book review - The Steppe and Other Stories

Any collection of short stories should provide an insight into a writer’s mind. Unlike a single piece of work there is the chance not only to see how an author handles different subjects and emotions but often in a single volume how their style has matured over the years.

It is no different with Anton Chekhov’s collection of short stories, The Steppe and Other Stories. There are some here that are short in length but deep in meaning and then the final title story, which is long and can appear to be without much direction at times, that is designed to be a tribute to the Russian landscape as well as a tale of growing up.

What you start to learn by reading through this collection is that Chekhov was putting down on paper what it meant to not only be Russian but also to be poor, wealthy and love struck in a country that had a clearly defined hierarchy of social strata. When love should strike as with the accountant and the beautiful landowner’s daughter in Verotchka, social as much as emotional resistance comes into play. On other occasions those with money are robbed and cheated by the poor who somehow thing that God is on their side because they have been dealt a bad hand in life.

The writing is focused but now and again takes flight – particularly the storm scene in The Steppe – and when it does you can start to appreciate just how good Chekhov is at painting a picture that would make most travel writers envious. He is able to draw you in to a story that twists and turns and is a world that is complete. The Mire is one of those stories where the final full stop does not prevent you from thinking about what happens next.

There is also a theme of pride, with the Jewish inn proprietors brother expressing anger at his perceived position in life in The Steppe. It is also at the core of the tragic tale Volodya, who takes his own life after being spurned by one of his mother’s friends. Her laughter and ridicule is too much for the young man to bear.

Because this is a short story collection it is not daunting and by the time the longest story comes at the end you are bedded down in his style and quite happy to stick with it. The reasons why this deserves to be looked at is because it shows just how a writer approaches different emotional situations and manages to work through a tight story despite being hedged in by pagination restrictions.

The perfect book to have with you for those situations when reading can only be done in chunks. There is a real satisfaction here being able to finish up a story in a matter of minutes.

Version read – Everyman Library hardback

Lunchtime read: The Steppe and Other Stories

The story, and the collection of short stories, ends with the steppe again the main backdrop to a terrific storm that darkens the sky and turns the normal in a lightning illuminated horror show. Just like the storms that Joseph Conrad describes out at sea the sky turns black long before the rain comes. At the end of the storm Yegorushka has gone through some sort of illness but also changed in terms of becoming more grown up and is able to start his new life – he has no choice – far away from home.

Highlights from pages 115 – 148
Dymov apologies to Yegorushka and the travellers get ready to set off but the sky darkens and the experienced waggoners get ready for a storm. They pass Yegorushka a mat to keep the rain off but the young boy is terrified as the lightning illuminates strange outlines and those who were one minute before within earshot are now drowned out by the thunder and then the rain. By the time they reach the village where his Uncle and Father Christopher are waiting he is very ill. It is the priest rather than is uncle who looks after him and the next day he is well enough to be taken to his aunt’s house to be left to start his new life at school. The young boy chases after his uncle and the priest when they leave but they are gone and he is left alone to wonder what his new life will hold.

The steppe serves as the backdrop to Yegorushka growing up coming into contact with peasants, understanding that he is being separated from his mother and learning about the priorities that those with money have not just his uncle but also the rich merchants who operate in the area.

A review will follow shortly…

Lunchtime read: The Steppe and Other Stories

Yegorushka starts the process of growing up before he even gets to school as he is confronted by injustice, jealously and has to come to terms with the fact he is different from the others around him because he is a ‘gentleman’ and not one of the peasantry.

Highlights of The Steppe between pages 75 – 115

As the travellers head along the road they start to talk about the past and the old man, who has been reasonably kind to Yegorushka, reveals that his wife and children were burnt to death but despite that the wool traders loved to dwell in the better days of the past

“The Russian loves recalling life, but he does not love living.”

