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Anton Chekhov

"Champagne: A Wayfarer’s Story" follows a penniless writer's train journey where he encounters a wealthy but disillusioned couple. The husband symbolizes success but is unhappy, while the wife, seemingly frivolous, seeks meaning. Sharing champagne, the writer gains insight into their lives. Through witty dialogues, Chekhov explores the complex interplay of appearances, wealth, and personal fulfillment.

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Chekhov Stories

Champagne: A Wayfarer’s Story

Constance Garnett

"The Lottery Ticket" by Anton Chekhov follows Ivan Dmitritch, who buys a lottery ticket on his wife's insistence. When they believe they've won, their fantasies of wealth transform their lives. As reality sets in, the ticket's potential tears at their relationship, revealing greed's impact on human nature. The story delves into the complexities of dreams, disappointment, and the fragility of contentment.

The Lottery Ticket

"Difficult People" by Anton Chekhov portrays a tense family dynamic. Yevgraf Ivanovitch Shiryaev, a farmer with a difficult temperament, clashes with his family over financial matters. His son, Pyotr, a student, confronts his father about his behavior and the emotional toll it takes on the family. Amidst heated exchanges, hurtful words, and raw emotions, the family's frustrations and tensions come to the forefront. As Pyotr plans to leave, the passage captures the pain, anger, and bitterness that permeate their interactions. The strained relationships within the household reflect the complexities of human nature and the challenges of coexisting with difficult individuals.

Difficult People

"The Kiss" by Anton Chekhov follows Ryabovitch, a modest army officer, who experiences unexpected turmoil when he accidentally kisses the wife of an official during a ball. Consumed by guilt and fear, he navigates an internal struggle while facing the consequences of his actions. The story delves into human nature, morality, and the complexities of desire within societal constraints.

The Kiss

I need no great effort of memory to recall, in every detail, the rainy autumn evening when I stood with my father in one of the more frequented streets of Moscow, and felt that I was gradually being overcome by a strange illness. I had no pain at all, but my legs were giving way under me, the words stuck in my throat, my head slipped weakly on one side . . . It seemed as though, in a moment, I must fall down and lose consciousness.

Oysters

Olga Ivanovna Dymova enjoys the company of extraordinary people, all painters, writers and musicians, who look to her bright and original. All members of the small artistic circle which she is a hostess of, they all tell her she herself is a promising artist and pianist, the reputation she tries to uphold by practicing regularly and producing countless and, apparently, not very original 'etudes'.

The Grasshopper

Pyotr, the Bishop at the Staro-Petrovski Convent feels weak and unwell. During the evening service, on the eve of Palm Sunday, while distributing the palm, he sees in the crowd a woman who looks like his mother whom he had not seen for nine years. For no particular reason tears start flowing from his eyes… Tired and in a kind of haze, he returns to his monastery bedroom, then learns from Father Sysoi, a lay brother, that his mother indeed had come to visit him, bringing with her Katya, an eight-year old niece. This brings him great joy, he spends the night in reveries… But he is unable to sleep also because his conditions worsens, and he seems to be in a fever.

The Bishop

Savka, a lazy and strangely introspective man of great physical force and sexual charm, as well as some bizarre habits, is seen as a despicable outcast by the village's male community. Women, though, 'pity' Savka and visit him regularly by night, bringing food and receiving romantic 'hand-outs' which he delivers condescendingly, with contempt mixed with perplexing pity. 

Agafya, a young railway signalman's wife, is the latest convert to the local sex cult, risking her husband's potentially murderous wrath for several minutes of bliss with a man whom she is apparently in almost religious awe of.

Agafya

Travelling from Odessa and Sevastopol, the narrator on board the steamboat meets a man called Ivan Shamokhin, who tells him a story of his love for a woman named Ariadna Kotlovich. Initially he is just dazzled by her beauty, gracefulness, originality, wit and intelligence; to him she is an epitome of perfection. Gradually he comes to realize that there is vanity and coldness behind her shiny charisma. She loves seeing Shamokhin around, but only because the fact that a young man so attractive and virtuous is so obviously infatuated with her, gives her great pleasure. His attempts at escaping are all in vain: he is now totally under the spell of Ariadna…

Ariadne

At a railway station the fat one, Mischa, accidentally meets the thin one, Porfiri. The thin man travels accompanied by his wife and son. The two old school friends greet each other in an exuberant and informal manner. A conversation follows, and it is about careers of both of them as government officials. The thin one appears to be an office chairman with a low salary, and his wife gives music lessons.