ANTON CHEKHOV - What can we learn from you?

Our very own Anton Chekhov is considered an exemplar author in the genre of Realism.

His stories explore human nature to its basic elements. He describes the absurdities of life in a simple manner and presents a detailed picture of the smallest of the human shortcomings in a manner that it becomes the life of a story.

Before delving into his work in detail, I would like to add my favourite quotes by the author.

These ones helped me grow as a writer and understand the nuances of writing.

Quote from Chekhov to Maria Kiselyova, January 14, 1887:

"Your statement that the world is "teeming with villains and villainesses" is true. Human nature is imperfect, so it would be odd to perceive none but the righteous. Requiring literature to dig up a "pearl" from the pack of villains is tantamount to negating literature altogether. Literature is accepted as an art because it depicts life as it actually is. Its aim is the truth, unconditional and honest. Limiting its functions to as narrow a field as extracting "pearls" would be as deadly for art as requiring Levitan to draw a tree without any dirty bark or yellowed leaves. A "pearl" is a fine thing, I agree. But the writer is not a pastry chef, he is not a cosmetician and not an entertainer. He is a man bound by contract to his sense of duty and to his conscience. Once he undertakes this task, it is too late for excuses, and no matter how horrified, he must do battle with his squeamishness and sully his imagination with the grime of life. He is just like any ordinary reporter. What would you say if a newspaper reporter as a result of squeamishness or a desire to please his readers were to limit his descriptions to honest city fathers, high-minded ladies, and virtuous railroadmen?

To a chemist there is nothing impure on earth. The writer should be just as objective as the chemist; he should liberate himself from everyday subjectivity and acknowledge that manure piles play a highly respectable role in the landscape and that evil passions are every bit as much a part of life as good ones."

Quote from Chekhov to Maxim Gorky, September 3, 1899.

"Another piece of advice: when you read proof cross out as many adjectives and adverbs as you can. You have so many modifiers that the reader has trouble understanding and gets worn out. It is comprehensible when I write: "The man sat on the grass," because it is clear and does not detain one's attention. On the other hand, it is difficult to figure out and hard on the brain if I write: "The tall, narrow-chested man of medium height and with a red beard sat down on the green grass that had already been trampled down by the pedestrians, sat down silently, looking around timidly and fearfully." The brain can't grasp all that at once, and art must be grasped at once, instantaneously. And then one other thing. You are lyrical by nature, the timber of your soul is soft. If you were a composer you would avoid writing marches. It is unnatural for your talent to curse, shout, taunt, denounce with rage. Therefore, you'll understand if I advise you, in proofreading, to eliminate the "sons of bitches," "curs," and "flea-bitten mutts" that appear here and there on the pages of Life. "

His wisdom as a writer spill from these words and can be seen in his work as well.

Now, Chekhov is not one to show-off his writing skills, that is one of the things I like about him. He uses a colloquial language and his sentences are generally simpler. Sometimes, I find him diverting from his original statement and yet I find meaning in his sentences.

In The Tutor , according to an agreement made with Udodoff, the father, Ziboroff in is to help Pete with his lessons for two hours each day, in return for which he is to receive six roubles a month.

The sentence are packed with action and information – If we refer to Chekhov’s statement about not writing longer sentences, this might seem like an exception, but then, the abovementioned sentence and several like it, serves their purpose. I could hardly see any extra adjective or adverb.

However, in the sentence - The high-school boy is seized with the fury of the examiner and is ready to beat the little red-cheeked numskull before him, he hates and despises him so – we can clearly see adverbs and adjectives but I cannot say that they could have been done away with. In fact, it is the words like “fury” and “red-cheeked numskull” that bring out the true color of the characters.

In the second part of the quote, he suggests the writers “to eliminate the "sons of bitches," "curs," and "flea-bitten mutts" that appear here and there on the pages of Life.”

I thought a lot about this one – it cannot be about language – there are characters who talk a certain way.