Yegorushka listens along with the others as the old man Panteley tells them about how he was accompanying merchants who were about to be killed when either the Lord or bystanders intervened to save them. Then a love struck man wanders across their camp and afterwards those who are depressed turn on each other and Yegorushka springs to the defence of those being attacked by Dymov, who seems intent on causing trouble to ease his own boredom and depression. As he loses his temper it becomes clear not only does the young man not know how to relate to Dymov but he is also pretty naive about the cruelty of life.

Last chunk tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Steppe and Other Stories

There are some passages that paint a picture of the steppe with its wide horizon, sounds of wild birds and roads so wide that they seem to be have been made for giants. The advantage of putting the story in a well described landscape is that is suddenly comes alive and it is easier to visualise Yegorushka as he trundles through the countryside.

Highlights from The Steppe pages 49 – 75

Yegorushka starts dreaming about the merchant Varlamov and Countess Dranitsky who are both rich and seem to be figures in a world that is well beyond his reach. He is then transferred away from his uncle to the wagons carrying wool and he starts to meet a motley crew of characters including an old man who recommends he gets some education and a young troublemaker called Dymov who is a practical joker.

Hard at this stage to see where the story is going but more tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Steppe and Other Stories

This blog is slowly turning into a confessional littered with excuses for why reading has not been done. The excuse today however is a genuine one with some weight. It was my son’s third birthday and when I would have normally have been sitting with a nose in a book I was lying prostrate with my nose stuck in the ridge between two panels of a bouncy castle. My son believing that he could bounce over me decided to make me try it and if a definition of a clear jump includes being hit in the stomach by a pair of flailing feet then he is of Olympic standard.

Anyway at this pace I’ll be reading Chekhov forever but here are some more highlights from The Steppe

Having waited for his Uncle and the priest to wake up Yegorushka and the travellers move on and the uncle is desperate to catch up with a rival businessman. They stop at a hotel but announce much to the owner’s displeasure that they are not staying. There then follows a description of the owners of the hotel, which borders on the anti-Semitic and is not pleasant to read. But the upshot of the exchanges are that the uncle has a great deal of money, the priest is selling wool on behalf of his son who is not much of a businessman and the focus of a lot of anger and jealously is a merchant named Varlamov.

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Steppe and Other Stories

This final story, the title story The Steppe, which is as long as some short novels might take a bit of time but it starts in a way that does grab the attention.

Highlights from the first twenty pages

Yegorushka is being taken by his Uncle to school away from his mother because she wants him to do well in life. He is bitterly opposed to leaving home and does not really understand what is happening and the story starts with him crying sitting next to the coach driver while a priest and his uncle talk in the back. But after a while he starts to enjoy the moving landscape and looks out on a countryside that he has never seen before. The priest gives him some advice about the benefits of learning but his uncle is more reserved and promotes the benefits of being business minded. They stop for the horses to take a rest and everyone but Yegorushka sleeps but the young boy watches the horses and the bags and then is distracted by the sound of a song coming over the fields.

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Steppe and Other Stories

Most of the Chekhov so far has been thought provoking but not necessarily depressing but the stories from today are very much in the classic tragic Russian mould. Provoked one work colleague to make another request for me to read Jeffery Archer, “something not only light and enjoyable but also fantastically well written”. Enough in just bone sentence to fill up a million blogs in debate…

Highlights from Volodya
A young man who is staying with friends of the family because his mother is not doing so well financially following his father’s death falls in love with the woman of the house. He tells her that he loves her and then later that same night tries to get physically involved with her but both times is rebuffed with indifference and overhears the woman laughing about him to his mother. He goes home with his mother and abuses her verbally and then slinks off manages to get hold of a revolver and then still in a state of heart broken petulance puts the barrel in his mouth and pulls the trigger.

Highlights from Sleepy
A woman who appears to have been sold into service is exhausted looking after her master and mistress’s baby. She dreams of sleep recalling the moment when her father and mother sold her on the highway and then she is sent scurrying here and there to do jobs and chores. By the end of the night she can barely stand and she realises that what is preventing her from sleeping is the child. So she strangles the infant and then lays down next to the cot and falls into a deep sleep.

