Anton Chekhov's Short Stories (Norton Critical Editions) [Paperback]

Anton Chekhov (Author), Ralph E. Matlaw (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 1979 | ISBN-10: 0393090027 | ISBN-13: 978-0393090024 | Edition: 1st

The thirty-four stories in this volume span Chekhov’s creative career.

They present a wide spectrum of comic and serious themes and a variety of techniques. (His short novels, available in another Norton volume, Seven Short Novels by Chekhov, have been omitted.) Two of the stories have been translated for this edition by Professor Matlaw; the other translations, by Constance Garnett, Ivy Litvinov, and Marian Fell, have been revised in accordance with contemporary usage. Footnotes have been supplied wherever necessary to explain peculiarities of Russian life and the historical era in which Chekhov lived and wrote. "Backgrounds" includes a rich selection of Chekhov’s letters, in new translations by Professor Matlaw, and Gorky’s celebrated essay on Chekhov, translated by Ivy Litvinov. The critical essays offer general views of Chekhov’s art and achievement and detailed analyses of particular stories. The critics are D. S. Mirsky, A. B. Derman (whose essay has been translated from the Russian especially for this edition), Renato Poggioli, Gleb Struve, Donald Rayfield, Karl Kramer, Virginia Llewellyn Smith, and Nils Åke Nilsson. A Selected Bibliography directs readers to resources for further study.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Anton Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860 in Taganrog, Russia. He graduated from the University of Moscow in 1884. Chekhov died of tuberculosis in Germany on July 14, 1904, shortly after his marriage to actress Olga Knipper, and was buried in Moscow.

Ralph E. Matlaw was Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Chicago. He was the author of "The Brothers Karamazov": Novelistic Technique and translated and edited Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground and The Grand Inquisitor, Odoevsky’s Russian Nights, and Grigoryev’s Moral and Literary Wanderings. He also edited Tolstoy: A Collection of Critical Essays; Belinsky, Chernyshevsky, and Dobrolyubov: Selected Criticism; and the Norton Critical Editions of Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons and Anton Chekhov’s Short Stories.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (April 17, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393090027
• ISBN-13: 978-0393090024
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 67 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the peaks of literary history August 10, 2000

By Stan Vernooy

Format:Paperback

In over 35 years of reading adult literature, these are my all-time favorite works. Chekhov has an uncanny and incomparable ability: virtually nothing happens in many of his stories, yet as you close the book you are aware that something deep and wonderful about human character has been revealed. Chekhov has often been described as being unsurpassed in describing the RUSSIAN character, but I find his descriptions of people, their insecurities and their relationships, to be universal.

If you read books for the action, the color, or the conflict, you will find little of it here. All you will find is quiet and penetrating insight into what it means to be a human being living with other human beings.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best collections for readers as well as writers November 27, 2000

By ninjasuperstar

Format:Paperback

This collection will expose you to not only some of the best short stories by Anton Chekhov, but some of the best stories ever written in any language. Chekhov's sense of mood and characters overrides his need to provide a predictable plot. He is the forerunner for America's beloved Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and may others in between. People may criticize some of Chekhov's Romantic devices and tendencies, but no one can deny the exactitude of his writing. His work is simple and does not rely heavily on existential characters and events, creating a timeless air.

For writers (and interested readers), there is an appendage of letters that Chekhov wrote to friends about writing. His advice is so right and simple that you'll wonder why your favorite author, or even you, didn't think of them first. Chekhov turns out to be a rather arrogant guy, claiming he never spent more than a day on a story and that his only job was "to be talented," but that is part of his charm. He is the link to modern fiction that is often forgotten. Buy or check out this book. It is a must.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introduction to the short fiction of Chekov. November 10, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Norton had done it again! This colllection of Chekov short stories is not only broad and complete but gives excellent supplemental criticial, historical, and biographical background to the artistic life of Chekov, by some of the most renown scholars of Russian literature. The text also pays close attention to translation, giving the reader understanding and explanation of possible translation ambiguities with footnotes.

An excellent introduction to the short fiction of Chekov. Highly recommended!