The Princess and Other Stories

by Anton Chekhov, Ronald Hingley (Translator)

Dr. Michael Ivanovich's pent-up fury with the unwelcome philanthropy of Princess Vera finds a long-awaited vent when he encounters her one evening in the garden of a monastery she has honoured with a visit. Throwing caution and class protocol to the winds, he accuses her of monstrous interference in others' lives, to nobody's good but her own . . ." "A doctor himself, Chekhov was acutely observant of Russian society in all its aspects of sickness, both physical and moral. The question for him as a writer was whether to moralize - to attempt to reform - or to entertain. It was a question which is implicitly answered by the stories themselves. They offer no easy answers, but they pinpoint the anguish, tedium, or downright evil of his characters with an irony that makes them both poignant and truthful.

This collection contains:

The Party (1888)
Lights (1888)
The Princess (1889)
After the Theatre (1892)
Three Years (1895)
The Artist's Story (1896)
Home (1897)
A Case History (1898)
All Friends Together (1898)
The Bishop (1902)
A Marriageable Girl (1903)

Genres: Short Stories, Russia, Fiction, Classics, Literature, 19th Century

235 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Antón Chéjov (Spanish)

Dramas, such as The Seagull (1896, revised 1898), and including "A Dreary Story" (1889) of Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, also Chekov, concern the inability of humans to communicate.

Born ( Антон Павлович Чехов ) in the small southern seaport of Taganrog, the son of a grocer. His grandfather, a serf, bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught to read. A cloth merchant fathered Yevgenia Morozova, his mother.

"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." Tyranny of his father, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, open from five in the morning till midnight, shadowed his early years. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog from 1867 to 1868 and then Taganrog grammar school. Bankruptcy of his father compelled the family to move to Moscow. At the age of 16 years in 1876, independent Chekhov for some time alone in his native town supported through private tutoring.

In 1879, Chekhov left grammar school and entered the university medical school at Moscow. In the school, he began to publish hundreds of short comics to support his mother, sisters and brothers. Nicholas Leikin published him at this period and owned Oskolki (splinters), the journal of Saint Petersburg. His subjected silly social situations, marital problems, and farcical encounters among husbands, wives, mistresses, and lust; even after his marriage, Chekhov, the shy author, knew not much of whims of young women.

Nenunzhaya pobeda , first novel of Chekhov, set in 1882 in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Mór Jókai. People also mocked ideological optimism of Jókai as a politician.

Chekhov graduated in 1884 and practiced medicine. He worked from 1885 in Peterburskaia gazeta.

In 1886, Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him, a regular contributor, to work for Novoe vremya, the daily paper of Saint Petersburg. He gained a wide fame before 1886. He authored The Shooting Party , his second full-length novel, later translated into English. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in later her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . First book of Chekhov in 1886 succeeded, and he gradually committed full time. The refusal of the author to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intelligentsia, who criticized him for dealing with serious social and moral questions but avoiding giving answers. Such leaders as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, however, defended him. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.

The failure of The Wood Demon , play in 1889, and problems with novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, he traveled across Siberia to Sakhalin, remote prison island. He conducted a detailed census of ten thousand convicts and settlers, condemned to live on that harsh island. Chekhov expected to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. Hard conditions on the island probably also weakened his own physical condition. From this journey came his famous travel book.

Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. During these years, Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion." Because he objected that the paper conducted against [a:Alfred Dreyfu

Reviews

[Théo d'Or]

Chekhov developed his own concept of depicting a person and life - a fundamental, non-eroic everyday life. There are no strong conflicts, struggles in his stories, sometimes it seems that nothing happens in them, the movement does not go from one event to another, but rather from mood to mood.
The language of his pieces is polysemantic, melodic, symbolic, a language necessary to create a general feeling of subtext, a general state of mind.
His innovation is the use of so-called flow of consciousness, in fact, his seemingly simple stories leave a feeling of inexhaustibility, a lack of agreement. The author's position is not emphasized in them, although the tone of the stories is usually lyrical irony, the main thing for Chekhov seems to be the awakening of the reader's moral consciousness, and not an imposition of ideas about world, literature or life.

" Any idiot can overcome a crisis. Everyday life is the real challenge. There is nothing more awful, offensive, and sad than banality ".

Chekhov's characters are people in a constant search, and they enter the game of chimeras, but when they fall from the height of their dreams into the muddy swamp of reality, they collapse on the inside, they perish. In the happiest case they expect a better life after death.
It's a comforting read, Chekhov's writing. There is a kind of promise in his stories, that at some point in life, the truth about our existence presses so intensely, that very deep lies about ourselves are set aside. That moment of lucidity may take very little time, but the very fact that that moment of truth is a certainty - it has something great in itself.
Chekhov is very present, it is timeless, precisely because people deceive themselves in any epoch, only the forms of deception differ.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

These 11 short stories captures Chekhov’s genius in observation of people. Chekhov was a doctor and critical observer of Russian society's moral, as well as physical sickness.

This collection, includes `The Party (1888)', a heavily pregnant woman has a party and suspects the fidelity of her husband. After a pointless quarrel she has a miscarriage.

Lights (1888) is a story about an old engineer who recalls how he seduced a naive woman and then abandoned her. Only to repent and return to beg her forgiveness.

The Princess (1889) is brilliant and tells the story of a vain Princess who believes she is a philanthropist and how it all an illusion. A doctor she once knew and dismissed tells her some honest truths. Although it goes one ear and out the other. She is a historical Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos driven by sycophants around them telling what great charitable things they are doing. In reality they are odious do gooders feeding their own egos.

