My Life (The Art of the Novella series) [Paperback]

Anton Chekhov (Author), Constance Garnett (Translator)

Book Description

Series: The Art of the Novella | Publication Date: May 1, 2004

...perhaps I was not living as I ought.

Renowned as the greatest short story writer ever, Anton Chekhov was also a master of the novella, and perhaps his most overlooked is this gem, My Life—the tale of a rebellious young man so disgusted with bourgeois society that he drops out to live amongst the working classes, only to find himself confronted by the morally and mentally deadening effects of provincialism.

The 1896 tale is partly a commentary on Tolstoyan philosophy, and partly an autobiographical reflection on Chekhov's own small-town background. But it is, more importantly, Chekhov in his prime, displaying all his famous strengths—vivid characters, restrained but telling details, and brilliant psychological observation—and one of his most stirring themes: the youthful struggle to maintain idealism against growing isolation.

The Art of The Novella Series

Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I wanted them all, even those I'd already read."
—Ron Rosenbaum, The New York Observer

"Small wonders."
—Time Out London

"[F]irst-rate…astutely selected and attractively packaged…indisputably great works."
—Adam Begley, The New York Observer

"I’ve always been haunted by Bartleby, the proto-slacker. But it’s the handsomely minimalist cover of the Melville House edition that gets me here, one of many in the small publisher’s fine 'Art of the Novella' series."
—The New Yorker

"The Art of the Novella series is sort of an anti-Kindle. What these singular, distinctive titles celebrate is book-ness. They're slim enough to be portable but showy enough to be conspicuously consumed—tiny little objects that demand to be loved for the commodities they are."
—KQED (NPR San Francisco)

"Some like it short, and if you're one of them, Melville House, an independent publisher based in Brooklyn, has a line of books for you... elegant-looking paperback editions ...a good read in a small package."
—The Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Anton Chekhov was born into a large family in 1860 in Taganrog, Russia, the grandson of serfs. He supported the family by writing stories for magazines while simultaneously putting himself through medical school – where, tragically, he contracted tuberculosis. He published his first collection, Motley Stories, in 1886, and his second, In the Twilight, a year later. He continued to practice medicine, often pro bono, leading friends to complain about the line of peasants constantly at his door. He also wrote plays, but when critics attacked The Seagull, he vowed to give up playwriting. He did not, and while staging The Cherry Orchard Chekhov collapsed, dying shortly thereafter, in 1904.

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Melville House (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974607827
• ISBN-13: 978-0974607825
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.5 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,619,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful short novel, November 29, 2010

By 

Z. Cipris - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Life (The Art of the Novella series) (Paperback)

Anton Chekhov, justly celebrated for his plays and short stories, also wrote this poignant prose narrative, subtitled The Story of a Provincial. A non-conformist young aristocrat who wants to live through manual labor, inadvertently shocks, puzzles, angers, amuses, or fascinates his fellow townspeople. His authoritarian father is furious, his shy sister is (initially) dismayed, a young woman who likes him grows aloof, another young woman becomes infatuated. Written in 1896, this short novel is a marvelous depiction of the narrowmindedness, cruelty, emptyheadedness, and misery - physical or emotional - that stunted the lives of much of Russia's population of the time. Professionals, merchants, artisans, and peasants (some of them quite sympathetic) are delineated succinctly and vividly, and as the deceptively simple story unfolds, it generates a powerful atmosphere of haunting, compassionate sadness. The answer to a question the narrative implicitly raises - Must life be like this, or can it be better? - is wisely left up to the reader.