The first part of The Steppe comes tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Steppe and Other Stories

These short stories remind you of a concise crossword with the clues all being there but it not being so simple to crack the puzzle. To do that you have to read and engage with the characters that on the face of it seem to be sketched but in reality have quite a bit of depth.

Highlights from The Mire
A solider on leave looking to raise the 5,000 roubles needed to pay for his wife goes round collecting debts on behalf of his cousin. One of the debts is with a rich daughter of a vodka brewery and she acts in such an odd way that she bewitches the young solider. He returns home telling his cousin all about her and her refusal to pay the debt. The cousin storms off and comes back a day later equally bewitched but without the money. Both think about her but the solider has to go back and the cousin lends him the money and bids him farewell. He then thinks about paying the woman a visit a few days later and as he walks through her house, full of men, he discovers his cousin there who mumbles something about planning to leave the next day after having said goodbye.

Highlights from Verotchka
A youngish statistical who has been helping out a collective get their books in order comes to say his goodbyes. The daughter of the household of the head of the collective walks with him to the woods to be him farewell. She tells him that he loves him and takes him by surprise opening up her heart. He searches inside his own but finds no feelings for her and then refuses her. He then wanders around her home thinking about the love he is turning down but nevertheless heads back to his hotel and packs his bags.

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Steppe and Other Stories

In a rush leaving the house this morning it was hard to quickly make decisions about what to read today and for the next few days. The lunchtime read was dictated by what ever looked like a short story collection and the main read was ideally going to be developing on a Swedish nautical theme. All I could manage in a rush was a nautical theme but it is hardly in keeping with following Roseanna, which is about murder. Still bear with me while I get my bearings and work out what the next direction will be. Hopefully a trip to the library tomorrow will help.

In the meantime here is the choice for the lunchtime read some more Chekhov and tonight there is Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. But for now on with the Chekhov:

Highlights from The Swedish Match
It appears as if a man has been murdered and a sleuth in the Sherlock Holmes mode decides he can solve the crime based on some of the same principles of observation. He manages to identify who he thinks is the murderer based on her use of Swedish matches, which are rarely used by the general population. But when he turns up, along with a reluctant magistrate to quiz the woman he has worked out is the killer it turns out she is hiding the man in her bathhouse and it is nothing more innocent than an affair leaving the sleuth with plenty of egg on his face.

Highlights from Easter Eve
A man visiting a monastery is taken over on a ferry by Jerome a layman who has just experienced the loss of his best friend who was one of the few monks who could read and write but he is kept away from the Easter celebrations because no one relives him on the boat and on the return journey he stares at a woman’s face reminding him of the friend he has lost

More to come soon…

book of books - Selected Stories

As promised here is the review of the Anton Chekhov short story collection. Most of these stories were short in terms of word count but deep in terms of content and issues raised and it is because he can leave you pondering over a tale for days that he rightly is held up as a master of the short story art form.

The introduction to this collection makes the point that most of the time Chekhov was only aiming to portray characters and wanted the reader to make up their own mind about their morals and motivation. As a result you get a style that is non judgemental and more challenging because you are called onto think a great deal more as a reader – the decisions haven’t been made for you.

There are some great example of that approach at work:

In the Ravine
A merchant, who screws his customers has two sons, on deaf and one who lives away. The wife of the deaf son works with her father-in-law running the business and has started to pick up his ruthlessness. Suddenly the eldest son reappears and hands out some money to his family and then under their advice gets married to a quiet girl. The money turns out to be fraudulent and the son is sent to Siberia for six years. The trial starts to unhinge the old man, a process that is completed after the dominant daughter-in-law starts to take over. On her way to becoming a ruthless business woman she kills the child of her timid sister-in-law and virtually turns her father-in-law out of the house. A final scene has the frail and beaten old man being handed food by his timid daughter-in-law reducing him to the ranks of the peasantry and reminding everyone of how the mighty can fall.

