About Love and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Anton Chekhov (Author), Rosamund Bartlett (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Oxford World's Classics | Publication Date: August 12, 2004

Raymond Carver called Anton Chekhov "the greatest short story writer who has ever lived." This unequivocal verdict on Chekhov's genius has been echoed many times by writers as diverse as Katherine Mansfield, Somerset Maugham, John Cheever and Tobias Wolf. While his popularity as a playwright has sometimes overshadowed his achievements in prose, the importance of Chekhov's stories is now recognized by readers as well as by fellow authors. Their themes--alienation, the absurdity and tragedy of human existence--have as much relevance today as when they were written, and these superb new translations capture their modernist spirit. Elusive and subtle, spare and unadorned, the stories in this selection are among Chekhov's most poignant and lyrical. The book includes well-known pieces such as "The Lady with the Little Dog," as well as less familiar work like "Gusev," inspired by Chekhov's travels in the Far East, and "Rothschild's Violin," a haunting and darkly humorous tale about death and loss. The stories are arranged chronologically to show the evolution of Chekhov's art.

Editorial Reviews

Review

outstanding translations of a selection of Chekhov's stories... Robert Chandler, Literary Review Bartlett's Chekhov is a masterpiece of texture and rhythm. Not a false word anywhere. Caryl Emerson, Princeton University Seventeen peerless examples of how much life you can put into a few pages of fiction if you have Chekhovs economical mind, his eyes and ears, his feel for comedy and his sense of humanity. Chekhov is better known for his plays. But these are small masterpieces of their own, in a revelatory new translation. Economist

About the Author

Rosamund Bartlett is currently working on a major biography of Chekhov. She is also editing and jointly translating Anton Chekhov: A Life in Letters, and writing The Cambridge Companion to Russian Music and Opera in Russia: A Cultural History.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (August 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192802607
• ISBN-13: 978-0192802606
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,232,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Honest Look at Love, June 29, 2008

By 

Jamie Elliott (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: About Love and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This collection of short stories truly is about love. Not happy-ending fairytale love, but the love that really exists in the world: usually unequal felt, sometimes obsessive, and often inexplicable. The stories are all beautiful, well written and self-contained. Each story exhibits a different type of love: love of parents for children, unrequited love, obsessive love, forbidden loves, loves that could have been. Most fascinating to me is the way Chekhov has written the stories so we can see the motivations of all the various lovers. Some of them really want security, an interest to distract them from their meaningless lives, or just sex. In so many cases, what we would like to call love is just avarice. However the stories are not bleak. There are moments when true concern for others breaks through the characters innately selfish natures. I love Chekhov because his stories feel real, his characters aren't just characters. They are human, with all of our vices, and our slim redeeming virtues.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the translation, November 8, 2005

By 

Albert (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: About Love and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

A well-picked, well-translated, small collections of stories with a sweet introduction (the same translator also wrote a biography of chekhov). She tackled C's long and bold sentences with her own, and has an interesting idea about the "musicality" of C's writing... So warm the samovar, let the serfs off early, and go nuts with this one.

5.0 out of 5 stars A showcase of classy short stories, August 7, 2011

By 

James Rogers (Norfolk, NE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: About Love and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This is one of the most enjoyable books I ever read. The odd characters made it all the more funny. Being a recent peruser of Russian books and having developed an interest in them, I am up and ready for more Russian stories. The stories are deep, witty and humorous in a classic way. The Usurper and Other Stories, Master Man and other Stories, Union Muzhik-- are fine and hilarious books to read.

Anton Chekhov the world master of short stories gives one a witty insight of man and his way of life than any writer I have come across. Overall, this is a collection of masterpieces.