Volodya
A young man blames all of his failures on his mother and shoots himself.
Echoes of The Seagull?
The Goal: Read. Reflect. Respond. Over two hundred Chekhov stories. Constance Garnett translations.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
THE BLACK MONK
The Black Monk
A masterpiece.
What is genius? What is madness? Are geniuses by their very nature abnormal? And if you try to make them normal do you take away from their genius? (Moral: Leave well enough alone.)
What is normal anyways? Does normal mean mediocrity? Is that what we should strive for? To fit in. To be part of the society. To have a position. Or is there something beyond that? Something that connects us to the universe but might also drive us insane -- because it's too much. "In ancient times a happy man grew at last frightened of his happiness -- it was so great!"
A story of a young genius and his encounters with an "imaginary" monk provides the background for Chekhov to explore these questions among many others.
One feels this story is timeless -- where did Chekhov come up with the idea -- like the Black Monk legend that Kovrin talks about: "I have been all day thinking of a legend. I don't remember whether I have read it somewhere or heard it . . . "
How much of this story is about Chekhov himself? Was he protective of his gift -- dismissive -- and did he have premonitions that he would die young? How much did he worry about fame? Posterity?
I can only faintly conceive the happiness, the ecstasy Chekhov must have felt writing a story like this. To be able to create all the pieces and know how to fit them just in the right place -- and all the time writing about the very gift that allowed him to do what he was doing at such a high level. How much was he aware of the Black Monk staring over his shoulder?
And I also wonder about how Chekhov knows so much about horticulture which plays a central part in the story -- how does he research the subject? He can't google it. Does he learn all from personal experience?
This is such a well-crafted story -- that like the garden in the story had to be nurtured carefully -- which Chekhov does -- and the result is that he leaves us something that will forever bloom with his awesome talent and amazing insight into the human soul.
A masterpiece.
What is genius? What is madness? Are geniuses by their very nature abnormal? And if you try to make them normal do you take away from their genius? (Moral: Leave well enough alone.)
What is normal anyways? Does normal mean mediocrity? Is that what we should strive for? To fit in. To be part of the society. To have a position. Or is there something beyond that? Something that connects us to the universe but might also drive us insane -- because it's too much. "In ancient times a happy man grew at last frightened of his happiness -- it was so great!"
A story of a young genius and his encounters with an "imaginary" monk provides the background for Chekhov to explore these questions among many others.
One feels this story is timeless -- where did Chekhov come up with the idea -- like the Black Monk legend that Kovrin talks about: "I have been all day thinking of a legend. I don't remember whether I have read it somewhere or heard it . . . "
How much of this story is about Chekhov himself? Was he protective of his gift -- dismissive -- and did he have premonitions that he would die young? How much did he worry about fame? Posterity?
I can only faintly conceive the happiness, the ecstasy Chekhov must have felt writing a story like this. To be able to create all the pieces and know how to fit them just in the right place -- and all the time writing about the very gift that allowed him to do what he was doing at such a high level. How much was he aware of the Black Monk staring over his shoulder?
And I also wonder about how Chekhov knows so much about horticulture which plays a central part in the story -- how does he research the subject? He can't google it. Does he learn all from personal experience?
This is such a well-crafted story -- that like the garden in the story had to be nurtured carefully -- which Chekhov does -- and the result is that he leaves us something that will forever bloom with his awesome talent and amazing insight into the human soul.
Friday, February 25, 2011
THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY
The Head of the Family
Stepan Stepanitch Zhilin after losing at cards or drinking too much wakes up with a bad stomach and an ugly mood. He unleashes his foulness on his family and his servants.
While the next day all is forgiven in Zhilin's mind -- the seven year old son Fedya will most likely spend a lifetime bearing the scars of his father's abusive behavior.
Stepan Stepanitch Zhilin after losing at cards or drinking too much wakes up with a bad stomach and an ugly mood. He unleashes his foulness on his family and his servants.
While the next day all is forgiven in Zhilin's mind -- the seven year old son Fedya will most likely spend a lifetime bearing the scars of his father's abusive behavior.
IONITCH
Ionitch
I woke up early in the morning and read Ionitch. What a wonderful and sad story. There is so much packed into this story.
Dmitri Ionitch Startsev is a district doctor who becomes acquanted with the Turkins. In the provincial town of S-- the Turkins are considered the most cultured family. The father is charming, tells stories; the wife writes novels; and the daughter plays the piano. The doctor has a fine time when he first visits them.
Some time later, Startsev begins attending the Turkin home and falls for the daughter, Kitten. She is eighteen and has ambitions of attending the Conservatoire in Moscow. When Startsev talks to her in the garden about his feelings for her she slips him a note to meet in the cemetery late at night, and although suspecting she is playing with him -- he still visits the cemetery.
