Love and Other Stories

by Anton Chekhov

Chekhov was a Russian who wrote short stories and plays. This is volume 13 in the Chekhov series. Stories included are: Love, Lights, A Story Without an End, Mari D'Elle, A Loving Chattel, The Doctor, Too Early, The Cossack, Aborigines, An Inquiry, Martyrs, The Lion and the Sun, A Daughter of Albion, Choristers, Nerves, A Work of Art, A Joke, A Country Cottage, A Blunder, Fat and Thin and The Death of a Government Clerk, A Pink Stocking, and At a Summer Villa.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Literature, Russia, Russian Literature, Anthologies

168 pages, Paperback

Published November 8, 2007

About the author

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 Alfred Dreyfus, his friendship with Suvorin ended

Reviews

[MihaElla · Rating 5 out of 5]

No wonder that human mind is a miracle. And it takes so little to realize it. Just take for example these short stories of Anton Chekhov. They are devilishly amazing, witty and savoury, good-humoured and light-hearted little stories, and it gives you this depth of feeling that you’ve just completed the great pilgrimage of your life: from here to here! :D
But if you kick yourself off and dive into them (the short stories I mean) then you should know that you cannot do it by halves in romantic affairs. In other words, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’ if you’re in for a rendezvous then let it take you wherever it takes you, regardless if you run the risk of stumbling upon some rough…events.
I started reading this short stories collection #13 (grouped under the theme of Love) and I ended it on the 13th of Feb. In this I could read a devilish lot of mystery! H’m…I am not sure yet how to interpret it. From my personal experience I maintain it’s a great chance to be engaged into mysterious acts of will. However, IF by reading these stories you expect to find out some answers, for example what is the explanation of the love itself, then you would be completely disappointed. Not even the great Anton Chekhov really knows it.
But, the most important thing is that you get a breath of fresh air, and in some parts you get lost in reveries. That is like getting intoxicated with such beauty of feeling that you can’t tear yourself away! Unless of course you take a cold shower. Nonetheless, I would recommend to keeping oneself and one’s soul filled with imaginings grand. I have particularly liked the direct feeling, the inspiration that you can read within these stories, the predominance of heart over the reason, which is in some instances simply overwhelming. I have laughed a lot during the read and despite the fact that gradually I myself fell into a quiet sentimental mood, and had some pangs at my heart (I mean I couldn’t help thinking that these little marvels of stories might solve the riddle of my fate), still my conscience whispered to me that I am not to lose my happiness while reading this whole collection. And that’s how it went! :D I laughed with happiness though I was already inclined to look for depth of thought before everything.

*****
Love,
Lights,
A Story Without an End,
Mari d'Elle,
A Living Chattel,
The Doctor,
Too Early!,
The Cossack,
Aborigines,
An Inquiry,
Martyrs,
The Lion and the Sun,
A Daughter of Albion,
Choristers,
Nerves,
A Work of Art,
A Joke,
A Country Cottage,
A Blunder,
Fat and Thin,
The Death of a Government Clerk,
A Pink Stocking,
At a Summer Villa
*****

[Duane Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is a nice mixture of longer and shorter stories. It's hard to highlight individual stories because they are all very good. Each story crackle's with a brilliance that only Chekhov possesses, and they remain in your memory much like a good novel does.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Top tips: Lights, and, of the shorter tales, Martyrs.

[WJEP · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a collection of love stories. This is Chekhov's joke book...maybe.

A century ago, Constance Garnett translated 201 Chekhov stories and organized then into 13 volumes. "Love" happens to be the name of the first of the 23 stories in this volume.

Why did Constance Garnett put these particular 23 stories together? 17 of the 23 are comedies. And the last 9 (15-23) are Ralph-Kramden funny, not New-Yorker-cartoon funny.

— Sasha munching nuts
— Lyashkevsky threatening a rubbishly old armchair
— Vassily teasing "Does your vatch vant mending?"
— Miss Fyce yawning and dropping her hook in the water
— Rosalia crying "I to your wife shall tell.... Will not leave an honest maiden in peace"
— The pornographic candelabra
— Nadya professing "Well, I...I like this tobogganning"
— Peplov barking at his wife "You are an idiot! Is that the ikon?"
— Tchervyakov beholding "I have spattered him"
— Somov taunting "and the spelling... brrr! 'Earth' has an a in it!!"
— Pavel fantasizing "Could a delicate ephemeral creature like that fall in love with a worn-out old eel like me?"

But the other six (2-6, 8) are not comedies. They are melancholy, philosophical, poignant—seriously boring. So, I'm not sure what Constance had in mind.

[Archana Sivassubramanian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very grounded writing. What makes these stories equally magnificent is the creative verve to efficiently extrapolate the everyday rigmarole of being human and write it as is. There is a nice and patient satire in all of Chekov's stories, most of them tragic, some of them political, and all of them bordering challenging themes that vividly defy existing conventions with a careless irony.

Personally, I never imagined to utilizing the Delhi-Chennai flying time this usefully.

[Rim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I do not usually like short stories, Chekhov's remarkable ability to grip the reader's attention from the first page got me to actually enjoy this one. A lot of the stories are comedic, but none is particularly inspiring or memorable, thus the four stars.

[Jill Sumstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anton Checkhov is certainly one of my role models. I wish I could write my short stories with such a precision as he.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary:
Love - The narrator takes the reader through three stages of love: confession, engagement and marriage. The narrator idealizes early love and to be married and his love, Sasha, though there is much to find fault in. He sees these faults and annoyances, but says he "forgives" them.

Lights - An engineer (Nikolay Anastasyevitch Ananyev AKA Kolya) tells a story to his student (Baron Von Schtenberg AKA Mihail Mihailovitch, 23 or 24) and the narrator (a passer-by staying for a night). In the story, Ananyev sees his high school crush (Natalya Stepanovna AKA Kisotchka) in adulthood and fancies an affair with her, but she instead waxes about how educated women are doomed to misery and boredom. After keeping up appearances a bit, she confesses her painful unhappiness while seemingly running off, only to double back. He "dragged" her back to his hotel (without consent?), but afterward she becomes quite sentimental toward him. Ananyev is filled with guilt.

A Story Without An End - The narrator (a writer) is called to a neighbor's to attend to a man (Vassilyev, a theatrical performer) who has shot himself, surviving a suicide attempt. Vassilyev talks at length about how his story is not a typical story of suicide and that he now wants to live. A year later, the writer shows the story to Vassilyev who thinks the story unfinished. (It seems that the suicide attempt may have been in response to his wife's death?)

Mari d'Elle - Natalya Andreyevna Bronin is an opera singer whose daughter is off staying with family. Her husband, Denis Petrovitch Nikitin, returns home drunk interrupting her slumber with blowhard nonsense. He tries to spend all her money on investments saying his male brain is of more value than hers. All in present tense.

A Living Chattel - Michel "Grisha" Groholsky and Liza (Elizaveta) are having an affair, but are in love. Liza's husband, Ivan "Vanya" Petrovitch Bugrov walks in and catches them. "Groholsky shook [Vanya's] soft perspiring hand and shuddered all over as though he had crushed a cold frog in his fist." Vanya threatens Liza's life, but then Groholsky returns offering hundreds of thousands to Vanya in return for letting his wife go. Vanya concedes, but says he will keep their son, Mishutka "Misha". Time passes. Groholsky and Liza discover that Vanya and Misha are staying near them. Sensing a closeness between Liza and her former husband, Groholsky asks Vanya to leave and he does. Later, Groholsky overhears Liza and Vanya describing how miserable they are but helpless to go back to how things were...until Vanya plans running away. Actually, it is Liza who runs away to Vanya. Groholsky confides to the narrator the Liza is pregnant with his child.

The Doctor - Olga Ivanovna speaks to Dr. Nikolay Trofimitch Tsvyetkov. Her child is dying of a tumor and she cannot bear it. The doctor is not good at speaking to weeping women or children. As he's leaving he asks Olga if he is indeed the father of the child. When she says he is, he accuses her of lying. He says he is aware of correspondence with another man where she names him the father. She says she is not lying to the doctor.

Too Early! - Filimon Slyunka (former house-serf/carpenter) and Ignat Ryabov (a peasant) sit in Semyon Mitritch's inn. Slyunka is trying to persuade Semyon to give him his gun back, which he traded for booze. Semyon refuses. The men go outside and speculate at what birds may be around to shoot had they a gun. deciding it's too early into the season.

The Cossack - Maxim Tortchakov and his wife Lizaveta are driving home from church on Easter Sunday. They pass a Cossack injured by the road who asks for some of their ceremonial holy Easter cake. The wife refuses and the husband is filled with guilt as they ride on. Though he sends men out with food to find the Cossack, the regret pains Maxim so that he falls into depression and drunkenness and his life and marriage go to ruin.

Aborigines - Ivan Lyashkevsky, a lieutenant, is with Franz Stepanitch Finks, the town architect, looking out the window and insulting the workers for resting. This goes on through the afternoon in which neither man does any work himself, choosing instead to have tea, play cards, nap and have dinner.

An Inquiry - Voldyrev goes to a government office to make an inquiry, but is not paid any attention until he pays the clerk a kickback of three rubles.

Martyrs - Lizotchka Kudrinsky has fallen ill and fears the worst, picturing many admirers at her funeral. She is attended by her husband Vassily Stepanovitch as they perform for one another to pass the time. Vassily leaves the house but is sent home because he looks ill.

The Lion and The Sun - Stepan Ivanovitch Kutsyn, the mayor, puts in effort to impress a Persian magnate, called Rahat-Helam with hopes of receiving the Persian order of the Lion and the Sun. After he receives it, he dreams of receiving a Serbian order, though these orders impress no one but him.

A Daughter of Albion - Ivan Kuzmitch Gryabov sits fishing with an Englishwoman, Wilka Charlesovna Fyce. While they fish, Gryabov talks to Marshal Fyodor Andreitch Otsovsits insulting the woman in Russian which she doesn't understand. Gryabov's hook gets stuck on a rock and he disrobes to go into the water to fetch it, the woman looking on unphased.

Choristers - Alexey Alexeitch, a rotund blowhard who leads the church choir, works hard to prepare the choir for the arrival of the Count. He surprised when the Count requests Mass with no choir and ignores it. The Count's only words are an insult to one choir member whom Alexey Alexeitch and Father Kuzma both do not like.

Nerves - Dmitri Osipovitch Vaxin has returned from a seance and is scared in the night. He calls to his lady servant out of fear, but has nothing to ask of her. When he does this a second time, she accuses him of ulterior motives while his wife is away. A third time he calls for her, but she does not come. Instead, he goes into her room and falls asleep on her trunk. Madame Vaxin returns home and finds him there!

A Work of Art - After saving Sasha Smirnov's life, Dr. Koshelkov is gifted a candelabra featuring coquettish nudes. He turns around and gives it to the lawyer Uhov, who then turns around and gives it to Shashkin, the comedian. Shashkin offloads it to Madame Smirnov. Her son returns to the doctor saying he has found the candelabra's mate and gifts it to the doctor!

A Joke - The narrator persuades Nadenka (AKA Nadya) Petrovna to go tobogganing and during the ride tells her he loves her. The ride, being so fast and noisy, she is unsure if the words were said or imagined so, though terrified, she asks to go again...and again. Each time the narrator says the words in a low voice. Nadya becomes addicted to hearing these words, though still terrified of the ride.As the snow melts, she no longer hears the words until the narrator says them on a windy day just to sate her. He wonders why he ever started the joke.

A Country Cottage - A young couple (Sasha and Varya) fawn over each other in wedded bliss. They have had a wonderful day with a nice dinner planned. Unexpectedly, Sasha's uncle comes to visit with his large family, ruining their plans. They bicker at one another over the guests, all while keeping up appearances of being happy to have them.

A Blunder - Two parents ( Ilya Sergeitch Peplov and Kleopatra Petrovna) scheme to bless their daughter (Natashenka) and the man who woos her (Shchupkin), creating a contract of their love that Shchupkin cannot escape. Mistakenly they take a portrait of an author, not an ikon. Saved, Shchupkin skips out the door.

Fat and Thin - Two childhood friends, one fat (Nafanya) and one thin (Porfiry), happen upon each other in adulthood at a train station. They are tearful at the reunion, the thin man eager to introduce his family. But the thin man's family learns that the fat man has risen in the ranks and start addressing him formally. He says there is no need for the formalities, but the thin man's family continues, sickening the fat man.

The Death of a Government Clerk - A government clerk called Ivan Dmitritch Tchervyakov accidentally sneezes on the back of the head of a general at the opera. He is apologetic, but the general just wants to incident forgotten. But Tchervyakov persists, apologizing again at intermission...then going to the general's house...then in a letter he delivers. The general loses his temper and sends Tchervyokov away. Mortified, he goes home and dies.

A Pink Stocking - Pavel Petrovitch Somov is bored on a rainy day. His wife writes a lengthy letter to her sister and, out of boredom, the husband reads it. He insults her a long time about how terrible and lacking in content and education her letter is. She says she wished she'd had more schooling, but he insults that idea, too, saying he'd never marry a learned woman. This exasperates the wife. While she is in the other room, the husband concludes that if he wants educated conversation, he will turn to another man.

At a Summer Villa- Pavel Ivanitch Vyhodtsev, a married man, receives an anonymous letter of love, begging they meet that night. Curiosity overtakes him and he goes out walking in the evening to see who this person is. He happens upon his brother-in-law Mitya who is waiting in the same place. They bicker that the other should leave, but both refuse. Back at home that night, Pavel Ivanitch's wife laughs at him, saying she wrote the letter to both of them to get them out of the house so it could be scrubbed that night.

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading this collection of short stories I absolutely loved it. But ultimately, it was only the stories focusing on women that were of interest to me. A lot of the other stories were just simplistic or almost like an O’Henry story. But the first several short stories, focusing on the difficulties women faced, were complex and intriguing. I loved them. There were many beautiful lines that I had to underline and were even incredible to go back and read over. Too bad the entire collection wasn’t like that.

[Prerna Munshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

His writing prowess is a proven genius. Though I found some of the stories quite problematic possibly because the Russian society, then, was indeed problematic . Or possibly, it is Chekhov’s satirical tone, his unique way of presenting the Russian bourgeoisie. His characters , in this series, are mostly bureaucratic , libertine men and dumb, maudlin women at the man’s disposal.

The stories, strangely, stay relevant despite the rich cultural backdrop. Chekhov , primarily, focuses on the human nature, desires , superfluity, paradoxes and the nothingness of existence.

Light and enjoyable!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been years since I've read Chekhov and it was delightful to take in his words again. The stories in this anthology bring back memories of another time and place when life was quite different and yet so very much the same as it is now.

[Rana Adham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chekhov is different from the two other Russian writers I read (Tolstoy and Dostoevsky), in that his work was not bleak. On the contrary, I enjoyed this series of short stories and would love to read more of his writings.

[Annabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had to read these to see why people raved about his sparsity of language. So beautiful and clever; easy to see a picture in your head from one sentence.

[Manisha Halkhoree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, a five-star read after a long, long time.

This book is a collection of short stories ranging from topics like marriage and feelings to social class, nationality, and business/ trade. The stories were originally written in Russian by Anton Chekhov, and were translated into English. A very nice mix of stories with wonderful writing. It was also very interesting to see bits of historical context weaved into the actual stories and characters.

As I was a reading, I made a mental note of which stories I like the most. They were:

- A Country Cottage
- The Cossack
- At a Summer Villa
- A Work of Art
- A Story without an End
- The Death of a Government Clerk
- An Inquiry
- A Blunder
- Aborigines
- Too Early!

