Plot summaries of the stories of Anton Chekhov - wdjoyner.org

Plot summaries of the stories of Anton ChekhovA. Chekhov ∗July 5, 2012Contents1 Short stories 21.1 1880 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.2 1882 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.3 1883 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.4 1884 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.5 1885 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.6 1886 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.7 1887 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161.8 1888 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221.9 1889 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241.10 1890 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251.11 1891 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251.12 1892 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251.13 1893 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261.14 1894 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271.15 1895 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281.16 1896 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291.17 1897 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291.18 1898 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301.19 1899 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311.20 1900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321.21 1902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321.22 1903 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 Novellas 322.1 1884 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322.2 1888 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332.3 1891 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332.4 1893 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332.5 1895 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33∗ Compiled and latexed by D. Joyner, wdjoyner@gmail.com1

2.6 1896 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 Plays 333.1 1881 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343.2 1886 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343.3 1887 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343.4 1888 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343.5 1889 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.6 1891 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.7 1896 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.8 1899 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.9 1901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.10 1904 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36This is a (growing) collection of plot summaries, since for the most part theyseem to be missing from Chekhov’s Wikipedia pages [C]. When known, linksare given to webpages with summaries.1 Short storiesPlot summaries of the short stories of Anton Chekhov.1.1 1880• “Because of Little Apples”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:Teenage boy and his sweetheart are caught stealing apples by a cruellandowner and his sadistic assistant. The tortuous tribulations they putthe young couple through is interuppted by the landowner’s daughter. Thestory ends with the landowner continuing his sick ways and the traumatizedcouple never seeing each other again.1.2 1882• “The Album”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “At the Barber’s”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134122

• “Boots”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “A Classical Student”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “A Country Cottage”Note: Not to be confused with “At a Country House” The date for thisstory is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “An Enigmatic Nature”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “Gone Astray”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “An Inquiry”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “In the Hotel”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Joy”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Late-Blooming Flowers”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=118183

• “A Living Chattel”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “Malingers”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Nerves”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “Oh! The Public”Note: The date for this “early” story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Summary:A story told by a self-critical drinking man who is a ticket collector workingon a train. One of the passengers argues with him, saying he is sick anddying and wants to sleep. In truth, he has no ticket. This repeats. Finally,the collector goes back his compartment to have another drink.Audio: Read by Kenneth Branagh (on youtube,http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=92A3C135220A7135).Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “A Slander”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1882-1885.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23055• “A Tragic Actor”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17321.3 1883• “The Bird Market”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134174

• “The Daughter of Albion”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “The Death of a Civil Servant”Note: Also “The Death of a Government Clerk”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “An Incident at Law”• “Fat and Thin”Summary:This is about two school friends who meet by chance years later after theyare grown up. They are happy and friendly towards the other. When onediscovers the other is a Privy Councillor, he becomes overly formal andruins the happiness of the meeting.Audio: Read by Kenneth Branagh (on youtube,http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=92A3C135220A7135).Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “Rapture”• “The Swedish Match”Note: Wikipedia says the day of this story is unknown, giving 1882-1885.However, litmed gives 1883. Early detective story, pre-dating SherlockHolmes’ story by Arthur Conan Doyle but not Edgar Allan Poe’s in “TheMurders of the Rue Morgue” (which Poe published in 1841).Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1708Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “The Trousseau”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13416• “Two in One”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A rich boss rides a streetcar for a change. He hears a confident conversationalistwho sounds like his meek clerk, but with more intellience than heexpected. When the boss laughs suddenly, the clerk recognizes him andreverts to the meek personality he takes at work.5

1.4 1884• “A Chameleon”Summary:Amusing story of an officer who cannot make up his mind what to do tothe owner of a dog who has bitten a shop-keeper. The dog could be aGeneral’s pet. He puts on or takes off his coat each time he changes hismind.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “The Complaints Book”• “Choristers”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “A Dreadful Night”• “In the Graveyard”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “In a Strange Land”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Minds in Ferment”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “Oysters”Summary:A young boy and his father are starving. He begs rich men for oysters andthey feed him, mocking him when he bites into the shell. His father stillhungry, watches over him in the hospital.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12000Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “Perpetuum Mobile”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:We’ve gotten into a vicious circle, one of the protagonists remarks nearthe end of the story. The two men have a duty to perform - after all, thereis a corpse waiting for them in a village down the road - but somehow6