The scene in the cemetery is Chekhov at his best: "It seemed as though it were lighter here than in the fields; the maple leaves stood out sharply like paws on the yellow sand of the avenue and on the stones, and the inscriptions on the tombs could be clearly read." The cemetery scene vividly captures the longing the doctor has for love, for human connection -- and Chekhov uses every aspect of the cemetery to comment on the urgency of living and our ultimate fate: " How wickedly Mother Nature jested at man's expense, after all!"
Ekaterina Ivanovna rejects the advances of Startsev, telling him she is an artist and doesn't want to settle down to be a wife in a provincial town. Startsev is crushed. Soon Ekaterina Ivanovna goes off to the Conservatoire and Startsev resigns himself to building up his practice.
Four years pass and Startsev is invited to the Turkins. He is by now a changed man. Has grown stout and less tolerant of those around him. This time when he vistits the Turkins all that he enjoyed the first time about them annoys him. The father's stories are a bore; the mother is a lousy novelist; and the daughter is a hack musician.
Ekaterina Ivanovna asks Startsev out to the garden and lets him know she has grown up and no longer fancies herself an artist and is ready to settle down -- but Startsev rejects her advances. Why?
Rejected once, his pride shattered, instead of bouncing back and continue to search for love -- the nectar of life -- he becomes bitter and puts a fence around him -- the consequence of that action is that he shuts himself off to life. He puts himself up on a pedestal and looks down at everyone else while becoming an obese, boorish, and unhappy man.
Meanwhile, Ivan Petrovitch Turkin ages little and still entertains with his old jokes.
I woke up early in the morning and read Ionitch. What a wonderful and sad story. There is so much packed into this story.
Dmitri Ionitch Startsev is a district doctor who becomes acquanted with the Turkins. In the provincial town of S-- the Turkins are considered the most cultured family. The father is charming, tells stories; the wife writes novels; and the daughter plays the piano. The doctor has a fine time when he first visits them.
Some time later, Startsev begins attending the Turkin home and falls for the daughter, Kitten. She is eighteen and has ambitions of attending the Conservatoire in Moscow. When Startsev talks to her in the garden about his feelings for her she slips him a note to meet in the cemetery late at night, and although suspecting she is playing with him -- he still visits the cemetery.
The scene in the cemetery is Chekhov at his best: "It seemed as though it were lighter here than in the fields; the maple leaves stood out sharply like paws on the yellow sand of the avenue and on the stones, and the inscriptions on the tombs could be clearly read." The cemetery scene vividly captures the longing the doctor has for love, for human connection -- and Chekhov uses every aspect of the cemetery to comment on the urgency of living and our ultimate fate: " How wickedly Mother Nature jested at man's expense, after all!"
Ekaterina Ivanovna rejects the advances of Startsev, telling him she is an artist and doesn't want to settle down to be a wife in a provincial town. Startsev is crushed. Soon Ekaterina Ivanovna goes off to the Conservatoire and Startsev resigns himself to building up his practice.
Four years pass and Startsev is invited to the Turkins. He is by now a changed man. Has grown stout and less tolerant of those around him. This time when he vistits the Turkins all that he enjoyed the first time about them annoys him. The father's stories are a bore; the mother is a lousy novelist; and the daughter is a hack musician.
Ekaterina Ivanovna asks Startsev out to the garden and lets him know she has grown up and no longer fancies herself an artist and is ready to settle down -- but Startsev rejects her advances. Why?
Rejected once, his pride shattered, instead of bouncing back and continue to search for love -- the nectar of life -- he becomes bitter and puts a fence around him -- the consequence of that action is that he shuts himself off to life. He puts himself up on a pedestal and looks down at everyone else while becoming an obese, boorish, and unhappy man.
Meanwhile, Ivan Petrovitch Turkin ages little and still entertains with his old jokes.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
AN UPHEAVAL
An Upheaval
Love the way the story is structured. You are put right into the middle of the action. Mashenka, a young governess has come home and found her boss Madame Kushkin ransacking her room in the search for a missing two thousand ruble brooch.
We feel her pain and her outrage. Chekhov sets up right away what is going on: " . . . "it was her lot to experience in all its acuteness the feeling that is so familiar to persons in dependent positions, who eat the bread of the rich and powerful."
There are many good reasons for Mashenka to stay and continue with her job as governess. After all, her room was searched and nothing was found and her parents live out in the provinces and are poor. She needs the job. In time, she could find a more suitable family to live with. She shouldn't take what happened to heart. But we also realize if she does stay she will never be the same. Her dignity and her self-worth would be forever shattered.
You Go Girl!
Love the way the story is structured. You are put right into the middle of the action. Mashenka, a young governess has come home and found her boss Madame Kushkin ransacking her room in the search for a missing two thousand ruble brooch.