My conclusion is, he is talking about extra, irrelevant characters or descriptions.

In Out of Sort we do not see any character other than Vania and Simon. The description of the view from the window or the lesson Vania recites all aggravate Simon’s sense of loss of eight roubles. Every word that Vania speaks while reciting the lesson, every bit of the scenery the Simon sees from his window propel the story forward. I tried checking if any of that could be removed form the story without affecting the meaning or the emotions and it didn’t seem to work.

Short stories already have a limited number of words, if we use them up to show characters or point of view not needed to take the story forward, it would hamper the progress and fill the story with unnecessary details.

In A Slander, we see Sargent Ahineev falling prey this eagerness – his eagerness to worry about other’s perception of his image and zeal to salvage it even before the damage is done. Perhaps, it can also be classified as his eagerness to win.

He believes that if he retold the incident with Marfa, Sergei Kapitonich’s plan to slander him would have no effect. However, by the time the story ends, we realise, Sergei Kapitonich has no intention of slandering Ahineev. In his eagerness, he spread the story himself and becomes subject to rumour, leading to ruining his relationship with his wife.

Chekhov shows how a fool can fall into trap of his own misconceptions and become a victim of his own shortcomings.

I think, one more thing the Checkhov emphasises here is that no one really cares for the truth. People relish gossip – they don’t put any effort to find out who said what and soon words change meaning. Thus, a smart person should not take much note of such remarks and stay focused on the goal instead of being deviated.

However, as we know Checknov enjoys baring human nature, he gives us a foolish man, who despite his age, and rank, could not control himself from falling prey to the vicious cycle of rumours.

As he said in the interview, a writer’s job is to present the real picture and not the pretty one, Chekhov never shied away from showing the ugly side of the human nature.

In his story – A Naughty Boy, he gives us a glimpse of how human nature develops and how we relish in the fall of others. Kolia knows his parents won’t approve of his sister’s relationship with Lapkin. According to the times, they would have wanted Lapkin to ask for Anna’s hand formally. This leads Kolia to blackmail his sister and her lover, who concede to his demands, buying him paint balls and sweets.

And finally, when Lapkin asks for Anna’s hands and her parents agree, we see how they were thrilled in pulling Kolia’s ears. Chekhov writes that the two did not have as much fun dating in secret as they had while punishing Kolia – again this shows the faults of human nature – we enjoy exacting revenge.

In the two short stories, Chekhov gives us a close glimpse of human fallacies.

I read The Swimmer by Anton Chekhov on school and have been an admirer of his work ever since. There is always a sudden twist and the story end exactly at that point. The reader is always left to ponder over the story, wondering what else could have happened. This lingering feeling left in the reader gives Chekhov’s story their distinct characteristic.

In A Journey by Cart, Chekhov seems to have created a parallel between the journey and Maria’s life. She takes the trip every time she needs to collect her paycheck and over the course of thirty years, she has forgotten the exact number of trips she has made. This reflets the monotony of her life. The trip has nothing new to offer. IT is the same journey, taken through almost the same route an ends in the same fashion. Maria’s life looks similar. Everyday she teaches students, collects money from them for the provisions, goes to the sellers to buy things, and then ultimately goes to sleep thinking about the chapters she had taught or would teach the next day.

Just like on the trip, she rarely meets new people. Her life is confined to the school, like she was in the cart, and there is no one to give her company. She had no family, no confidant, no friend. Her life seems dry, like the wide expanse of land that she was crossing. Although the men in the inn consider her to be a good woman, no one thinks of her as a companion. In the course of the journey, she gets wet, gets cold, and shivers but no one seems to care. She is as lonely in her life as she is in the journey. When she meets Khanoff, she dreams of the impossible – her life as a nurtured child whose parents are alive, she is not a teacher in that dream and hints of the likelihood of her marriage with Khanoff; however, like the trip, that dream comes to an abrupt end as daddy Simon declares “Here is Viasovia! The journey is over!”