they keep going around in circles.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1478• “The Skit”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A skit is written and read by its author to some friends. First, they loveit. Then they suggest changes. Then they say to trash it.• “Vint” Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y]. The game of vintis also known as “Russian whist”.Summary:An administrator passes his office building one night after work on theway home from the theater. Seeing lights on, he goes inside expecting hisworkers to be working on a eport. Instead, they are playing vint, but usingcard combinations named after the the administrators (including himself).He joins them. The story ends with the janitor overhearing some of theirfunny-sounding arguments over their card game.• “Worse and worse”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A choir master is sued by one of his members for insulting him. The formerapologizes to the latter, but in the process makes even more insults. Oncein court, he gets 2 months jail time. He insults the trial judge and theappelate judge as well.1.5 1885• “The Cook’s Wedding”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “A Dead Body”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “Drowning”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A hustler works the docks trying to get money for jumping off the dockto impersonate a drowning victim. The first man is not at all interested.The second is, but will give him hardly any money for the act. The manjumps in, does his thrashing, gets out soaking wet and collects his money.7

• “The Fish”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “The Head of the Family”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13415• “The Huntsman”Summary:While walking along the roadside, a hunter is stopped by his long-separatedwife rushing out of a crop field.• “The Looking Glass”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “Mari d’Elle”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “The Malefactor [The Culprit]”• “A Man of Ideas”• “The Marshal’s Widow”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “The Misfortune”Note: Also, “A Misfortune” or “A Calamity”Summary:A story of the bored wife of a notary republic who is pusued by a youngerlawyer. She, “like a bumblebee bumping up against the window-pane,”yearns to escape her marriage and run away with him.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13413• “Overdoing It”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Old Age”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134098

• “Saintly simplicity”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A son returns home to visit his father after many years absence. Thefather, a priest, cannot believe his son, now a very successful lawyer, hasbecome so wealthy and distant.• “Sergeant Prishibeyev”Summary:Sgt P thinks he must control people, as though they were Army subordinates,even when he is out taking a stroll with his wife. On one occasion,he assaults a policeman and is taken before a judge. The story takes placeduirng the trial when the Sgt tries to explain his actions to the court.• “Small Fry”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “Sorrow”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “Two of a Kind”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A newly married young couple are visiting relatives. Embarrassment overthe relatives’ behavior is replaced by releif when they find that the oherspouse’s relatives are also crazy.• “The Villiage Elder”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A man tells a story of a village “bumpkin” wh makes good and is electedVillage Elder. Not wanting this position of responsibility, he does all hecan to be discharged.1.6 1886• “An Actor’s End”Summary:A story of an actor who becomes ill and thinks he is dying. He wants togo home, interuppting the play is is performing in. The other actors in theplay try to cheer him up and talk him out of it, not believing he is aboutto die. One at a time, day after day, they visit him in his hotel room,9

trying to comfort him with one “remedy” (e.g., castor oil) or another. Allthe sick actor wants to talk about is going to his home town. After a fewdays lying in his hotel-room bed, he dies.Audio: Read by Kenneth Branagh (on youtube,http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=92A3C135220A7135).Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “Agafya”Summary:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section9.rhtml• “Anyuta”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13416• “Art”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “At the Mill”Note: Seems to be missing from WIkipedia.Summary:This is a story of a mill owner who is well-off thanks to his mill and thewell-stocked river. His selfish character is made clear when it is revealedthat the woman he is speaking impersonally to for most of the story is hisimpoverished mother.• “At a Summer Villa”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “A Blunder”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “The Chemist’s Wife”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13505• “Children”Note: Also “Kids” (however, WIkipedia lists “Kids” and “Children” asseparate stories in 1886)Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1341710

• “The Chorus Girl”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418• “A Day in the Country”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “The Dependents”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “Difficult People”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1883• “Dreams”Also “Daydreams”.Summary:Two police officers escort an escaped prisoner who tells them a story ofhope.• “Excellent People” (“Difficult People”)Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=963Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13505• “The First-Class Passenger”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “A Gentleman Friend”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418• “Grisha”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “A Happy Man”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1340911

• “The Husband”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13415• “Hush”Summary:Story of a journalist who is a writer at night after work. He complains ofthe life of a writer, agonizing his wife and family in the process.Audio: Read by Kenneth Branagh (on youtube,http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=92A3C135220A7135).Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Hydrophobia”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y]. Slightly revised in 1901as “The Wolf”.Summary:A tale of a hunter’s fight with a wolf. He worries about catching hydrophobiaas a result of being in contact with a possibly rabid wolf.• “An Incident”Note: Not to be confused with “A Trivial Incident”, from the same year.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “In the Court”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “In the Dark”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Ivan Matveyitch”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418• “A Jeune Premiere”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “A Joke”Note: Also, “The Little Joke”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1341412

• “Ladies”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “The Lodger”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A husband of a wife who owns an apartment complex realizes he is justas much of a lodger as the other tenants.• “Love”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “Martyrs”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “Mire”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12112Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13505• “Misery”Note: Also “Heartache”Summary:This is a story of a father who has lost his son. He drives a carriage andhis customers do not listen as he tells them his son has died.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=140Audio: Read by Kenneth Branagh (on youtube,http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=92A3C135220A7135).Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “Not Wanted”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13413• “On the Road”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1341813

• “The Orator”Summary:A story of a gifted orator who is asked to speak at a funeral. The oratorknew the deceased as a rascal” and on his way to the funeral stoppedby several bars for a drink. The orator called the deceased by the wrongname, said he was a bachelor (while is weeping wife sat in front of him),and described his features incorrectly. During the speech, he discovers theerror himself and gets into an argument with the fellow who escorted himto the gravesite. In fact, the person the orator spoke of was also at thefuneral and was insulted by the descriptions of him. Good dry, black-ishhumr.Audio: Read by Kenneth Branagh (on youtube,http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=92A3C135220A7135).Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Other People’s Misfortune”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A wealthy couple, young and newly married, are on a trip to buy anotherhouse - a “romantic nook” in the country. They arrive at an estate (with itsown fishing pond, guest house, and separate building housing the kitchen)still occupied by its elderly owners. They cannot afford the property taxesand so must sell. The young husband mocks them behind their back, whilethe young wife pities them.• “Panic Fears”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “A Peculiar Man”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “A Pink Stocking”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “The Princess”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=966Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1350514

• “The Privy Councillor”Summary:Humorous story of a brother visiting his sister, and getting her to pay forhis trip abroad so that she can have some peace and quiet.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1883• “The Requiem”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “Revenge”• “Romance with Double-Bass”• “The Schoolmaster”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “A Story Without an End”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “Strong Impressions”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Talent”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13416• “A Trifle From Life”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13413• “A Tripping Tongue”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “A Trivial Incident”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418• “A Troublesome Visitor”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1340915

• “An Upheaval”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13415• “Van’ka”Also “Vanka”Summary:A nine year old boy writes his grandfather asking him to rescue him fromthe home he is forced to live in. He is a servant and poorly treated.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “Who Was to Blame?”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “Women Make Trouble”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A witness is summoned for questioning by a judge. A man is accusedof beating his wife. According to the witness, he beats everyone, wifeincluded. His abuse is tolerated because her has more money than theothers.• “A Work of Art”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1734Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134141.7 1887• “Aborigines”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “An Adventure”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “An Avenger”Summary:Humorous story of a man who finds his wife with another man and goesto buy a gun. He buys a fishing net instead.16

Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “Bad Business”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Bad Weather”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418• “Beggar”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “Boa Constrictor and the Rabbit”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:Unlikely tale of a man describing how he would seduce a happily marriedwoman.• “Boys”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “The Cattle-Dealers”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “Champagne”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “The Cossack”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “The Coach-House”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “Darkness”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1340917

• “A Defenseless Creature”Also “A Defenceless Creature”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “The Doctor”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=962Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “Drunk”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “On Easter Eve”Note: Some date this story as 1886.Also “Easter Eve”, “The Night Before Easter”, “Easter Night”Summary:The traveler’s conversation with the ferryman, perhaps leavened by hislater all-night Easter Vigil, leads him to a mystical event as he returnsacross the river. He experiences a sense of oneness in which grief andhappiness, time and eternity, fuse.Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1504http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section5.rhtmlText:http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/achekhov/bl-achek-easteve.htm• “The Encounter”Note: Also “An Encounter”Missing from Wikipedia (but in “The Portable Chekhov”)See also http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/chekhovbio.htmlSummary:This is a story about a devoted Denisov who roams the country beggingfor funds to rebuild his church. He runs across Kuzma, a thief and a liarwho takes his money. Out of guilt, he tries to return what is left, butDenisov only repeats “It’s God’s money.”• “Enemies”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=30318

Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “The Examining Magistrate”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Expensive Lessons”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13505• “A Father”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418• “From the Diary of a Violent Tempered Man”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Frost”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “Happiness”Summary:Living in a world of superstition and fear, the characters in this storybelieve that happiness is just beyond their grasp. They are convincedthat the countryside is full of buried treasure, but no one knows how tofind it. They see their lives as a long quest for happiness, without realizingthat the treasure is within them all along.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1309• “A Happy Ending”Note: Not to be confused with “Happiness”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “Home”Summary:This is a story of a father trying to teach a lesson to his son (to stopsmoking). He eventually succeeds not though logic but through a story.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1282Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1341719

• “An Inadvertence”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “In Passion Week”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “In Trouble”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “Kashtanka”Summary:The story about a dog is told by an omniscient narrator who privilegesKashtanka’s point of view, so we follow the dog’s subsequent adventureslargely from her eyes.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12106Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “The Kiss”Summary:In this story, Ryabovitch, a real loser of an ordinary man, undergoes twoextraordinary experiences. In the first of these, he stumbles by chanceinto a passionate kiss, a kiss that seems to promise a plenitude of futurehappiness. The second extraordinary experience takes place near the endof the tale, when Ryabovitch undergoes a flash of insight or enlightenment.He suddenly detaches himself from the world, learns to expect nothing,and comes to understand that life is “an unintelligible, aimless jest.”http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=11984Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13413• “A Lady’s Story”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “The Letter”Summary:Story of an archdeacon who has two visitors late one night after a longday. One is a failed priest, who as “lost his way” by drinking too muchand not following proper church protocols. The other has “lost his way”because he cannot love his brother for who he is. The letter is written by20

the archdeacon for the second priest. Despite his failings, the first priestshows more compassion.Text:http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Letter_(Chekhov)• “The Lion and the Sun”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414Text:http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/ac/jr/140.htm• “The Lottery Ticket”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1883• “A Mystery”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “The Old House”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “A Play”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13412• “Polinka”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13416• “A Problem”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13413• “The Runaway”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “Shrove Tuesday”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1341721

• “The Siren”Summary:An amusing story of a panel of judges who disagree on a case; the judgewho opposes an opposite opinion must write an opinion; the others takabout the dishes serves at their regular restaurant outing, causing theopposing judge to be distracted and drop his opposition and join them fordinner.• “Too Early!”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “A Transgression”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “Typhus”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1733Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27411Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13413• “Verotchka”Also “Verochka”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418• “Volodya”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1111Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13415• “Zinotchka”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134181.8 1888• “The Beauties”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/173222

• “At a Country House”Note: The date for this story is unknown. Wikipedia gives 1888-1895.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418• “Attack of Nerves”Summary:This story concerns the dilemma posed by the recognition that there islarge scale human suffering in the world which the individual is powerlessto alter.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=29• “An Awkward Business”Summary:This story illustrates both a conflict of conscience and a conflict betweensocial classes.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=959• “Lights”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13414• “A Nervous Breakdown”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “The Party”Note: Also “The Name-Day Party”Summary:A story about the wife of a lawyer who have a party one night at theirestate by a lake. While she was busy as a hostess, he flirted with thefemale guests, hurting her feelings. Towards the end of the story it isrevealed that she is very pregnant. She delivers a still-born baby the nextday.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13413• “The Shoemaker and the Devil”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “Sleepy”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1341723

• “A Story WIthout a Title”Summary:Story of visitor to an isolated monastery. He criticizes the hospitablemonks, telling them they should try to save the people in the local townwho were sinning from ignorance. This stirred the Father Superior to goout into the town for 3 months. Shocked, he returned to the monasteryto tell the monks of his experiences. He described drunken debauchryand widespead sinning. When he finished, he went to his cell to sleep.The next morning, he discovered that all the other monks had left themonastery to live in the town.Audio: Read by Kenneth Branagh (on youtube,http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=92A3C135220A7135).Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “An Unpleasantness”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A relatively long (23p) story of a hospital physician who strikes his assistantwith his fist. He must deal with his own anger issues in the process.In the end, no one is fired and life goes on as before.• “The Wife”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1883• “A Woman’s Kingdom”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134131.9 1889• “The Bet”Note: The bass of an episode of “The Twilight Zone” TV series writtenby Rod Serling.Summary:A banker and a young lawyer who make a bet with each other aboutwhether the death penalty is better or worse than life in prison.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bet_(short_story)Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “A Dreary Story”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/188324

