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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I've read many of the great Russian masters, but this was my introduction to Chekhov. My wife and I have a long-standing joke about Chekhov's guns being all over the place, so it seemed appropriate to at least become familiar with the man, even if the number of guns in his short fiction is scanty.
Reading ~120 year old Russian fiction is kind of a funny thing. You constantly run into little things you don't understand and it's rarely clear if that is because 1) It's a weird particular sociological thing specific to Russia in a previous century 2) The translation just isn't communicating something to the modern English audience 3) The author is just doing something weird to make a point. This is certainly not exclusive to Chekhov, but it's more obvious I think because short fiction has more of a penchant for being strange.
In a certain sense, a lot of the stories are modern. A recurring theme is disaffection with middle class life brought on by modernity. (The number of people who were zemstvo officials was notable!) The serfs are depicted with a mixture of that middle class contempt and a kind of atavism for their simpler lives with shorter horizons.
Even with the barriers of language and culture, it's still clear that you're dealing with a master of the form. He is able to evoke such haunting and singular imagery. The fog-strapped ferry boat in "Easter Night" for example. Or the malevolent presence of exploitation in the factories in "A medical case." Or the haunting images of sleeping next to a dead body, then being lost in the snow, then being embraced by light and life in "On official business."
I'm sure the mental images will fade with time, but they're sticking with me for now.
Reading ~120 year old Russian fiction is kind of a funny thing. You constantly run into little things you don't understand and it's rarely clear if that is because 1) It's a weird particular sociological thing specific to Russia in a previous century 2) The translation just isn't communicating something to the modern English audience 3) The author is just doing something weird to make a point. This is certainly not exclusive to Chekhov, but it's more obvious I think because short fiction has more of a penchant for being strange.
In a certain sense, a lot of the stories are modern. A recurring theme is disaffection with middle class life brought on by modernity. (The number of people who were zemstvo officials was notable!) The serfs are depicted with a mixture of that middle class contempt and a kind of atavism for their simpler lives with shorter horizons.
Even with the barriers of language and culture, it's still clear that you're dealing with a master of the form. He is able to evoke such haunting and singular imagery. The fog-strapped ferry boat in "Easter Night" for example. Or the malevolent presence of exploitation in the factories in "A medical case." Or the haunting images of sleeping next to a dead body, then being lost in the snow, then being embraced by light and life in "On official business."
I'm sure the mental images will fade with time, but they're sticking with me for now.
"At the door of every contented, happy man somebody should stand with a little hammer, constantly tapping, to remind him that unhappy people exist, that however happy he may be, sooner or later life will show him its claws, some calamity will befall him -- illness, poverty, loss -- and nobody will hear or see, just as he doesn’t hear or see others now."
reflective
medium-paced
I'd like to read BART more. This book is perfect for a train ride!
I went through a major Chekhov stage when I read his biography as part of a study of Russian theatre. I fell in love with his writing and devoured everything I could find by him (which is quite a lot). SO subtle and sad and funny and powerful.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
this translation by richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky is the best...i love these stories like i love homemade borscht.
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced