This second volume of a two-volume series contains 109 of Anton Chekhov's beloved short stories. OH! THE PUBLIC A TRIPPING TONGUE OVERDOING IT THE ORATOR MALINGERERS IN THE GRAVEYARD HUSH! IN AN HOTEL IN A STRANGE LANDTHE COOK'S WEDDINGSLEEPYCHILDRENTHE RUNAWAYGRISHAOYSTERSHOMEA CLASSICAL STUDENTVANKAAN INCIDENTA DAY IN THE COUNTRYBOYSSHROVE TUESDAYTHE OLD HOUSEIN PASSION WEEKWHITEBROWKASHTANKAA CHAMELEONTHE DEPENDENTSWHO WAS TO BLAME?THE BIRD MARKETAN ADVENTURETHE FISHARTTHE SWEDISH MATCHLOVELIGHTSA STORY WITHOUT AN ENDMARI D'ELLEA LIVING CHATTELTHE DOCTORTOO EARLY!THE COSSACKABORIGINESAN INQUIRYMARTYRSTHE LION AND THE SUNA DAUGHTER OF ALBIONCHORISTERSNERVESA WORK OF ARTA JOKEA COUNTRY COTTAGEA BLUNDERFAT AND THINTHE DEATH OF A GOVERNMENT CLERKA PINK STOCKINGAT A SUMMER VILLATHE DUELEXCELLENT PEOPLEMIRENEIGHBOURSAT HOMEEXPENSIVE LESSONSTHE PRINCESSTHE CHEMIST'S WIFETHE HOUSE WITH THE MEZZANINETYPHUSGOOSEBERRIESIN EXILETHE LADY WITH THE TOY DOGGOUSSIEVMY LIFETHE SCHOOLMISTRESSA NERVOUS BREAKDOWNMISERYCHAMPAGNEAFTER THE THEATREA LADY'S STORYIN EXILETHE CATTLE-DEALERSSORROWON OFFICIAL DUTYTHE FIRST-CLASS PASSENGERA TRAGIC ACTORA TRANSGRESSIONSMALL FRYTHE REQUIEMIN THE COACH-HOUSEPANIC FEARSTHE BETTHE HEAD-GARDENER'S STORYTHE BEAUTIESTHE SHOEMAKER AND THE DEVILTHE SLANDERERTHE WITCHPEASANT WIVESTHE POSTTHE NEW VILLADREAMSTHE PIPEAGAFYAAT CHRISTMAS TIMEGUSEVTHE STUDENTIN THE RAVINETHE HUNTSMANHAPPINESSA MALEFACTORPEASANTSIncludes an active table of contents for easy navigation. This unexpurgated edition contains the complete text with errors and omissions corrected.
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