The Shooting Party [Paperback]

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1987

When a young woman dies during a shooting party at the country estate of a dissolute count, a magistrate is called upon to investigate. The mystery deepens and suspicion falls more widely as it emerges that the dead woman was at the centre of a tangled web of relationships: with her elderly husband, with the lecherous count, and with the magistrate himself...

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation)

About the Author

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian physician and writer of short stories and plays, including the masterpieces: 'Uncle Vanya', 'The Seagull', and 'The Cherry Orchard'. Ronald Wilks has translated many Russian works of literature including, for Penguin, those of Gorky, Sologub, Tolstoy, and Pushkin. He is the translator of our three volumes of Chekhov's short stories. John Sutherland teaches English at University College London and at Caltech. He is the author of several volumes of literary puzzles, including Was Heathcliffe a Murderer? His Life of Stephen Spender will be published in May 2004. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr (T); University of Chicago Press ed edition (March 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226102416
• ISBN-13: 978-0226102412
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,938,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive debut novel from Chekhov, June 1, 2006

By 

R L B (Sydney) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shooting Party (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

That Chekhov wrote this remarkable novel at the age of 24 is almost as impressive as Thomas Mann's writing of "Buddenbrooks" at the age of 26. "The Shooting Party" has a greater sense of feverish, almost Dostoyevskian intensity compared with Chekhov's later work, perhaps attributable to his youth. But it also has the same deep human understanding and descriptive ability - in Chekhov's almost minimalist style - as the later stories and plays.

The structure of the story-within-a-story and the metamorphosis from provincial novel of manners to an account of sexual misconduct and moral turpitude (in 19th century terms) to detective story, all within the space of a 200 pages, may seem a little clumsy to a modern reader (and the identity of the murderer may also be a little more obvious now than it was to a contemporary reader), but achieving all of this in such a short novel takes a great deal of talent, and Chekov's great talent is apparent even at this early stage of his career. It is also a fascinating and compelling novel, both for its account of provincial Russian life, as well as the psychological portrayals of the characters and the "whodunnit" element.

The previous review appears to refer to the 1926 translation (by Constance Garnett?), which no longer appears to be in print. This review relates to the new Ronald Wilks translation, which is adequate, though not outstanding. Constance Garnett's translations of Chekhov (which are still widely available) tend to be very readable and idiomatic (in English), if not always faithful to the original. Like many modern translations of Russian, this translation is occasionally a little wooden, and uses expressions or words that would generally not be used in English, reinforcing the fact that it is a translation. Not being fluent in Russian, I can't comment on its literal accuracy. However, despite these flaws, the translation conveys the story and the meaning of the text perfectly well.

One area for criticism - as is often the case in Penguin classics - is that the notes are often intrusive (and occasionally unnecessary, although not nearly so bad as in other books), and I personally object to the appearance of footnotes within the text. I also object to the introduction - which gives far too much of the plot away - appearing at the beginning of the book, especially as so many readers insist on reading the introduction first. Personally, I would prefer to see critical comments appearing after the text of the novel.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chekhov's Second Novel (or Only Novel? ), March 14, 2006

By 

J. E. Robinson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shooting Party (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Chekhov gained fame as the master of dozens of short stories and plays. Most of his works are set in small Russian towns and in the countryside. There is some debate on whether his two longer stories - this being one - are novels.

The present novel is written in the same style as some of his short stories. For example, see "The Complete Short Stories" from Vintage Classics. The present story reminds the reader of "The Duel" and "The Story of an Unknown Man." Many consider it to be his second novel, or his only full novel. Compared to many well know novels by other authors it is short - just over 200 pages with the notes. It was written a few years after the time of his graduation from medical school in 1884. It was one of his first efforts in fiction and contains some elements of a mystery story with an element of comedy or farse.

Chekhov is a little more subtle and human than his contemporary Dostoevsky and he did not write a 500 page novel. But one must admire both writers. In terms of setting and plot, the present work is closest to his other famous work the short story "The Duel" in flavour and setting. "The Shooting Party" has more drama than that short story, and it seems very informal almost slightly crazy; the characters drink a lot of vodka; it is a flamboyant story that takes place in rural Russia; and, the protagonist is a country detective or what they call investigating magistrate. In short, it is a bit of a wild tale. He uses the technique of placing a story within a story, and the two converge at the end.

The Shooting Party, was translated into English in 1926 and Agatha Christie used parts in her mystery novel: "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars FROM HIS SECOND DRAWER, November 2, 2007

By 

John Stahle (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Shooting Party (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Chekhov's "The Shooting Party" (1884/5), his only long novel, is a work of his immaturity, following the early stories for pulp magazines that launched his writing career but were later derided by him as juvenile, and four years before his novella "The Steppe," rightly considered his entry into serious literature. It is a colorful, zippy detective story, yet surprisingly crude and squalid, more Dostoyevsky than Turgenev. The murderer's identity was easy to guess early on, and no plot twist surprised. Read it, just for pleasure, after you have taken the full measure of mature Chekhov in all his acuity and delicacy. The Penguin translation worked well, except for those relentless Britishisms we get so often from English translators. Russians do not call each other "chap" and their peasants don't speak Cockney with dropped h's.