One evening while returning home after a long day, Kashtanka runs off to cower from a marching regiment passing by on an unfamiliar street, and the loyal mongrel becomes horrified as she realizes that she has lost her master. Desperate, hungry and exhausted, Kashtanka falls asleep in a doorway, wallowing in her despair. But, soon, a mysterious stranger finds her and invites her along with him, and Kashtanka embarks on the adventure of her life.
Charming, profound, and masterfully translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky for their collection, Fifty-Two Stories, this is one of Anton Chekhov’s most beloved pieces of short fiction. “Kashtanka” is an enduring classic that will enchant both long-time readers of Chekhov’s work and those who are discovering the joy and delights his stories can bring.
An ebook short.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904) was a Russian playwright and short story writer who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theater. Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife," he once said, "and literature is my mistress."
Chekhov renounced the theatre after the disastrous reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text."
Chekhov had at first written stories only for financial gain, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations which have influenced the evolution of the modern short story. He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them.
Anton Chekhov was the author of hundreds of short stories and several plays and is regarded by many as both the greatest Russian storyteller and the father of modern drama.
View titles by Anton Chekhov
One evening while returning home after a long day, Kashtanka runs off to cower from a marching regiment passing by on an unfamiliar street, and the loyal mongrel becomes horrified as she realizes that she has lost her master. Desperate, hungry and exhausted, Kashtanka falls asleep in a doorway, wallowing in her despair. But, soon, a mysterious stranger finds her and invites her along with him, and Kashtanka embarks on the adventure of her life.
Charming, profound, and masterfully translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky for their collection, Fifty-Two Stories, this is one of Anton Chekhov’s most beloved pieces of short fiction. “Kashtanka” is an enduring classic that will enchant both long-time readers of Chekhov’s work and those who are discovering the joy and delights his stories can bring.
An ebook short.
Author
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904) was a Russian playwright and short story writer who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theater. Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife," he once said, "and literature is my mistress."
Chekhov renounced the theatre after the disastrous reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text."
Chekhov had at first written stories only for financial gain, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations which have influenced the evolution of the modern short story. He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them.
Anton Chekhov was the author of hundreds of short stories and several plays and is regarded by many as both the greatest Russian storyteller and the father of modern drama.
View titles by Anton Chekhov
