Today’s story is around 1500 words. http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/013.html Travis Review: We have another overly excited character, overreacting to a situation and being worse off for it. What’s interesting is that Chekov ends the story as a whodunit. Asking the readers to solve the slanderer mystery. I’m not sure if there is an answer, but I’m thinking …
Find today’s 1562 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/012.html Travis Review: It seems like young Chekhov went to the bird market in Trubnoy Square with a pen and paper, and wrote down his observations. There is no plot, just meandering conversations from bird, fish, and rabbit sellers and buyers to a footman trying to hock a lapdog for …
This story weighs in at 1294 words. http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/011.html Travis Review: This story is only interesting in that Chekhov would later on in life write plays that revolutionized theater with understated, realistic performances. Reading the line “…he trembled all over as nobody ever trembles in reality, and gasped loudly,” I felt Chekhov was already annoyed with the …
Next up is Fat and Thin. A flash story just under 800 words. http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/010.html Travis Review: What a difference a person’s title makes as we see it today’s story. We are now on the 10th story and I’m seeing patterns in Chekhov’s stories, especially the small ones. It is like Chekhov is painting little portraits of Russian people …
Only 886 words for today’s story, http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/009.html. Travis review: A quick portrait of government corruption. Voldyrev, a country gentleman, is practically invisible in the eyes of the clerk assigned to his case until rubles came out of his pocket. Nine-tenths of the story details the Voldyrev’s frustration at trying to inquire about his case and then …
Here is today’s 1600 word story, http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/008.html. Travis review: Tonight is the official opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Foreigners across the globe have traveled to the Russian resort city to compete or watch the games. In this story we have an English woman married to a stout and opinionated landowner. I …
Here is a 2000 word story. http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/007.html Travis review: This is the first Chekhov story to use first person narration exclusively (A Living Chattel slipped into it at the end) and there is also a paragraph that drops into second person. The atmosphere of this tale is his most gothic so far. The story concerns an …
Coming in at a few words over 1000 is a story that lives up to it’s name: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/006.html Travis Review: I feel we’re not getting Chekhov at his top form here. He is a 22 year old medical student writing a several quick stories in a popular Russian magazine called Oskolki (Fragments) to pay for school and support his …
Another short one weighing in at just over 1080 words: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/005.html Travis review: Oh those wacky peasants! I feel a better name should’ve been “How I Got Into Business School.” A nervous young lad goes to take his Greek exam and things do not go well. His mother is furious, but too exhausted in heartbreak …
Next up is another short short (830+ words), An Enigmatic Nature. http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/004.html Travis review: A writer and a rich young widow meet on the train. She wants him to write about her, because she believes her life is full of dramatic misery as she invokes Dostoyevsky’s name. She chose to marry a rich old general …