A TRIVIAL INCIDENT

A Trivial Incident

Prince Sergey Ivanitch could've been very wealthy instead of barely getting by.

But he had to lie.

Pretend to say he loved the ugly princess.

But he was too honest.

So he blew it.

Now he's got the truth and no dinner.

He has his good name but he might lose his estate.

He told the truth and most took advantage of him.

The fool on the hill.

And why exactly did he reject the princess?

Was it solely on looks?

Did he think himself superior?

Now you have a  princess with lots of money and very little happiness.

And an honest prince who needs to work on his résumé.

True that!

A GENTLEMAN FRIEND

A Gentleman Friend

Where there's a will there's a way.

Vanda needs clothes -- needs style -- needs to live well.

Just out of the hospital with nothing but a ring which she pawns for a ruble -- she has to employ her charms to get back in the game.

But like Batman sans cape -- she just doesn't have the same bravado without the fancy apparel -- she goes to a dentist  she's familiar with -- one who has enjoyed her attention -- a converted Jew -- who Chekhov still refers to as a Jew. (Does Chekhov subscribe to the idea that once a Jew always a Jew -- it's in the blood -- something the Nazis believed? Let's hope not.)

Vanda loses a tooth to Finkel the dentist and her ruble -- he pulls out her tooth in an unsanitary procedure -- was this the customary ways that dentists worked back then? -- or is this an indictment against Jews for being unclean?(In Spain -- the converted Jews of the Inquisition were referred to as Marranos which translated to pigs).

Vanda doesn't let this discourage her -- within a matter of hours -- she has figured out how to live la Vida Loca again.

Men are easy prey to the charms of a willing lady or are women victims of a society that forces them to rely on their sex for advantage?

Who knows?

Vanda isn't a sociologist -- she just wants to party and party she will.

BAD WEATHER

Bad Weather

A cheating lawyer.

Some things never change.

Last night I saw the movie -- The Lincoln Lawyer.

Kvashin would've liked his style.

Not so his mother-in law.

Eventually she'll realize that there's

20, 000 rubles down the drain.

ZINOTCHKA

Zinotchka

A tender hate story.

Love always gets the credit.

Makes the world go round.

But this story delightfully deals with hate.

Hate can be just as powerful as love.

Just as intoxicating.

And once you fall in hate -- it might take a long time to come out of it.

Maybe you stay in hate forever.

So beware by your actions that you don't provoke someone to hate you.

They may become fond of the feeling and may never want to give it up.

Coincidentally after reading Zinotchka  I read an article about the artist Lucius Freud who died Wednesday night. He hadn't spoken to his brother Clement for over fifty years and supposedly the hatred begun with a childhood racing contest.

Chekhov is always timely.

IVAN MATVEYITCH

Ivan Matveyitch

The man of learning waits for Ivan Matveyitch. He is angry because Ivan Matyevitch is late. He won't put up with it anymore. What kind of secretary comes late every day? He is useless. Useless!

Ivan Matveyitch finally arrives. The man of learning shows his displeasure but doesn't fire Ivan Matveyitch.

The man of learning depends on Ivan Matveyitch. Not so much for his secretarial work but for companionship.

And that's why he gets so angry when Ivan Matveyitch is late.

ROTHSCHILD'S FIDDLE

Rothschild's Fiddle

A man, Yakov Ivanov, who makes a living as an undertaker doesn't get much out of life. He worries about money -- what he earns and might've earned -- but hardly pays attention to his faithful wife of fifty-three years.

His life doesn't know much joy. He makes good coffins and he's proud of that. But he also hates. He hates Rothschild, the Jewish musician who plays flute in the band. He ill treats Rothschild for no apparent reason.

Here we have a man who is miserable and doesn't care for anyone much -- unless they're dying and he thinks he will make a good profit when they croak.

His loyal wife gets sick -- he takes her to the doctor who doesn't treat her well -- and when he realizes his wife is dying -- he starts to look back and begins to sense how poorly he treated her.

She dies. He buries her for next to nothing in a coffin he made and he is immensely satisfied that he was able to make such an elegant coffin at such a cheap price.

Then comes Rothschild to ask him to play with the band and Yakov lashes out at him -- and Rothschild gets bitten by a dog while running away.

Finally, Yakov becomes ill and when he is facing death he has a satori -- going to the river he remembers his infant daughter who died and he understands what a wretched life he created for himself -- how many lost opportunities there were.

Possibly he never got over the death of his daughter -- he shut himself up -- punished himself -- dwelt in death and not life.

He finds redemption in the end by changing his ways. His final act is to give away his beloved fiddle to Rothschild.

I think one can decipher Chekhov's philosophy in this story -- his grand message:

"Why did people in general hinder each other from living? What losses were due to it! what terrible losses! If it were not for hatred and malice people would get immense benefit from one another."

Amen, brother!

Having read Mire a while back and feeling disappointed in the story's portrayal of a Jewish woman and wondering where Chekhov stood on Antisemitism which appears to be quite rampant at the time -- I feel in this story Chekhov delivers a strong message against hatred and malice and I want to believe that Chekhov learned that the best way for all of us to make the most out of life is not to go against each other-- to look beyond nationality -- religion -- class -- gender -- race --  and to stand up for each other.

I also see parallels with Shakespeare's King Lear -- men in their old age who come to see the truth.

Maybe too little but never too late.

ON THE ROAD

On The Road

A man has a a passion for women. He sees them as goddesses. They give him meaning. And they seem to follow him around. They are loyal. Devoted.Willing to do anything for him.

The man in question is Grigory Petrovitch Liharev -- a  former landowner who has delved wholeheartedly into various forms of salvation and in the process has now been reduced to a beggar. Still he's got fire.

The fire is now focused on the female. He's also got a willing listener. Actually she's got no other option. A snowstorm has left a young noble woman Mlle. Ilovaisky stranded in the travelers' room of an inn and she is held hostage by the exhortations of Grigory Petrovitch Liharev.

Seems like Liharev might have taken the Forum -- a new age seminar which teaches people to be completely open  -- to the point that you meet someone for the first time and quickly share your intimate thoughts like you've known them for years. And Liharev would have been an ace Forum student. He's so good at what he does that you feel that this high class woman might just be willing to follow him,  a down and out forty year old, to the end of the world if he had more of a chance to work his spell on her.

The thing here is passion. Most of us just go about doing our thing and we don't burn -- we mostly simmer -- well -- since this story is called On The Road -- let me share some Jack Kerouac from his great novel On The Road that seems apropos:

"[...] the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' "

Liharev is definitely mad and people who are living normal lives are taken aback by such force -- such vitality -- such passion -- maybe they also desire it for themselves -- want to be in that ring of fire -- want to fully live in the moment. . .

But then the day comes and one wakes up and moves on.

Miie. Ilovaisky will continue being who she is -- wondering what's missing -- why she lacks that kind of passion? -- what is it that attracted her to Liharev? -- and Liharev will continue burning until he finally fades into the dark.