Anton Chekhov (Anton Chekhov – Melikhovo, Plays, Short Stories | Britannica) offers psychological precision, and atmosphere in his stories. These are slices of life where little happens externally, but much changes internally. His minimalist, impressionistic prose captures the tragicomedy of human existence with clinical objectivity and profound empathy.
Included are Chekhov’s characteristically brief, evocative early pieces such as “The Huntsman” from 1885, which brilliantly conveys the complex texture of two lives during a meeting on a summer’s day. Four years later, Chekhov produced the tour de force “A Boring Story” (1889), the penetrating and caustic self-analysis of a dying professor of medicine. Dark irony, social commentary, and symbolism mark the stories that follow, particularly “Ward No. 6” (1892), where the tables turn on the director of a mental hospital and make him an inmate. Here, too, is one of Chekhov’s best known stories. “The Lady with the Little Dog” (1899), a look at illicit love, as well as his own favourite his stories, “The Student,” a moving piece about the importance of religious tradition.
This highly praised collection, with a translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, is a joy to read.
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496 pages in Penguin
This selection first published 2000
ISBN-13 : 978-0553381009
Anton Chekhov