The Husband
In a provincial town, a woman attends a dance teeming with officers and recaptures her youth, her dreams, and her former beauty.
Her husband, a miserable tax-collector cannot stand idly by while his wife is transforming herself. He tells her to come home or else. She reluctantly leaves the dance and with it her dreams and beauty; instead she is filled with disgust for her husband and her life.
This satisfies her husband but only to a degree. He wishes he could go back to the dance and make all those others who dare to enjoy life feel the emptiness of his existence.
Misery loves company but hates intruders.
The Goal: Read. Reflect. Respond. Over two hundred Chekhov stories. Constance Garnett translations.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
AN ANONYMOUS STORY
An Anonymous Story
This is a real long story. I will just give some of my impressions.
Although full of ideas and life -- the story doesn't quite gel. Something is missing which elevates it to a great story. Is it that the narrator is distant -- dying -- hopeless -- wanting to live but seems to have lived his life in the past? I'm not sure. It's hard to put a finger on it -- but something is foggy -- not quite clear -- it affects you and you want to dive into it -- but it doesn't quite let you. Would love to get feedback from others -- did you feel something was missing in the story too?
Liked the part of the story where the narrator is a footman and we get a glimpse of what life was like for a servant in Russia in the late 19th century and which I'm sure hasn't changed much for a servant serving the rich anywhere in the world.
Liked the character of Zinaida Fyodorovna -- to an extent. You want to imagine -- she is beautiful and noble and a free spirit -- but the reality is probably very different. You sympathize with her plight -- but again -- one feels that she is elusive -- we never really know her -- maybe that's the point -- we see her as the footman sees her -- catching shadows of her but never fully her soul.
The characters of the officials are very well portrayed -- one also thinks that they share much in common with officials in many countries all over the world -- they get their privileges for a price -- a big price.
All in all, I would recommend reading this story -- just for the letter -- the letter that calls on all of us to rise up and live before it's too late.
This is a real long story. I will just give some of my impressions.
Although full of ideas and life -- the story doesn't quite gel. Something is missing which elevates it to a great story. Is it that the narrator is distant -- dying -- hopeless -- wanting to live but seems to have lived his life in the past? I'm not sure. It's hard to put a finger on it -- but something is foggy -- not quite clear -- it affects you and you want to dive into it -- but it doesn't quite let you. Would love to get feedback from others -- did you feel something was missing in the story too?
Liked the part of the story where the narrator is a footman and we get a glimpse of what life was like for a servant in Russia in the late 19th century and which I'm sure hasn't changed much for a servant serving the rich anywhere in the world.
Liked the character of Zinaida Fyodorovna -- to an extent. You want to imagine -- she is beautiful and noble and a free spirit -- but the reality is probably very different. You sympathize with her plight -- but again -- one feels that she is elusive -- we never really know her -- maybe that's the point -- we see her as the footman sees her -- catching shadows of her but never fully her soul.
The characters of the officials are very well portrayed -- one also thinks that they share much in common with officials in many countries all over the world -- they get their privileges for a price -- a big price.
All in all, I would recommend reading this story -- just for the letter -- the letter that calls on all of us to rise up and live before it's too late.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
VOLODYA
Volodya
A young man blames all of his failures on his mother and shoots himself.
Echoes of The Seagull?
A young man blames all of his failures on his mother and shoots himself.
Echoes of The Seagull?
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 visits 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 visits 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!
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