Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov

There is a vein of dull misery running through much of modern realism. It is not even tragedy, because tragedy requires that the person be suffering as a result of their actions, and that they be emotionally complex enough to understand what is happening to them, and to feel the whole of that pain. T......more

Reread some stories. Those touching on bipolar illness, “The Black Monk”—trained as a physician it seems Chekhov was familiar with the disorder—and the Russian Orthodox religion, “Panikhida” and “Easter Night.” A note from Richard Pevear’s introduction, “His familiarity with church life shows in man......more

I just finished the final story of this collection! This guy is... Awesome, a master short story writer. I fell in love with his stories almost every time. His stories are so simple yet so powerful in the impact that I have decided to write a review for each of his stories separately! For now, three wor......more

I'm not a literary critic, obviously. My description of books as sucky/trite/trash, etc kind of make me wonder how I ever even majored in English Lit all those years ago. But let me see if I can describe Chekhov in the way I've come to understand him ... and his awesomeness. (heehee) Chekhov was a d......more

Many writers pride themselves on the beauty of their prose style. Flaubert would spend days composing the perfect sentence for Madame Bovary. Nabokov wrote his prose ecstatically, his vocabulary was formidable and formed a core part of his aesthetic values. Proust’s composition was like a flower, th......more