Forty StoriesIf any writer can be said to have invented the modern short story, it is Anton Chekhov. It is not just that Chekhov democratized this art form; more than that, he changed the thrust of short fiction from relating to revealing. And what marvelous and unbearable things are revealed in these Forty Stories. The abashed happiness of a woman in the presence of the husband who abandoned her years before. The obsequious terror of the official who accidentally sneezes on a general. The poignant astonishment of an aging Don Juan overtaken by love. Spanning the entirety of Chekhov's career and including such masterpieces as "Surgery," "The Huntsman," "Anyuta," "Sleepyhead," "The Lady With the Pet Dog," and "The Bishop," this collection manages to be amusing, dazzling, and supremely moving—often within a single page. |
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... whispered, deliberately provoking him. “I wouldn't dare.” “What are you frightened of? The bloody dragoon? Most likely he's tippling in the pothouse....” The boy jumped up, sprang into the air, plucked a single apple from the tree, and ...
... whispered, deliberately provoking him. “I wouldn't dare.” “What are you frightened of? The bloody dragoon? Most likely he's tippling in the pothouse....” The boy jumped up, sprang into the air, plucked a single apple from the tree, and ...
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... whispered. “Oh, just beat him a little bit! He's a fool, and has to be taught a lesson! Give him a beating, my dear. You don't want to? Then I'll have to order Karpushka and Matvey to give you a taste of the nettles.... You still don't ...
... whispered. “Oh, just beat him a little bit! He's a fool, and has to be taught a lesson! Give him a beating, my dear. You don't want to? Then I'll have to order Karpushka and Matvey to give you a taste of the nettles.... You still don't ...
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... whispered. “I ... I ... Excuse me, this is the second time you have ...” But nothing came of the dog's pointing. The doctor, with nothing to do, threw a pebble, which struck Music Maker between the ears, and immediately the dog set up a ...
... whispered. “I ... I ... Excuse me, this is the second time you have ...” But nothing came of the dog's pointing. The doctor, with nothing to do, threw a pebble, which struck Music Maker between the ears, and immediately the dog set up a ...
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... whispered into the doctor's ear. “He says that because it's the fashion nowadays to marry off your daughter to a doctor. He's a sly excellency, he is! Hee-hee-hee!...” “We're coming to the wide-open spaces,” Vanya said. “So we are ...
... whispered into the doctor's ear. “He says that because it's the fashion nowadays to marry off your daughter to a doctor. He's a sly excellency, he is! Hee-hee-hee!...” “We're coming to the wide-open spaces,” Vanya said. “So we are ...
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... —I am myself little enamored of landscapes without human figures in them. The whisper of the waves and the rustling of the leaves were pretty enough in themselves, but when Olya sang soprano to a piano accompaniment and our own basses.
... —I am myself little enamored of landscapes without human figures in them. The whisper of the waves and the rustling of the leaves were pretty enough in themselves, but when Olya sang soprano to a piano accompaniment and our own basses.
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