Note: though the book is titled 'Love and Other Stories'- only a handful of the stories are based on love. The rest are on anything but love. The title was probably chosen to increase publicity.

Some quotes from the novel:
- '"I don’t understand your curiosity," he muttered. "You’ll be asking me next what it was drove me to commit suicide!”'

- 'After Sasha’s departure the doctor looked for a long time at the candelabra, scratched behind his ear and meditated.

“It’s a superb thing, there’s no denying it,” he thought, “and it would be a pity to throw it away. . . But it’s impossible for me to keep it. . . . H’m! . . . Here’s a problem! To whom can I make a present of it, or to what charity can I give it?”'

[bilfy · Rating 3 out of 5]

i counted the average as i rated each stories individually: 3.39 which means a 3 stars on this one. there were some stories that i absolutely love (especially the romance side, i feel more relatable), then there were some that left more questions than joy (like what did i just read? in a more confused way).

[Akanksha Agrawal · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are very light Russian stories, short and crisp, like a evening snack. I enjoyed them, some had more sense than the other but one can enjoy them when not looking for something too deep or serious.

[Ara]

this is like a bunch of emotions poor out into one. it’s happy, depressing, funny, weird— gosh. this is humane.

[Sangita Mahapatra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very raw feel-alike stories but a must read too..

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

brilliant!!! no other words for these!

[Grass_Hopper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories seems to be like rough woodcuts.. not a finished piece but like a new idea scribbled down for testing.. but I am a fan Chekhov and love all of them!

[Twisted.Plots · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert: Everyone’s got nine different names.

[Krystof · Rating 5 out of 5]

První setkání s Čechovovými povídkami, určitě ale ne poslední. Skvěle sestavený výbor povídek, jejichž spoleřným tématem je láska. Pojaté více u méně vážně, někdy i trochu nekonvenčně - třeba z pohledu karase v povídce Rybí láska:

Jednou za parného poledne napadlo mladého básníka, že se vykoupe. Svlékl se a vlezl do vody. Šílený karas v domnění, že je to Soňa Mamočkinová, k němu připlul a něžně ho políbil na záda. Tento polibek měl svrchovaně zhoubné následky: karas nakazil básníka pesimisem.

Nic netušící básník vylezl z vody a s posupným smíchem se odebral domů. Za několik dní odjel do Petrohradu. Navštívil tamější redakce a nakazil pesimismem všecky básníky. Od té doby píší naši básníci ponuré, unylé verše.

[Mark Greenbaum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the 13 volumes in the set, this is the weakest one. A lot of early works in this one, smaller, inconsequential stories mostly. The afterward notes that this was deliberate: by the end, the original translator Constance Garnett was out of material. The only keepers in the volume are An Inquiry and The Death of a Government Clerk, and possibly Lights.

[Anton Van]

I am not finished yet, but it is one of the rare books, that you can read for the beautiful prose. It is a book that you can read purely for the beauty of it's narrative. How the writer plays with words. You can enjoy each paragraph, unlike other stories, where you are almost in a marathon to reach the end.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A selection of Short Stories by Chekhov. Having not read any Chekhov for many years, I had forgotten how wonderful an Author/ Writer Chekhov is. Such descriptive works he wrote, and also, seeing some of these short stories, such a funny read too. Always wonderful to see a different side to a great author like this.

[Mary Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this entire collection but I tend to prefer Chekhov's longer stories over his short-shorts (and there were a lot of short-shorts in this set). "A Living Chattel" was my favorite story in this collection.

[Melodee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Russian novels that I have read in the past did not impress me much, but this collection of short stories was quite entertaining. There is a lot humor, and the amount detail that Chekhov included was impression. He had a real talent for storytelling.

[Wes · Rating 5 out of 5]

short story genius.

[Philippe Diepvents · Rating 4 out of 5]

Verhalen, ongelijk van kwaliteit, maar de goeie zijn echt geweldig.

[Mikey · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first exposure to Chekov, hard to judge him by his short stories. My favorite was "Love", to the point and oh, so true.