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Thursday 27 April 2023

On feeling close to Chekhov; 30 favourite stories

When I first read Chekhov, I was too young—I hadn’t lived. My rediscovery of Chekhov was two years ago, and now that I have loved and lost, now that I’m going through something never expected to happen, now that I must begin all over again and feel something akin to shame for doing so, I feel closer and closer to Chekhov. He is so good at discerning the subtlest emotional shades, at conveying the uncertainty and absurdity of life, at depicting the way people change and love doesn’t last. He writes about wasted lives, missed opportunities, and regrets, without descending into lachrymose wallowing or cynicism. 

I perhaps even feel closer to Chekhov now than to Jane Austen, because he writes about love and disappointment, sex, sexual desire, death, and the futility of life—which she doesn’t. On this blog, I have avoided identifying with characters and tried to write about literature with detachment, but reading is still a subjective thing, especially during a difficult time. 

It’s also interesting that at this time I’m turning to Chekhov rather than Tolstoy, my favourite writer of all time—why? 



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I have just finished Volume 4 of Constance Garnett’s Chekhov but find it hard to write about him, so here’s a list of my 30 favourite Chekhov stories so far: 

  • “Three Years”
  • “The Party” or “The Name-Day Party” 
  • “The Lady with the Dog” 
  • “About Love” 
  • “An Anonymous Story” 
  • “Terror” 
  • “My Life” 
  • “In the Ravine” 
  • “Peasants” 
  • “Ionitch” or “Ionych” 
  • “A Woman’s Kingdom” 
  • “A Dreary Story” 
  • “The Bishop” 
  • “The Betrothed” or “The Bride” 
  • “Neighbours” 
  • “The Murder” 
  • “Ward No. 6” 
  • “The Steppe” 
  • “The Kiss” 
  • “Verochka” 
  • “Man in a Case” 
  • “The Teacher of Literature” 
  • “An Artist’s Story” or “The House with the Mezzanine” 
  • “Volodya” 
  • “Ariadne”
  • “Mire” 
  • “The Chemist’s Wife” 
  • “The Duel” 
  • “The New Villa” 
  • “The Darling” 

The list is not in order of merit or importance; some of the stories are grouped thematically.  

5 comments:

  1. That's a great list. Still need to read about 3 or 4 of these. Three of my personal favourites which are not in your list - Gooseberries, The Black Monk, and The Student. Gooseberries has the same framing narrator as in About Love and The Man in the Case.

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    1. Yeah, I know they're a trilogy but I didn't really like "Gooseberries" much.

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    2. there is a monologue about happy people and unhappy people in it, which I really like.

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    3. " It’s obvious that the happy man feels contented only because the unhappy ones bear their burden without saying a word: if it weren’t for their silence, happiness would be quite impossible. It’s a kind of mass hypnosis. Someone ought to stand with a hammer at the door of every happy contented man, continually banging on it to remind him that there are unhappy people around and that however happy he may be at the time, sooner or later life will show him its claws and disaster will overtake him in the form of illness, poverty, bereavement and there will be no one to hear or see him. But there isn’t anyone holding a hammer, so our happy man goes his own sweet way and is only gently ruffled by life’s trivial cares, as an aspen is ruffled by the breeze. All’s well as far as he’s concerned."

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    4. Don't make people think Chekhov is bleak and depressing, Alok!

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