#082 A Tripping Tongue

Today’s story is 1262 words and can be found here:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/082.html Travis Review: Today’s story feels modern, much like a socialite trophy-wife reuniting with her husband over dinner to tell him about her latest adventure that he funded before jet-setting off on her next foray. Perhaps my impressions are based on my time in Los Angeles …

#079 The Jeune Premier

Today’s story is 1760 words and can be found here:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/079.html Travis Review: Yvegeny Podzharov is a confident and cocky “elegant young man.” Besides being a top actor he is also ladykiller. When a guest, Klimov, comes to the party who “lived in the very town in which the jeune premier had acted for two seasons in succession,” I …

#073 A Misfortune

Today’s story is 4989 words and can be found here:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/073.html Travis Review: Chekhov takes an in depth look at human psychology and behavior, and the genesis of an extramarital affair in today’s story. The wife of a notary is living in a nameless summer village, but could have been called Eden. Ilyin is a …

#068 Not Wanted

Today’s story is 2319 words long and can be found here:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/068.html Travis Review: This story could be called “How I Started Drinking” or “They Drove Me To Vodka.” Zaikin starts off the story by leaving the train station to his summer villa in a foul mood and he is not the only one as “a crowd …

#065 At a Summer Villa

Today’s story is 1819 words and can be found here:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/065.html Travis Review: Today’s story reminds me of Chekhov’s early writings between 1882-85 when many of the stories ended with a punch line. In this case, a love letter from a secret admirer is sent to Pavel Ivanitch. The man with “eight years of married …

#063 A Privy Councillor

Today’s story is relatively long at 6971 words:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/063.html Travis Review: Today’s story is told from a man looking back at his childhood when an uncle came to visit his family for a summer. His uncle is no ordinary man, but a privy councillor with a general rank, putting him in the top class of Russian …

#061 A Gentleman Friend

Today’s story is 1314 words and is available here:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/061.html Travis Review: Today’s story makes we think of a penniless Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian. Entitled and focused on the vanity of appearance over subsistence, Vanda ebbs and flows between confidence and humiliation. The world revolves around her as she feels that “the very horses and …

#059 Ladies

Today’s story is 1349 words and can be found here:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/059.html Travis Review: It is interesting that Chekhov went with the title, “Ladies”, instead of something like “Backdoor Politics” or “Sneak” as job seeker and strategist Polzuhin is called. Fyodor Petrovitch, the director of elementary schools, has a job opening that will save a family …

#049 Anyuta

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 …

#044 Children

Today’s story contains 1926 words: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/044.html Travis Review: Today’s story revolves around children gambling while waiting up for their parents to arrive home with details of a christening. Chekhov’s utilizes an omniscient point of view to reveal the motivations each child (five) has in the loto game. The money involved is slight, a kopek — which like …