The Robbers
A doctor is caught in a snow storm and seeks refuge in a den of thieves and not only has his horse stolen but all of his medicines and he has a run in with the girl living in the inn for his trouble. A year and a half later he is out of work and starts to ponder the freedom of the thieves and ends up wondering why he didn’t become one himself and as he gets closer to desperation reveals he has stolen already and plans to do so again.

The Beggar
A man takes pity on a beggar and tells him that if he is prepared to work then he will give him a chance. After cutting wood for months the man is given the chance to get an office job, which he seizes. Months pass and he is spotted at the theatre but he says to his saviour that the cook is the real hero because she cut all the wood but it was watching her that made him reform his ways. A powerful little twist that makes you think about charity and what the motivation really is behind giving it.

Is the collection well written?
What Chekhov proves is that length is not the crucial factor it is the characterisation and in this case the involvement of the reader. It is almost as if he is telling you a story to see your reaction. Rather than waiting for you to agree with him there is a sense that you could take sides and they could be different depending on the time in your life when you are reading the stories and your moral stance.

Should the collection be read?
Well worth reading because on a practical level they are far from taxing but in terms of being rewarded there is a glow that last long after the light has burnt out with these stories. It also proves that a writer is capable of various different styles with humour, thriller and morality tale all being part of Chekhov’s armoury.

Version read – Wordsworth Classics

Lunchtime read: Selected Stories

The final tale in the Chekhov short story collection proves that this really is a medium that has the ability to make you think. Seen as one of the greats among the short story writers this tale is exactly the reason why he deserves that accolade. Because this tale is slightly longer than all of the others in the collection he is able to extend the twist and show how brutal life is among the peasantry.

In the Ravine
A merchant, who screws his customers has two sons, on deaf and one who lives away. The wife of the deaf son works with her father-in-law running the business and has started to pick up his ruthlessness. Suddenly the eldest son reappears and hands out some money to his family and then under their advice gets married to a quiet girl. The money turns out to be fraudulent and the son is sent to Siberia for six years. The trial starts to unhinge the old man, a process that is completed after the dominant daughter-in-law starts to take over. On her way to becoming a ruthless business woman she kills the child of her timid sister-in-law and virtually turns her father-in-law out of the house. A final scene has the frail and beaten old man being handed food by his timid daughter-in-law reducing him to the ranks of the peasantry and reminding everyone of how the mighty can fall.

A full review will follow over the weekend…

Lunchtime read: Selected Stories

Most Russian literature is typified by a tragic darkness but Chekhov is able to get a broad smile with his story Without a Title and prove that it can be dangerous sticking with stereotypes.

The Head Gardener’s Tale
Two men sit and wait while the plants they have brought are packaged up and talking about justice the head gardener overhears and tells them a Swedish tale about a doctor who was so beloved by a town that when he was found murdered no one could believe anyone capable of killing him so they acquitted the murderer.

Hush!
A journalist who has to write to order comes home and demands peace and quiet and then stays up until four in the morning writing. All the time his wife tells the children to be quiet and the word “Hush!” is the order of the day

Without a Title
This story has such a good ending, a bit like a joke, that it ranks as one of the favourites in this collection. A monastery surrounded by desert is cut off from the town until a drunken hunter appears. In response the leading member of the monks visits the town to remind them about God but comes back a broken man reeling off all of the sinful activities of the city dwellers. The next day there isn’t a soul left as all the monks have headed for the town.

Last story tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Selected Stories

Only one story today because it is quite long and maybe it is tiredness but it seems more difficult than usual to follow names and get a feel for the environment. Still there is enough going on with a discussion about what it is to be Russian, comments about the benefits and limitations of education and a man who has realised the nature of women and believes he can learn from them.

On The Way
A group of travellers meets in an in on a stormy night and one man decides to use it as a venue to open his soul to a female traveller and tell her how he has lost everything as a result of being a dreamer. The woman reacts with friendliness but is disturbed to find the traveller is heading for a job running a mine for her Uncle, who she says is a depot. He says he does not care but as she leaves she exchanges a glance with him that is meant to make him think again.

