I never give five stars but made an exception for this collection. Part of it may be due to the unaccustomed format; not short story, not full length novel. The stories focus on a brief timeframe but add depth that cannot be included in a shorter composition. I am a huge Chekhov fan and this is truly wonderful storytelling.

When Tolstoy was on his deathbed, Chekhov came over to say a final goodbye. When he lowered his face to kiss the dying man, Tolstoy gave him his parting words: "Why do you keep writing those horrible plays? They're even worse than Shakespeare's!"

Well, perhaps 'horrible' is too strong a word. But I do find the plays a bit slow and unengaging, and many of his short stories merely anecdotes written in haste to meet a magazine deadline and put some food on the family table. The novellas, for me, are masterpieces. My Life, Three Years, The Duel - they are my favourite works of fiction bar none.

DNF
I just got so bored and kept forgetting people's names and I wasn't blown away by any "revelation" of human nature. So ya......................

Loved the short novels. The first feels different in tone, more lyrical than the others and from the perspective of a child. I found the women the most interesting characters whilst it’s hard to empathise with any of the men. It is a collection I will return to.

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No one does short stories better.

Когда "нечего почитать", всегда читаю Чехова.

I thoroughly enjoyed these five short novels and highly recommend them for anyone interested in Russian literature from the late 1800's. The new translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky is masterful. With the exception of The Steppe - which is a lovely story of a young boy who accompanies his uncle on a thousand mile journey across the steppe, all the other novels involve the exploration of love, relationships and the complexity of navigating through the changes that were taking place in pre-revolutionary Russia. The novels reveal surprisingly modern behavior and give a very interesting insight into how the wealthy and educated were starting to come to terms with the issues that would eventually spark the revolution itself. These novels are immensely readable as well as entertaining and historically fascinating.

“Chekhov also has a paradoxical vision of the harshness and beauty of the world that goes beyond correct moral or ideological attitudes”
“his irrational intuition that there is meaning and beauty in the cosmos”

呜呜呜契科夫实在是太好了！经常被其中自然流露出的明了纯真的感情还有突然迸发出的对生活的热情感染。

This is a c0llection of 5 short stories (novellas) by Anton Chekhov. He was a part of the realism tradition hence what he writes gives a very real, true picture of his times. My favourites would be The Steppe, The Duel and Three years. His writing style is poetic and lucid possessing the magic to transport you to 18th century Russia with all those amazing Russian names, Russian mannerisms, clothes and food while also exploring the gory themes of labour exploitation, a clear divide between classes (masters and labours), loveless marriages, imposing social obligations, life dilemmas and makes us wonder on the purpose of our very existence. I also observed that while reflecting on the position and treatment of women (characters who are shown to be quite, timid, oppressed), he usually tends to include a 'strong-headed, opinionated, independent' female character. Quite rare for those times I guess.

He has been a master of short stories and no wonder his stories pack a punch. I got a glimpse into why Russian works and Russian authors have been revered for centuries and cannot wait to read more of them and their stories!

Finally, I've finished this book. There came a point in each of these short novels when I found them almost unbearably tedious. There are beautiful passages with interesting insights into human psychology and morality, but they are buried under thousands of words of extraneous detail and description.

The Steppe is unforgivably drawn out, though I enjoyed the atmospheric evocation of a brutal landscape. The Duel was probably my least favorite, oscillating as it did between a man who whined about his life and a man who whined about how the first man always whined about his life. Blah. The only redeeming feature was that everyone ran around calling each other "dear heart," which amused me immensely. I liked The Story of an Unknown Man--the suspense and unusual premise were welcome, but the ending fell apart. Three Years is OK, nothing special. I was surprised to like My Life the best of the lot: I was expecting something boringly ideological from the summary, but I found it the most consistently engaging and touching. A man for whom "nothing passes" falls deeply in love with a woman for whom "everything passes." The ending is sad and lovely and perfect.

I guess I should have started with Chekhov's short stories (versus short novels), but now I'm feeling gun shy.

The thing I like about Chekhov is the fact his writing is so accessible. That is, the language, the words, the sentences do not read as if they were written over 100 years ago. Reading his work isn’t laborious, it’s as engaging and seamless as any contemporary work of fiction. And his interpretations of human nature and behavior are just as relevant today as they were back then.

I don’t know how much of Chekhov’s accessibility in this case is due to Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky’s translation of his work, but if you’re looking for a good place to start with Chekhov, I think this is it.