Chekhov and Short Stories
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was one of the greatest short story writers of all time. His stories evoked great emotion. "It has been said that Chekhov's story is like a tortoise-all middle. The ending, never stated, is implicit in the frustration, nostalgia, loneliness, pretension, or despair of the story's one brief moment selected from a life to illuminate it in its entirety." In other words, even though, there is no ending, it is understood from the events in the story. You know on how the story is set in the end, and that brings to mind feelings such as frustration, nostalgia etc. One of Chekhov's important themes in his fiction writing is the intimacy between man and woman, their relationships and views towards each other as in the two written in 1899, Lady With The Dog and The Darling. Chekhov's short stories speak to the moral concerns of the upper classes of the period, concerns they only addressed with sadness and boredom. Anton Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860, at Taganrog, Russia, a port city on the Sea of Azov. His grandfather was a serf but got money by trading and bought his and his family's freedom in 1841. "Chekhov's parents were simple, half-educated, very religious people, with a strong family feeling
In this quote he tried to express his restlessness because at that time critics did not appreciate him and this affected him. During the time art was to be relevant and "speak to current events" and not just simply good. Chekhov was convinced that his writing was not good enough as you can see in the quote above. He talks about how he wants to go beyond simply showing how life is and going deeper than that, by philosophizing and seeing the wrong, setting a moral. Then he goes on to write that he and Tolstoy do not understand such things as politics, revolution or a God to motivate them in such a insightful way as the others, and therefore they are not even capable of doing as others. This idea is especially pointed out when he claims that in "[their] souls there is a great empty space." Chekhov is also saying how the realists do show life as it is but in such a way that makes you think beyond what you see which is the part that holds your interest. The story is set in summer-resort and the main characters are there on vacation. Gurov is a man in his mid 40's married with two children. He despises his wife and does not respect women in general. He frequently cheats on her and feels that women are of the lower caste. He is what we call a lady's man because he cannot stand the company of men and feels truly comfortable only among women. "The opening sentence not only gives a full picture of a summer resort with its gossip, boredom, and people looking for adventure, it also unites the hero, Gurov with the resort crowd." He is considered empty inside, unhappy, bored, but wearing a mask on the outside, just like everyone else. Following that sentence, the second main character is introduced as a woman that stands out from all walking with her little white lapdog. This is when you can see changes in Gurov start to appear, and he sees things in a different light. He first views Anna as weak but something in her he likes. Usually he gets bored and annoyed with a woman quickly but this one captivates his attention. They start to have an affair but eventually realize they love each other
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Approximate Word count = 1422
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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