We feel her pain and her outrage. Chekhov sets up right away what is going on: " . . . "it was her lot to experience in all its acuteness the feeling that is so familiar to persons in dependent positions, who eat the bread of the rich and powerful."
There are many good reasons for Mashenka to stay and continue with her job as governess. After all, her room was searched and nothing was found and her parents live out in the provinces and are poor. She needs the job. In time, she could find a more suitable family to live with. She shouldn't take what happened to heart. But we also realize if she does stay she will never be the same. Her dignity and her self-worth would be forever shattered.
You Go Girl!
A DOCTOR'S VISIT
A Doctor's Visit
A doctor is called to attend to a factory owner's daughter. The daughter has been spoiled by her mother but she is not feeling well. The doctor examines her and finds nothing wrong with her physically. The problem is in her mind, in her soul.
A doctor is called to attend to a factory owner's daughter. The daughter has been spoiled by her mother but she is not feeling well. The doctor examines her and finds nothing wrong with her physically. The problem is in her mind, in her soul.
The doctor believes what is making Liza sick is her surroundings. All those factory buildings. All those workers toiling day and night in an unhealthy environment. All for what? So the profit can be gained by the factory owner and spent on French wine and expensive food that only the governess enjoys? It is a credit to Liza that she can't sleep and is unwell. There is a problem in the factory system and she is responding to it with all her being. The only way the doctor thinks she will be whole is to leave, to escape.
When he departs in the morning Liza sends him off, she will not likely be able to go away from the devilish factory world -- she is trapped -- and the doctor is glad to be going home -- the sun is out and he is in a carriage with three horses.
The story is dated from 1898. Chekhov dies in 1904. The Russian Revolution takes place in 1917.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
THE LADY WITH THE DOG
The Lady with the Dog
The story begins in Yalta. A young woman walks her dog every where. She is noticed by an older man. They meet. He makes his moves and she goes along. She seems to have a very negative image of herself and thinks he will now lose all respect for her. She also confesses to him that she doesn't love her husband and she is trapped living a life that affords no true happiness. All this confession stuff bores him and almost destroys his feelings for Anna Sergeyevna. Her mystique starts to fade and she is in danger of becoming like many of the other women he's been with before which he categorizes as the "lower race".
Somehow that doesn't happen and the scenery and the moment and Anna Sergeyevna combine to make him see life in a new way or an old way -- but in a way that makes him appreciate nature and beauty in a serene and comforting way. They spend a number of pleasant days together. Then she is called home by her husband. And that should be the end of the story. Gurov, after all, has had a number of affairs; that's what he does and this should mean very little to him.
He goes home to Moscow and in no time the whole Yalta adventure should naturally fade. But it doesn't. Seems like the old fellow really fell in love with Anna Sergeyevna. No matter how hard he tries to forget her he can't. Not only that, but his whole life in Moscow now seems utterly trivial, meaningless. He can't stand it any longer and goes to the town where Anna Sergeyevna lives to find her. And when he does -- she feels the same way about him. They are in love.
This love remains their secret joy. Gurov has a public life where he plays a certain role -- but that life truly doesn't represent him. The best of him is hidden in the secret life he has with Anna Sergeyevna. And he wonders what Anna Sergeyevna sees in him. He notices he is graying and not the man he once was -- yet Anna Sergeyevna still loves him. In her -- he sees everything beautiful and lovely that he pretends not to see in his public life. And Anna Sergeyevna also sees him the way she wants to see him -- her frustrations -- her unhappiness in her own life disappear when she is with him -- to her he represents a new future -- a future where she can be herself and live life fully.
The question now is whether the love the lady has with her "dawg" will still hold its mystery, its truth, once the secret life becomes public.
The story begins in Yalta. A young woman walks her dog every where. She is noticed by an older man. They meet. He makes his moves and she goes along. She seems to have a very negative image of herself and thinks he will now lose all respect for her. She also confesses to him that she doesn't love her husband and she is trapped living a life that affords no true happiness. All this confession stuff bores him and almost destroys his feelings for Anna Sergeyevna. Her mystique starts to fade and she is in danger of becoming like many of the other women he's been with before which he categorizes as the "lower race".
Somehow that doesn't happen and the scenery and the moment and Anna Sergeyevna combine to make him see life in a new way or an old way -- but in a way that makes him appreciate nature and beauty in a serene and comforting way. They spend a number of pleasant days together. Then she is called home by her husband. And that should be the end of the story. Gurov, after all, has had a number of affairs; that's what he does and this should mean very little to him.
