Find today’s 1200 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/056.html Travis Review: Grisha is two years and eight months of age. This is not the first time we’ve read a Chekhov story about a young child, but this by far the youngest so far. Everything we see is through Grisha’s eyes and his limited knowledge and vocabulary. It seems …
Find today’s 5553 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/055.html Travis Review: Today’s story has a similar Chekhov theme of people misunderstanding each other. In this case it is between Kunin, a well off and ambitious permanent Rural Board member and a shabby, young priest in the district. This story is only seen through Kunin’s eyes as he judges …
Find today’s 4182 word story here http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/054.html Travis Review: This sad tale of adultery seems to hold a universal truth about some women’s attraction to condescending, scornful men. I was under the impression that what I’ve personally witnessed has been more of a late twentieth century American phenomenon, but the nineteenth century Russia also had cads …
Find today’s 1696 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/053.html Travis Review: The words can have such a profound impact on another that it can affect their lives forever. The joke that the narrator tells in the first person point of view is with four words: “I love you, Nadya!” The girl (we’re not sure of her age) is …
Find today’s 3373 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/052.html Travis Review Today’s story, like yesterday’s, starts off very Poesque with macabre atmosphere, dark rooms with flickering candle light, images of death and melancholy, and in this case, a suicide attempt. The story is also told in first person, which Chekhov doesn’t write in much (but Poe does.) After …
Find today’s 4756 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/051.html Travis Review In today’s story there is a question of whether or not Raïssa is a witch. Chekhov titled his story “The Witch” and her husband Savély — a sexton, who seems to be lucky enough to have a married a pretty, young bride and gained property (although it seems like …
Our fiftieth reviewed story comes in at 2236 words. Find it here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/050.html Travis Review: Today’s story about a procrastinating intellectual and his dense protégé makes me wonder if Chekhov was writing about himself in an abstract way. The “fairly well-known man of learning” tells his wife he’s going to fire his assistant, Ivan Matveyitch. …
Today’s story has 1531 words and can be found here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/049.html Travis Review: Today’s story seems like the most modern story we’ve had from Chekhov and I wonder if there were women like Anyuta in the student housing areas when he was a student. Anyuta lives with Stepan, a medical student, “in the cheapest room of …
Find today 2059 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/048.html Travis Review: Societal prejudices can run deep, even against family members. Such is the case for Andrey Andreyitch, a shopkeeper who believed he was doing the right thing by requesting a prayer for his departed daughter. The problem is how he wrote the note. “For the rest of the soul …
Find today’s almost 2500 word story here http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/047.html Travis Review This is a comic-tragedy of a simpleton actor used more for his size than talent. He’s dying in a dilapidated room, mostly from heartbreak than from an specific illness. Shtchiptsov seems like Lenny from Of Mice and Men, a hulking man with simple thoughts. In this …