Chekhov

[poliphilo]

Chekhov is the best. I don't know what prompted me, but I had three quarters of an hour to fill so I picked a volume of Chekhov off the shelf and read a story called The Black Monk. It's about a guy who's only happy when he's hallucinating. His well-meaning wife and father-in-law arrange for him to be cured of his "madness" and as a result their shared world falls apart. While I was reading it and for a good time afterwards I was  thinking, "this says all that needs to be said about human nature and the human condition and I wonder Western realist fiction didn't just end here. " Yes, Chekhov is the best. 

I have four volumes of Chekhov in the Constance Garnett translation. Neat little pretty little books from the 1920s- bound in dark green cloth.  I've sometimes thought it would be nice to own the full set-  which runs, I believe, to 13 volumes. 

Having read my story I thought I'd look for online discussion and commentary- and the first thing I found was a site that houses the entire Constance Garnett Chekhov. How wonderful. I can read all his stories. And the way I feel right now I think I'm going to. 

But also how sad -because now I've really no reason to go poking about in second hand bookshops for the 9 neat little pretty little books that are missing from my collection.

Comments

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

I've seen "the Seagull" and "Uncle Vanya" and they seem to be all about vapid people sighing about why can't they go to Moscow. Maybe they are supposed to be satires on the middle classes. But I haven't tried the short stories.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm not terribly fond of the plays either- they all seem to be the same play, set on the same country estate, with the same set of rather boring, annoying characters- but the stories introduce us to a much bigger, livelier world.

[senordildo.livejournal.com]

I think we're supposed to see parts of ourselves in the limitations of the characters. I personally find Chekhov's plays terrifying--if they're comedies they're extremely dark ones about people who've wasted their lives and live in fear of fully admitting it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've seen one or two productions but they've never stuck in my head. They've always made Chekhov's world seem mannered and distant. I guess things would be turned round if I were to see a production that really grabbed me.

[senordildo.livejournal.com]

For me the plays are much better read. They're extremely difficult for even superlative actors to get right.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

Withnail: Anyway, I loathe those Russian plays. Always full of women staring out of windows, whining about ducks going to Moscow.
(From the film "Withnail and I")

Your comment reminded me of that quote...