The Undiscovered Chekhov Forty-Three New Stories

by Chekhov, Anton; Constantine, Peter; Gray, Spalding

• ISBN13: 9781583220269
• ISBN10: 1583220267
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-02
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press

Summary

Unknown in English until Constantine discovered Chekhov's byline in old Russian magazines, this collection, called "a delicious volume" by the "London Times, " has a freshness and modernist verve that will surprise those familiar with Chekhov's more controlled later work.

Author Biography

ANTON CHEKHOV (1860–1904) is regarded as one of the world’s masters of the short story. The son of a hapless shopkeeper and grandson of a former serf, Chekhov began at the age of twenty to support his family through the publication of magazine pieces. The writing of these short works—many of which were collected in English for the first time in Seven Stories’ Undiscovered Chekhov—served as the author’s apprenticeship in literature, which was undertaken simultaneously with his studies to become a medical doctor. Both of these educations would leave their mark on the rising author. By the 1890s Chekhov had moved on to weightier journals, and he had drifted away from the practice of medicine; but his work would always be characterized by the copywriter’s vividness and the sober exactitude of a scientist. In an age of literary aristocrats, Chekhov did as much as any modern writer to democratize the profession. He used his talent to examine the lives of street urchins, déclassé provincials, and frustrated reformers. By the time of his death from tuberculosis in 1904, all Russia and much of the world had taken heed of his credo: “For chemists there is nothing unclean on the earth. The writer must be as objective as the chemist.”

Translator PETER CONSTANTINE is the author of many books on the languages and cultures of the Far East. He is the translator of the complete stories of Isaac Babel and lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Spalding Gray
Introduction and Acknowledgments	ix
Part One
Sarah Bernhardt Comes to Town	5	(6)
On the Train	11	(10)
The Trial	21	(8)
Confession---or Olya, Zhenya, Zoya: A Letter	29	(12)
Village Doctors	41	(10)
An Unsuccessful Visit	51	(2)
A Hypnotic Seance	53	(6)
The Cross	59	(2)
The Cat	61	(6)
How I Came to Be Lawfully Wed	67	(6)
From the Diary of an Assistant Bookkeeper	73	(4)
A Fool; or, The Retired Sea Captain: A Scene from an Unwritten Vaudeville Play	77	(6)
In Autumn	83	(10)
The Grateful German	93	(2)
A Sign of the Times	95	(2)
From the Diary of a Young Girl	97	(4)
The Stationmaster	101	(6)
A Woman's Revenge	107	(6)
O Women, Women!	113	(6)
Two Letters	119	(4)
To Speak or Be Silent: A Tale	123	(4)
After the Fair	127	(4)
At the Pharmacy	131	(8)
On Mortality: A Carnival Tale	139	(2)
A Serious Step	141	(8)
The Good German	149	(6)
First Aid	155	(10)
Intrigues	165	(10)
Part Two
This and That: Four Vignettes	175	(4)
Elements Most Often Found in Novels, Short Stories, Etc.	179	(2)
Supplementary Questions for the Statistical Census, Submitted	181	(2)
Antosha Chekhonte
Questions Posed by a Mad Mathematician	183	(2)
A Lawyer's Romance: A Protocol	185	(2)
Questions and Answers	187	(2)
America in Rostov on the Don	189	(2)
Mr. Gulevitch, Writer, and the Drowned Man	191	(4)
The Potato and the Tenor	195	(2)
Mayonnaise	197	(2)
At a Patient's Bedside	199	(2)
My Love	201	(2)
Doctor's Advice	203	(2)
A Glossary of Terms for Young Ladies	205	(2)
A New Illness and an Old Cure	207	(2)
Dates of First Publication in Periodicals	209