Synopses & Reviews
By 1888, when he was just twenty-eight, Chekhov had published a staggering 528 stories, about half of them comic. Unpretentious, lively, and inventive, these comic stories have long been affectionately regarded in Russia, but publishers in the West, overawed by the prevailing image of Chekhov as a melancholy genius, have resisted the down-to-earth humorist. This collection is the first substantial volume in English devoted solely to the comic stories. The forty stories here reveal the full range of Chekhov s comic mastery: simple sketches, almost like verbal cartoons; outrageous parodies and stories with a comic twist; satirical and subversive pieces that foreshadow the anti-authoritarian attitudes of his later work; and excursions into the absurd that hint of his later stage dialogue. In these early comic stories Chekhov found himself as an artist. Readers unfamiliar with them may miss the countless touches of humor in the later and more famous plays and stories. Tolstoy, who disliked Chekhov s plays, was reduced to helpless fits of laughter by his comic stories. They have a sense of fun and infectious good humor.
Synopsis
The first substantial volume in English devoted solely to the full range of Chekhov's comic mastery -- forty stories in all, employing a variety of techniques and twists.
Synopsis
Unpretentious, lively, and inventive, these comic stories have long been affectionately regarded in Russia, but published in the West, overawed by the prevailing image of Chekhov as a melancholy genius, have resisted the down-to-earth humorist.
Table of Contents
He quarrelled with his wife -- Notes from the memoirs of a man of ideals -- A dreadful night -- From the diary of an assistant book-keeper -- An incident at law -- The daughter of Albion -- Foiled! -- A woman without prejudices -- The complaints book -- The Swedish match -- Rapture -- Vint -- On the telephone -- Romance with double-bass -- The death of a civil servant -- Overdoing it -- Surgery -- In the dark -- Kashtanka -- Grisha -- Fat and thin -- The objet d'art -- A horsy name -- At the bath-house -- The chameleon -- Revenge -- The orator -- The exclamation mark -- Notes from the journal of a quick-tempered man -- A man of ideas -- The siren -- The burbot -- The civil service exam -- Boys -- A drama -- The malefactor -- No comment -- Sergeant Prishibeyev -- Encased -- The darling.