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Selected Stories

Another couple of good stories from this collection with one long and another told over two pages but both have depth.

The Robbers
A doctor is caught in a snow storm and seeks refuge in a den of thieves and not only has his horse stolen but all of his medicines and he has a run in with the girl living in the inn for his trouble. A year and a half later he is out of work and starts to ponder the freedom of the thieves and ends up wondering why he didn’t become one himself and as he gets closer to desperation reveals he has stolen already and plans to do so again.

Of all the stories so far this one best typifies the Chekhov distance from his characters with him being able to present the story in the round with the reader being quite able to either condemn the thieves and the doctor or sympathise with them.

Lean and Fat
Two old school friends meet up after many years one lean and the other fat. The reunion seems to be going well until the fat one tells his other friend that he has achieved a prominent position and after that the relationship becomes master and servant and there is a big gap and the friendship is lost forever.

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Selected Stories

Today has been full on with castles, sword fights and a barbeque so getting any reading done has been almost impossible. Running around after two kids is exhausting and my reward after doing it for four days is to go back into a very heavy week at work. Still at least the reading should get back towards normal.

Here are some more highlights from the Chekhov short story collection

The Troublesome Guest
A forester and a hunter a talking when all of a sudden they hear the cries of a woman in distress in the woods. Instead of wanting to go and help the Forester’s firs reaction is to bolt the door to make sure the robbers don’t come for him. The hunter strides out into the storm and helps her and is on the brink of shooting the cowardly forester when he returns but instead strides off into the night.

Not Wanted
A man heads for the country to spend some time with his family but clearly is in the way when he arrives and only useful because of his wallet and is annoyed all day by persistent questions from his son about mosquito’s and why they suck blood – something that the family seem to be doing to the man both in terms of money and mental destruction.

More tomorrow and for the rest of the week…

Lunchtime read: Selected Stories

Another mixture of stories with some hidden depths. The favourite of the day has to be The Beggar with its ending that comes out of nowhere but it makes you think long and hard about the idea of good deeds and just who is benefiting by them – the person giving or the person receiving?

Agatha
A lazy man in the village is the target of infatuation by women keen to help him and become lovers. Fishing by the river one night with the narrator Agatha, who is married to a railywayman comes and misses he husband’s return train and stays the night. The narrator falls asleep in a tree and is woken to watch her with his adulterous companion as she crosses the ford back into the village to face her husband. Those without ties of love and family find it easy to break those for the people that do.

The Beggar
A man takes pity on a beggar and tells him that if he is prepared to work then he will give him a chance. After cutting wood for months the man is given the chance to get an office job, which he seizes. Months pass and he is spotted at the theatre but he says to his saviour that the cook is the real hero because she cut all the wood but it was watching her that made him reform his ways. A powerful little twist that makes you think about charity and what the motivation really is behind giving it.

Children
A mixture of children of different ages and different backgrounds are playing a bingo type game for money and during the race to win the money they fight, make up and then finally run out of steam and fall asleep. In a way it acts as a mirror for adult behaviour, which often ends up in fights and wars rather than smiles and snores.

Lunchtime read: Selected Stories

Again not really lunchtime but it has been a busy day with the family because it is Good Friday and as s result a chance not to go into work. There has also been glorious sunshine in London, which made staying in with a book impossible. But when finally I cam inside and grabbed Chekhov it was definitely worth it.

The Man in a Case
A very reserved Greek teacher who carries his life round with him in his case is encouraged to believe that it might be possible to marry a new teacher’s sister but he becomes upset at the thought people are laughing at him and after falling down the stairs in front of the woman in question and with her laughter in her ears he goes home takes to bed and dies within a month. But as the teacher who is telling the story about him reveals even without the diligent stickler of the rules things continued to be oppressive.

Little Jack
The hard world of an orphan is illustrated with a boy writing at Christmas to his only living relative his grand father asking him to take him away from his position working for a shoemaker who beats him and lets him lead a lonely and hard life. The boy posts the letter and then falls asleep dreaming of his grandfather reading it.