After the theatre (1892) a three page story about a young woman Nadya toying and playing off two suitors. Crocodile tears spring to mind with this story.

Three years (1895) is about unrequited love. A young woman marries an ugly millionaire haberdasher Laptev. Julia does it to escape the boring life she leads. Laptev does it for love. Quickly they both realize their mistake but continue to live and accept their fate.

The Artists Story (1896) was my favorite. An artist falls in love with a younger sister. The elder one is a do gooder. She sends her sister away to prevent the artist marrying her and destroying her sisters happiness.

Home (1897) is another anti marriage story. Another attractive woman to escape the boredom and triviality of her life on an estate marries a doctor. She ends up living in the factory he partly owns.

A case history (1898) a sympathetic doctor treats a heiress who owns five factories. It raises the question
Whether the rich capitalist is every bit as miserable as their exploited and equally miserable workers. Albeit the capitalists eat better.

All Friends Together (1898) Nadya is at the make or break stage for marriage or spinsterhood. She and her family try to entrap a wealthy bachelor lawyer into marriage. This is to save them from ruin. The bachelor almost succumbs but in the end escapes back to Moscow.

The Bishop (1902) is about the lack of love. A dying bishop realizes his life could have been better. His elderly mother cannot see him as her son due to his status as everyone else around him. He lacks friendship.

A Marriageable Girl (1903) another anti marriage story. Nadya escapes a marriage in the provinces to study at a university. She rejects conventional marriage to go to university which is more rewarding and exciting. What she studies and her activities are left to the reader’s imagination.

Some of the stories are to moralize and others to entertain. There are really no villains or evil just people struggling to make sense of life and do something worthwhile.

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to forget how much of the typical Chekhov story is conveyed via a character's wandering thoughts, though not what we think of as stream-of-consciousness. Writing teachers of today would opine it's all too much telling and too much backstory. It's also first a shock and then a refreshment to be unclasped from the tyranny of the epiphany. Very few are in sight here. Do his characters learn or realize anything? If so, you have to work it out for yourself. It seems as if stories of this era were at least as much about the reader/receiver if not more so than about the characters, though that's not to say the characters are not well made and utterly convincing. Perhaps we have today too much of a cult of character. Does the character grow and change? etc. But what about the reader?

[Sami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dramatic, concise, and thought provoking. These characters face dilemmas that we find in reality; they make the reader reflect on matters such as love, death, and existence. Excellent.

[Ethan Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chekhov might be a GOAT contender

[Anna Lluna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't see what all the fuss is about. The stories are bleak and seem often pointless. I'll stick to García Márquez and Allende

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection does not feel quite as strong as the other collections in the series. The most outstanding story, in my mind, is "The Party". I am seriously angry at how underrated it is and how little it is anthologized. A precursor to the modernist story, it spans the course of a day and simply describes: a party, an overheard fliration, a mutually estranged young couple, a miscarriage… and yet is one of the most realistic portraits of marriage I have ever come across.

In fall of 2016 I reread about 65 of Chekhov's short stories as well as short novels in chronologic order over 2 weeks. It was an immersive experience; the stories really sank in this time. The reviews, including this one, may be accessed as follows: Selected Stories, Ward Number 6 and Other Stories, The Steppe and Other Stories, The Russian Master and Other Stories, A Woman's Kingdom and Other Stories.

[Chiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of stories includes a beautifully tragic tale, and one of my favorites, called Three Years. It's about a rich, older man who marries a kind, young girl he is wistful for. She accepts his proposal to get away from her father's house but tends to neglect her new husband who grows more and more self-conscious around the male attention she receives. After familial tragedies she grows to love and appreciate him. By then it's almost too late. Set in late 19c romantic Russian aristocracy.

[Highpointhall · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greats

[Seonaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love unfulfilled, boredom, the claustrophobia of life in the provinces, the triviality of life, the despair of women who see little recourse to them but marriage – these are the themes of this collection of Chekov's short stories. Chekov offers no easy answers – structurally, the stories do not end with a twist, or even an epiphany, but are more a series of snapshots of moments of time, that end with the dawn, or with a longing that will never be satisfied, or with a perpetual sense of dissatisfaction.

My favourite from this collection has to be 'Three Years', not only for the precise and beautiful descriptions of Moscow, but for the sympathetic portrayal of the two protagonists, Laptev and Julia. Julia does not love Laptev when she marries him, and Laptev's unrequited love for Julia has worn pretty thin by the end of the three years, but neither is portrayed as the villain of the piece, and some small hope is offered at the end, that for Julia and Laptev, at least, there may be some form of contentment.

This level of happiness may also be available to Nadya in 'A Girl of Marriageable Age' who finally, in Chekov's last story before he died, manages to escape the suffocation of her life, to St. Petersburg and a course of (unspecified) studies. The Soviet government may have seen Nadya as a revolutionary prototype, but to me she represents any of us who may at some time have escaped the stifling monotony of the suburbs for something more interesting.

I love this collection of stories, with its understated and glorious descriptions of the Russian countryside and gardens – the lilac tree in the dawn light, the scent of mignotte or pine, the golden light on the endless steppe, the samovar on the table in the garden under a tree, and behind a grey fence, whilst the road passes by quietly. Of all the books I have read on Russia this summer, this is the one that most makes me want to go, and more Chekov has made its way onto my Want to Read List. I think he could become one of my favourite authors.

[ejjirodo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Princess is a good short story. Vanity, resentment, ignorance, and class come into conflict in a very tight narrative. Chekhov is good at these, he should look into a career of writing short stories or something.

[TommyLovesEli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent short story

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abruptly dramatic short story endings mixed with a pinch of communistic idealism.