(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Aanton Chekhov, widely hailed as the supreme master of the short story, also wrote five works long enough to be called short novels–here brought together in one volume for the first time, in a masterly new translation by the award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. The Steppe–the most lyrical of the five–is an account of a nine-year-old boy’s frightening journey by wagon train across the steppe of southern Russia. The Duel sets two decadent figures–a fanatical rationalist and a man of literary sensibility–on a collision course that ends in a series of surprising reversals. In The Story of an Unknown Man, a political radical spying on an important official by serving as valet to his son gradually discovers that his own terminal illness has changed his long-held priorities in startling ways. Three Years recounts a complex series of ironies in the personal life of a rich but passive Moscow merchant. In My Life, a man renounces wealth and social position for a life of manual labor. The resulting conflict between the moral simplicity of his ideals and the complex realities of human nature culminates in a brief apocalyptic vision that is unique in Chekhov’s work.

Considered by many as the greatest short story writer the world has seen, Anton Chekhov changed the genre itself with his spare, impressionistic depictions of Russian life and the human condition. From characteristically brief, evocative early pieces such as The Huntsman and his masterpiece A Bet to his best-known stories such as The Lady with the Little Toy Dog and The Requiem, this collection of Chekhov’s remarkable short fiction possesses the unmatched power of art to awe and change the reader. This endlessly pleasing edition, expertly translated, is especially faithful to the meaning of Chekhov’s prose and the unique rhythms of his writing, giving readers an authentic sense of his style and a true understanding of his greatness.

This carefully edited collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Excerpt: "Life is a vexatious trap; when a thinking man reaches maturity and attains to full consciousness he cannot help feeling that he is in a trap from which there is no escape."Ward No. Six (1892) Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian physician, dramaturge and author who is often referred to as one of the seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. He made no apologies for the difficulties he posed to the readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them. Contents: Living Chattel Joy Bliss At The Barber's Enigmatic Nature Classical Student Matter of Classics Death of A Government Clerk Daughter of Albion Trousseau Inquiry Fat and Thin Tragic Actor Slanderer Bird Market Choristers Album Minds in Ferment Chameleon In The Graveyard Oysters Swedish Match Safety Match The Marshal's Widow Small Fry In an Hotel Boots Nerves Country Cottage Malingerers Fish Horsey Name Gone Astray Huntsman Malefactor Head of the Family Dead Body Cook's Wedding In A Strange Land Overdoing It Old Age Sorrow Oh! The Public Mari D'Elle The Looking-Glass Art A Blunder Children Misery Upheaval Actor's End The Requiem Anyuta Ivan Matveyitch The Witch Story Without an End Joke Agafya Nightmare Grisha Love Easter Eve Ladies Strong Impressions Gentleman Friend Happy Man Privy Councilor Day in the Country At a Summer Villa Panic Fears Chemist's Wife Not Wanted Chorus Girl Schoolmaster Troublesome Visitor Husband Misfortune Pink Stocking Martyrs First-Class Passenger Talent Dependents Jeune Premier In The Dark Trivial Incident Tripping Tongue Trifle from Life Difficult People In the Court Peculiar Man Mire Dreams Hush Excellent People An Incident Orator Work of Art Who Was to Blame? On The Road Vanka Champagne Frost Beggar ...

'The Murder' is a short story written by Anton Chekhov. It begins at the evening service celebrated at Progonnaya Station. Before the great ikon, painted in glaring colors on a background of gold, stood the crowd of railway servants with their wives and children, and also of the timbermen and sawyers who worked close to the railway line. All stood in silence, fascinated by the glare of the lights and the howling of the snow-storm which was aimlessly disporting itself outside, regardless of the fact that it was the Eve of the Annunciation. The old priest from Vedenyapino conducted the service; the sacristan and Matvey Terehov were singing.

From the celebrated, award-winning translators of Anna Karenina and War and Peace a lavish, masterfully rendered volume of stories by one of the most influential short fiction writers of all time. Chekhov's genius left an indelible impact on every literary form in which he wrote, but none more so than short fiction. Now, renowned translators and longtime house authors Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky give us their peerless renderings of fifty-two Chekhov stories--a full deck These stories, which span the full arc of his career, reveal the extraordinary variety and unexpectedness of his work, from the farcically comic to the darkly complex, showing that there is no one type of "Chekhov story." They are populated by a remarkable range of characters who come from all parts of Russia, all walks of life, and who, taken together, have democratized the short story. Included here are a number of never-before-translated stories, including "Reading" and "An Educated Blockhead." Here is a collection that promises profound delight.

...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.