Dreams
Two soldiers come are escorting a vagrant who refuses to give them his name but he reveals that he is the illegitimate son of a nobleman and escaped from hard labour in Siberia where he was serving along with his mother for being an accomplice to his master’s death. He dreams of being sent to Eastern Siberia where he would be given land, a home and freedom to stay in exile. The soldiers jealous of the picture he paints tell him he would never get there because of is frailty and drag him back into town.

The Death of an Official
An official goes to the opera and sneezes on a general in front of him and tries to apologise but the more he tries the more he gets the general, who is trying to brush off the incident annoyed, but after the third attempt the general loses his temper and tells the official to get out, which he does and heads home lies down and promptly dies.

More of that sort of stuff tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Selected Stories

These stories are short but great in terms of the content and have the ability to make you wonder about human nature. They linger in the forefront of the mind and already you can appreciate just what makes Chekhov such a well liked writer, with his clean concise style of prose.

Murder Will Out
An official travelling in disguise to a region he hopes to find fault with asks the coach driver about his reputation. He is pleased when he hears how well liked he is but gets angry when he discovers that his secret drinking is known about as well as his mistresses. In a rage after he hears how everyone knows of his secret visits he tells the driver to turnaround.

The Trousseau
A man visits a house of an officer and meets his wife and daughter who are busy sewing for her wedding gifts. Years later he returns and the father has dies and then after another absence he discovers that the daughter has died and the mother is all alone and he is saddened by the turn of events

The Decoration
A man wearing a medal is embarrassed that he will be seen by a colleague wearing it so keeps it hidden with his right hand but finally he has to pass a woman a drink and it becomes clear but he is relieved to find his friend is also wearing a decoration. Thoughts then turn to who has the best one and from embarrassment to vanity.

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime Read: Selected Short Stories

Just as the introduction leads you to expect these are stories that set things up and allow the reader to make a judgement. Are the characters good or bad? Or even clever or stupid? That’s for the reader to decide.

Overseasoned
A man travelling with a peasant to a remote district is so worried about being attacked he makes up a story not just about having three guns but also being followed by policemen. The peasant driver is so frightened he runs off into the woods and the passenger has to shout out for hours until he returns and they continue on their journey

The Night Before Easter
A man visiting a monastery is taken over on a ferry by Jerome a layman who has just experienced the loss of his best friend who was one of the few monks who could read and write but he is kept away from the Easter celebrations because no one relives him on the boat and on the return journey he stares at a woman’s face reminding him of the friend he has lost

At Home
A lawyer comes home to find his seven-year-old son has been in his study and smoked some of his tobacco. Attempts to reason with him fail until he tells a fairy story where the main character is a boy who smokes and dies from consumption and as a result the boy swears never to do it again and the lawyer learns about talking to a child in their own language

Champagne
A man and his wife have saved up their champagne until new year’s eve but as he goes to open the bottle it drops and the wife says to drink from it will be bad luck. But the husband questions what could happen but then a relative arrives who breaks up his marriage and leads to him losing his home – the bad luck he never saw coming

Lunchtime read: Selected Stories

The lunchtime read this week is going to come from a collection of short stories by Anton Chekhov. Before we begin, which will be tomorrow after today’s wine fuelled business lunch, it is a good idea to put the great man in some sort of context thanks to the introduction.

The points to pick up are that Chekhov was a sort of bridge between not only 19th and 20th century literature but between the idea of aristocrats writing literature and normal people like grocer’s sons and doctors (exactly what Chekhov was). The other difference with Chekhov’s style was that he often did not have a message so he would allow the reader to be in a position to condemn or praise the subjects of the stories.

The other point the introduction by Joe Andrew makes is that Chekhov wrote a huge amount of low-brow stories that were designed to earn him extra money to fund his medical studies under a different name but once he moved to Saint Petersburg then he received the encouragement to go for writing more seriously and that is the point at which the short story collection starts and where things will get picked up tomorrow…