He goes home to Moscow and in no time the whole Yalta adventure should naturally fade. But it doesn't. Seems like the old fellow really fell in love with Anna Sergeyevna. No matter how hard he tries to forget her he can't. Not only that, but his whole life in Moscow now seems utterly trivial, meaningless. He can't stand it any longer and goes to the town where Anna Sergeyevna lives to find her. And when he does -- she feels the same way about him. They are in love.
This love remains their secret joy. Gurov has a public life where he plays a certain role -- but that life truly doesn't represent him. The best of him is hidden in the secret life he has with Anna Sergeyevna. And he wonders what Anna Sergeyevna sees in him. He notices he is graying and not the man he once was -- yet Anna Sergeyevna still loves him. In her -- he sees everything beautiful and lovely that he pretends not to see in his public life. And Anna Sergeyevna also sees him the way she wants to see him -- her frustrations -- her unhappiness in her own life disappear when she is with him -- to her he represents a new future -- a future where she can be herself and live life fully.
The question now is whether the love the lady has with her "dawg" will still hold its mystery, its truth, once the secret life becomes public.
THE CHEMIST'S WIFE
The Chemist's Wife
An unhappy woman living in the boonies. Wasted potential. She is beautiful, lively, desiring to be surrounded by people -- yet she lives with a dull chemist (pharmacist). Love the way Chekhov captures him in a few strokes: "A few paces behind her Tchernomordik lay curled up close to the wall snoring sweetly. A greedy flea was stabbing the bridge of his nose, but he did not feel it, and was positively smiling, for he was dreaming that every one in the town had a cough, and was buying from him the King of Denmark's cough-drops."
An unhappy woman living in the boonies. Wasted potential. She is beautiful, lively, desiring to be surrounded by people -- yet she lives with a dull chemist (pharmacist). Love the way Chekhov captures him in a few strokes: "A few paces behind her Tchernomordik lay curled up close to the wall snoring sweetly. A greedy flea was stabbing the bridge of his nose, but he did not feel it, and was positively smiling, for he was dreaming that every one in the town had a cough, and was buying from him the King of Denmark's cough-drops."
With a husband like that -- no wonder she can't sleep and is incredibly bored. Trapped. A victim of circumstances. Why did she marry the dull chemist? Most likely she was induced by her family or her economic condition. Yet she wants to live -- to feel joy -- to be fully human -- and she never will. Like many -- she is a prisoner and all she can do is admire the sun rising beyond the cage.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
THE PRINCESS
The Princess
This story confirms why I will always come back to Chekhov. Princess Vera Gavrilovna returns to N____ Monastery. She loves it there. She is unhappy with her life outside the monastery. By chance she encounters a doctor she knows. She forces him tell her what he really thinks of her. She begins to cry. The doctor leaves. The princess goes to sleep. The next day the princess wakes up and leaves the monastery very happy.
The story is simple like many of the best Chekhov stories. But the more you think about the story the more you realize how insightful it is about human nature. The princess as first introduced by Chekhov seems like a caring and sensitive person who comes to the monastery for a spiritual retreat. After we listen to the doctor we come to realize that the princess is completely selfish and treats others crudely and doesn't contribute to society in any positive way.
One would think that after hearing the truth the princess would try to reform herself -- really look in the mirror and see the truth -- in fact, that doesn't happen at all. The princess lives in her own world -- she is never going to look outside of that world -- and in her world everything that happens somehow pertains to her and her happiness. She will go on doing what she does and never realize how it impacts others.
When I think of the princess I think of many of those of higher ranks in our society -- Politicians -- CEO's -- Celebrities -- who like the princess live in a world of deception believing they are helping others -- while the rest of us suffer.
This story confirms why I will always come back to Chekhov. Princess Vera Gavrilovna returns to N____ Monastery. She loves it there. She is unhappy with her life outside the monastery. By chance she encounters a doctor she knows. She forces him tell her what he really thinks of her. She begins to cry. The doctor leaves. The princess goes to sleep. The next day the princess wakes up and leaves the monastery very happy.
The story is simple like many of the best Chekhov stories. But the more you think about the story the more you realize how insightful it is about human nature. The princess as first introduced by Chekhov seems like a caring and sensitive person who comes to the monastery for a spiritual retreat. After we listen to the doctor we come to realize that the princess is completely selfish and treats others crudely and doesn't contribute to society in any positive way.
One would think that after hearing the truth the princess would try to reform herself -- really look in the mirror and see the truth -- in fact, that doesn't happen at all. The princess lives in her own world -- she is never going to look outside of that world -- and in her world everything that happens somehow pertains to her and her happiness. She will go on doing what she does and never realize how it impacts others.
When I think of the princess I think of many of those of higher ranks in our society -- Politicians -- CEO's -- Celebrities -- who like the princess live in a world of deception believing they are helping others -- while the rest of us suffer.
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