wikipedia – Inspirational Book Reviews

About the Book

I own the paperback version of The Greatest Short Stories of Anton Chekhov. The book was translated by Constance Garnett who in addition to translating the stories to English also wrote a short bio of Anton Chekhov. This book is 623 pages long and the print is a comfortable 10 pitch so it is easy to read. Most of the stories in the book are just a few pages long with the exception of three or four stories over 20 pages in length. After reading a number of short stories the next one was called “A Dreary Story” and it was 63 pages long. I only noticed maybe a half dozen misprinted words, which was a bit odd to me, but overall the quality of the paperback version is excellent.

Summary

This is a compilation of 50 stories written by Chekhov over about a 20-year period from 1883 through 1903. One of the cool things is that the translator shows when the story was first published and where it was published. While only living 44 years Anton Chekhov wrote 522 stories over his short life and a number of plays. This book as titled is supposed to be a compilation of his greatest stories. To put things in context these stories by Chekhov were written prior to the Bolshevik (Russian) Revolution that started in 1917. There are several things that stand out about Russian society when you are reading these stories.

The disparity between the rich and poor was monumental. Many of the people in Russia at that time were serfs or peasants who worked in various trades, but were little more than slaves in Russian society.
Alcoholism was rampant in Russia during the late 1800’s. I suspect it is not that much better today.
The state of medicine as a profession in comparison to today was abysmal. Life expectancy was 30-35 years much of this due to infant mortality and the state of health care at the time.
In many of the stories, characters were thought to be dying of consumption, viruses, fever, alcoholism, and madness.
The weather well was as you might expect with long wet winters that made travel on dirt roads that were typical of the period difficult at best.

Of course in the late 1800’s this would not have been unique to Russia and my guess is that many of these issues existed in many parts of the world. However, there is something special about how Chekhov described the plight of his characters. Each story is different and has a special message for the reader. Chekhov had an incredible talent for describing things like the weather, scenery, or the emotions of his characters. In a way, this is not unusual given he was a playwright.

I would typically read one or two stories a day, so if you have limited time this book allows you to read a story and not have to worry about if you remember where you left off as is the case with a novel. The writing is clear and easy to read without some of the complexity you might find with other Russian authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky. Much of these stories is dialog between characters and there were times I had to figure out who was saying what to who, but that was not a frequent issue. If you are new to reading Russian literature you may be a bit confused about the names, but after a while, you will figure it out. If you want to learn more about Russian names check out this blog post by Janet Fitch, it does a nice job of explaining how Russian names work.

Recommendation

This is one of my favorite books and while it is over 600 pages long the fact that it contains so many interesting stories allows you to consume a story in one sitting and the book as a whole over time without getting lost. Chekhov has a real talent for describing a scene and his characters. You feel like you are being taken back to the Russia of the late 1800s and you are experiencing the joy and tragedy of the characters in the story. I can understand why Tolstoy was such a fan of Chekhov and I will be seeking more of his work to read. Without getting too emotional about Chekhov’s work, I enjoyed reading all 50 stories in this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great writing and wants to go back in time and understand the culture of Russia during that time period. I would put Chekhov right near the top of the greatest Russian writers and maybe the greatest short story writer of all time.

About the Author

There is a nice 4-page bio of Anton Chekhov at the beginning of the book. Chekhov was an extremely influential author and there is a lot of information about his life and his work. I’m going to provide what I found online at Britannica as it seemed the most readable and best organized.

Anton Chekhov Summary

Anton Chekhov, (born Jan. 29, 1860, Taganrog, Russia—died July 14/15, 1904, Badenweiler, Ger.), Russian playwright and short-story writer. The son of a former serf, he supported his family by writing popular comic sketches while studying medicine in Moscow. While practicing as a doctor, he had his first full-length play, Ivanov (1887), produced, but it was not well-received. He took up serious themes with stories such as “The Steppe” (1888) and “A Dreary Story” (1889); later stories include “The Black Monk” (1894) and “Peasants” (1897). He converted his second long play, The Wood Demon (1889), into the masterpiece Uncle Vanya (1897). His play The Seagull (1896) was badly received until its successful revival in 1899 by Konstantin Stanislavsky and the Moscow Art Theatre. He moved to the Crimea to nurse his eventually fatal tuberculosis, and there he wrote his great last plays, Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904), for the Moscow Art Theatre. Chekhov’s plays, which take a tragicomic view of the staleness of provincial life and the passing of the Russian gentry, received international acclaim after their translation into English and other languages, and as a short-story writer, he is still regarded as virtually unmatched. https://www.britannica.com/summary/Anton-Chekhov

As I mentioned Britannica has an extensive biography on Anton Checkhov with some very interesting information about the stages of his life and career. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anton-Chekhov

I would also point you to Wikepedia who also has some great information on the life and work of Anton Chekhov. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov

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