1.10 1890• “Gusev”Also “Goussiev”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=183Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27411• “The Horse Stealers”Note: A quotation: “If one reasons from science, of course, there are nodevils, for it’s a superstition; but if one looks at it simply, as you and Ido, there are devils ... ”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=11988Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134091.11 1891• “The Duel”Note: See the entry in the Novella section 2.• “Peasant Wives”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=119171.12 1892• “A Boring Story”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=814• “After the Theater”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “The Grasshopper”Summary:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section6.rhtmlAnother summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=11983Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/188325

• “In Exile”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=11866Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27411Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “Neighbors”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1011Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13505• “Terror”Note: This story is about the strangeness and uncertainty in ordinary life.How can we know what is right? How can we tell the good from the evil?Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1541Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13413• “Ward No. 6”Note: Some sources put this as written in 1890.Summary:This is a long story (45 pages) in which we encounter the conflict of storyversus philosophy, individuality versus abstraction. A lazy mental hospitaladministrator befreinds a patient and eventually becomes a patienthimself.http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section11.rhtmlhttp://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=813Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134091.13 1893• “An Anonymous Story”See “novella” section for this.• “The Two Volodyas”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=958Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1341626

1.14 1894• “The Black Monk”Summary:This story follows the character Andrey Kovrin, a Russian scholar who isseemingly brilliant. On a vacation, he starts seeing a black monk, goescrazy, and dies.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Monk_(short_story)http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section4.rhtmlText:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13415• “The Head Gardner’s Story”Note: Also “The Head-Gardner’s Story”Wikipedia merely gives the date of this story as 1888-1895.litmed gives 1894.However,Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1185Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “Rothschild’s Fiddle”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=11968Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418• “The Student”Note: This simple story captures a profound mystical experience. Thestory tells of betrayal and remorse - a very human sequence but also offersthe hope of forgiveness.Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1480• “The Teacher of Literature”Summary:Recall the first two of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths: suffering informsall of human life, and the cause of suffering is desire. Nikitin wins theobject of his desire, and ought to be perfectly happy, but he soon realizesthat something is missing - he is dissatisfied, he wants to escape the confinementand ordinariness of his life. But we know that no matter wherehe goes, dissatisfaction will follow him, unless he renounces desire andachieves Enlightenment.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1198927

Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134131.15 1895• “Anna on the Neck”Summary:A story of a poor young woman who marries an older rich man for convenienceand not love. In the begining she reaches out to her family forconsolation. In the end, she finds a young single man to escort her tosocial events and they become more distance.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13413• “The Helpmate”Note: Also, “His Wife” Not to be confused with “The Wife”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13416• “Murder”Summary:Matvey Terekhov lives with his cousin Yakov, who runs an inn. Matveywas once extremely religious and ascetic, but now has left asceticism behind.Yakov, on the other hand, is obsessively religious. At one pointMatvey initiates an argument with Yakov about a religious issue. Yakovis overcome with anger and Aglaya, Yakov’s wife, hits Matvey over thehead with a bottle, and kills him. Husband and wife are sent to prisonin Siberia. While Yakov loses his faith after the murder, he regains it inprison.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1542• “Whitebrow”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13417• “Ariadna”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1543Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1341628

1.16 1896• “An Artist’s Story [The House with the Mezzanine]”Note: Also called “The House with an Attic”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1544Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13416Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27411• “My Life”Note: The story contrasts the hypocrisy of the upper class, who believethat manual labor is demeaning, but who are also morally corrupt, withMisail’s gradual development of an authentic personal commitment to thesimple life.Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=964Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/274111.17 1897• “At Home”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13505• “Peasants”Summary:A detailed story (45 pages) of a man and his family who must return tothe rural village he grew up in, after losing his job in Moscow. It is astudy of the lower depths of poverty and rural life.Text:http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/1285/• “The Petchenyeg”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13409• “The Schoolmistress [In the Cart]”Summary:This is a story of a school teacher who is riding in a cart, as she regularly29

does, to go to town to collect her paycheck. She day dreams of the peopleshe knew when she was younger.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17321.18 1898• “About Love”Note: Also, “A Little Trilogy: Concerning Love”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=11985Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1883• “A Doctor’s Visit”Note: Also, “A Case History” or “A Medical case”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=73Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13415• “Gooseberries”Note: Also, “The Little Trilogy: Gooseberries”Summary:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section8.rhtmlText:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27411http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1883• “Ionych”Note: Also “Ionitch”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=815Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13415• “The Man in a Case”Note: Also, “The Little Trilogy: The Man in the Case” or “The LittleTrilogy: The Man in the Shell” or “The Little Trilogy: A Hard Case”A fascinating story of character. Chekhov uses the device of a tale withina tale.Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=107530

Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1883• “A Visit to Friends”Note: Missing from Wikipedia. Appeared in [Y].Summary:A successful Moscow lawyer gets a letter from three sisters he knew as ayoung man. The implore him to visit, with the hope that he will takepity and help them save their family estate. Through poor management,their estate must be sold and he thinks about the life he might have leadhad he married one of the sisters. In the end, he returns to Moscow to hiswork, never to think of them again.1.19 1899• “The Darling”Summary:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section7.rhtmlhttp://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=961Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13416• “The Lady with the Dog”Summary:This tells the story of an adulterous affair between a Russian banker anda young lady he meets while vacationing in Yalta. The story comprisesfour parts: (I) describes the initial meeting in Yalta, (II) the consummationof the affair and the remaining time in Yalta, (III) Gurov’s returnto Moscow and his visit to Anna’s town, and (IV) Anna’s visits to Moscow.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_with_the_Dog_(short_story)http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section1.rhtmlText:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13415http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27411• “On Official Duty”Summary:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section3.rhtmlText:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1732• “The New Villa”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1179431

1.20 1900• “At Christmas Time”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12251• “In the Ravine”Summary:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section2.rhtml1.21 1902• “The Bishop”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=10431.22 1903• “Betrothed [The Fiance]”Note: Chekhov’s last completed story.Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1140Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134122 NovellasPlot summaries of the novellas of Anton Chekhov.2.1 1884The Shooting PartyNote: The first novel (ever) written in the format of a mystery. In itsinnovative structure, the book prefigures Agatha Christie’s most famous novel,“The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” written 45 years later. Christie’s novel causeda sensation with its narrator-as-murderer plot device. It is interesting thatThe Shooting Party was first translated into English in 1926, only a few yearsbefore Agatha Christie published “Roger Ackroyd.” Perhaps Chekhov inventedAgatha Christie’s famous device.Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1246232

2.2 1888The SteppeSummary:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section12.rhtml2.3 1891The DuelNote: Wikipedia called this a “short story” as opposed to a “novella.”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=304Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13505http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Duel_(Chekhov-Garnett)2.4 1893An Anonymous StoryNote: Alternate translations: The Story of an Unknown Man/The Story ofa NobodySummary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12091Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134152.5 1895Three YearsSummary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12114Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134162.6 1896My LifeSummary:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section10.rhtml3 PlaysPlot summaries of the plays of Anton Chekhov.33

3.1 1881• That Worthless Fellow PlatonovNote: Also known as “Platonov.’3.2 1886• On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco ( 1886, 1902)Note: Revised in 1902. Both versions appeared in [Y].Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1110Text:http://method.vtheatre.net/doc/tobacco.htmlhttp://www.wdjoyner.org/writing/public-domain/chekhov/3.3 1887• Swansong - a one-act playText:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1753• IvanovNote: A drama in four actsAlso “Ivanoff”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1139Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17553.4 1888• The BearNote: A one act comedyAlso “The Boor”Summary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1080Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7986• A Marriage ProposalNote: A one act play. Written 1888-1889. Also “The Proposal”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/798634

3.5 1889• A Tragedian in Spite of HimselfNote: Also, “A Reluctant Tragic Hero”Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7986• The WeddingNote: One act.Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7986• The Wood DemonNote: A four-act comedy3.6 1891• The Festivities3.7 1896• The SeagullNote: A comedy in four actsSummary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=965Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17543.8 1899• Uncle VanyaNote: Written: 1899-1900Based on The Wood DemonSummary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=822Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17563.9 1901• Three SistersNote: A drama in four acts35

Summary: This is a beautiful play of character, relationship, and motivation.It explores the gap between hope and fulfillment in the lives of theProzorovs and their friends.http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=846Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/79863.10 1904• The Cherry OrchardNote: A comedy in four actsSummary:http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=11865Text:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7986References[C]A. Chekhovhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhovhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov_bibliographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_short_stories_by_Anton_ChekhovStories of Anton Chekhov:http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/c#a708[Y] Avrahm Yarmolinsky (translator and editor), The Unknown Chekhov Farrar,Straus and Giroux, 1999.36