We have selected here fourteen of the best stories in the body of to-date-untranslated stories of the great Russian short-story writer, playwright and doctor.
Most, but not all of them are written in the light, humorous tone that characterised the stories he wrote during his student days and shortly afterwards – Chekhov’s works began taking on a distinctly deeper tone when he started practicing medicine, mostly in poverty-stricken village districts, and also and notably after having (…)
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CHEKHOV TEXTS ON THIS SITE
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Fourteen of the best previously-untranslated Chekhov stories
5 April 2022, by Anton Chekhov -
"Saintly Simplicity" by Anton Chekhov (1885)
25 February 2022, by Anton ChekhovSavya, the aged priest of a little town, is delighted to by the visit of his son Alexander, a celebrated Moscow lawyer whom he hadn’t seen for fifteen years since he had sent him off to university in Moscow. The father can’t relate to the big-city life that the son has been leading: he thinks that the son must earn a thousand roubles a year to have such nice clothes and a gold watch, and the son throws out when he asks him about it that he usually gets thirty thousand. He tells his father (…)
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"In Autumn" by Anton Chekhov (1883)
17 January 2022, by Anton ChekhovOn a stormy evening Tikhon’s tavern is crowded with coachmen and pilgrims, and a forty-year-old man in shoddy clothes at the bar is ceaselessly begging for a glass of vodka, eventually proposing his worn-out coat in exchange. Tikhon contemptuously refuses to give him any more vodka until a coachman arrives who recognizes the man as his former master, and we learn the unhappy and female cause of his downfall.
A dramatic story with a most convincing atmosphere, a remarkable achievement for a (…) -
"The Sinner from Toledo" - a denunciation of religious extremism by Anton Chekhov (1881)
17 October 2021, by Anton ChekhovA moral fable with a sharp edge to it recounting the fate of Maria Spalanzo, who had the misfortune to cross the path of a monk in Barcelona in bygone days looking particularly lovely in the evening moonlight and thereby arousing the deadly wrath of the fanatically misogynous priest and the fatal accusation of witchcraft.
A forceful denunciation of the crimes committed during the Spanish Inquisition, written by the 21-year-old Chekhov in an exceptionally severe, anti-clerical and even (…) -
"A Living Calendar" and other stories by Anton Chekhov
27 September 2021, by Anton ChekhovTABLE OF CONTENTS
1. A LIVING CALENDAR (Живая хронология) (1885) An elderly official is discussing with a friend about how things used to be more lively in their town, citing memorable occasions from the past. He needs reminders from his wife as to exactly when each of these four events had taken place, and every time the wife reminds him that the event took place during the visit of a friend less than a year before the birth of one of their four children. (950 words)
2. IN THE DARK (В (…) -
"An Enigmatic Nature" and other stories by Anton Chekhov
1 January 2021, by Anton ChekhovTABLE OF CONTENTS
1. AN ENIGMATIC NATURE (Загадочная натура) (1883) A very pretty young lady in a first-class railway car is baring her soul to a budding author who is all too anxious to proffer his psychological expertise on problems of the heart, but the explanation by the lovely lady of her current romantic drama puts a real damper on his effusions. (830 words)
2. FAT AND THIN (Толстый и тонкий) (1883) Two former classmates and close friends, one now very plump and the other (…) -
"The Black Monk" and other stories by Anton Chekhov
4 December 2020, by Anton ChekhovTABLE OF CONTENTS
1. CHORISTERS (Певчие) (1884) The sacristan of a village church has been intensely rehearsing a complex choral with the school’s choir in preparation for the forthcoming visit of a Petersburg dignitary, in spite of the vocal inadequacies of the singers and the hostility of the church deacon. But when the big day arrives, there is a crisis that reconciles the two churchmen. (1,900 words)
2. THE MARSHAL’S WIDOW (У предводительши) (1885) Every year on the estate of Madame (…) -
"Anyuta" and other Chekhov stories
17 July 2020, by Anton ChekhovTABLE OF CONTENTS
1. A DEAD BODY (Мертвое тело) (1885) A corpse wrapped in linen is lying under a tree in the middle of a misty August night, dutifully watched over by two peasants who are keeping a fire alive. They listen to the sounds of the forest and talk to fight off their feelings of eeriness when a pilgrim comes along attracted by the fire, who is afraid to continue on his way alone after seeing the corpse. (1,900 words)
2. THE REQUIEM (Панихида) (1886) Andrey Andryitch is in (…) -
"The Huntsman" and other Chekhov stories
9 June 2020, by Anton ChekhovTABLE OF CONTENTS
1. THE HUNTSMAN (Егерь) (1885) Yegor is hunting with his dog when he hears his name called by Pelagea, the young woman he had married twelve years previously and who is still hopelessly in love with him. (1,700 words)
2. SORROW (Горе) (1885) The introverted monologue of a peasant who is almost lost in a violent snow-storm driving his critically-ailing wife to the hospital, as he reviews his life and marriage. (2,200 words)
3. LADIES (Дамы) (1886) The Director of (…) -
"Ward No. 6" and other stories by Anton Chekhov
24 December 2019, by Anton ChekhovTABLE OF CONTENTS
1. OLD AGE (Старость) (1885) The architect Uzelkov returns on mission to the town that he had left twenty years before after his divorce there, and is invited to dinner by the wily lawyer who had handled his divorce and who reveals to him during the dinner what really went on with his former wife in those far-off days. (2,200 words)
2. ART (Художество) (1886) Seryozhka has a great talent for creating magnificent holy icons out of snow and ice on the frozen river for the (…)