Customer Reviews

The Black Monk

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This story has all the mystery of a parable, all the breadth of high Russian literature and the richness of a dream. A ghost-like figure haunts a rather Romantic protagonist, arriving in the form of a column of darkness that resolves into a hooded monk and begins to communicate with the hero about the nature of humanity in the world. As a picture of insanity, and yet a terrible descent into understanding, Chekhov's story is a powerful tribute to Russian and Catholic folklore as well as a portrait of the lone intellectual becoming immersed in asceticism. Highly recommended.

Chekhov is the master of the short story, and this collection does him justice. Although "The Black Monk" and "Peasants" are perhaps the most famous stories, I think the "House with the Mezzanine" (sometimes translated as the "House with the Mansard") is the best in the collection. It is a story about the surprise of falling in love and ends with a beautiful passage about missing one's old love. It's very short length and emotional power are vintage Chekhov.

The "Black Monk" is a very intriguing story. It touches on the fine line between madness on the one hand and happiness and spirituality on the other. It's an extraordinary story with remarkable psychological insights. There is no neat resolution, but given the subject matter I don't think there can be a neat resolution.

If this is your first reading of Chekhov, you might want to try a collection with shorter pieces -- or you may want to start with "The House with the Mezzanine" so you can get hooked. Otherwise, read this and as many other collections of Chekhov as you can.

Chekhov wrote some fine tales--"Peasants" probably being the best of the bunch. But I found the parable of "The black Monk" one of the most unsatisfying stories I have read. I am left not knowing what the norms of the story are: are we supposed to sympathize with the protagonist or reject his perversity? Is he a hero of sensibility victimized by ordinary people, or is he merely crazy and destructive? Who knows? As the story stands, I find it impossible to say. When a story leaves you straddling a razor, I think it is not a success.

"'The Black Monk" is a great existentialist story. The main character must choose between the rigid bourgeois conventions of his fiancee and to-be father-in-law in their ordered country gardens or he must choose a path of intellectual and spiritual freedom that the apparition of the Black Monk reveals to him. In choosing the latter, he comes into direct conflict with society's expectations and norms of behavior although he finds his greatest spiritual happiness and release in his new and emerging understanding and experiences. He is branded as mentally unstable and struggles to find his way back to his own true sense of being.

As for "Peasants," this is a brilliant piece showing the tragic conditions of a poor, rural community and disproves the adage that "ignorance is bliss."

Ulttimately, a great duo of thoughtful and moving stories.

The Black Monk is a very difficult short story with different interpretations.
However, the result is always the same, that is, he will die either on his own way to obtain the professorship or die in a way told in this story.
Perhaps, the first way of dying is better than the second one, because he would die happily, while the second way left much pain not only to himself, but also to his beloved ones, who in fact made him die in the second way.