressed in mourning clothes, still kept sewing and preparing "dowry." Poverty, an empty heart. Between 1884 and 1886, Chekhov began to depict the hardships of laborers, writing excellent short stories such as The Oyster (1884), The Musician (1884), Sorrow (1885), Grief (1886), Vanka (1886), Annaude (1886), The Singing Girl (1886), and The Storm (1886).