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Title: Five Great Short Stories (Dover Thrift Editions) by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov ISBN: 0-486-26463-7 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 August, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $2.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A good Chekhov for those who don¿t like plays
Comment: For those who wonder what Anton Chekhov is about but don't like reading plays, Dover Thrift Edition's 'Five Great Short Stories' is a good introduction to the universe of the Russian writer. Sure his short tales are not as good as his plays, namely "The Seagull", but they give a fair dimension of this style and interests.
And his interests lay rather in the development of the characters psyche than plots twists or an elaborated story. His stories are more about creating an atmosphere than drowning the characters into it. See the first story, for example, "The Black Monk". It is actually a study of the madness, or, for some, the portrait of a supernatural situation. It depends on which side you are coming from.
Another good example is "The Lady with the Toy Dog", probably my favorite Chekhov short story. The characters are so real and human that it is not impossible to suffer with them. Like in most of his work, the author tackles with sociological and psychological analyzes of the people he has created --and they end up being as a metaphor for all the human kind, be them Russian or not.
Once enjoying this book, the reader can move to more of the Russian author. There are plenty of short stories and wonderful plays to be discovered.
Rating: 4
Summary: nice collection
Comment: The stories are good, but the names are long and confusing and also some stories become confusing with the choice of words chosen by the author. Overall, though, a good book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Five stars for the great value
Comment: If you want a short indroduction to Chekhov, this Dover Thrift Edition is a great value. This edition uses older translations because in order to offer such an unbelievable value, the editor must use text that is not copyright protected. I found the translations used to be readible and I enjoyed the character development. Chekhov is not O'Henry ... i.e, the stories in this book do not have tremendous plot development and surprise or ironic twists. Rather, he seeks to give a slice of life in the Tzarist Russsia of his day. Four of the stories are slices of life of fairly well off members of Russian society or, at least, Russian upper middle class. One, appropriately entitled "The Peasants" is indeed a story about the lives of peasants. I enjoyed all of the stories but, my favorite was "The Lady With the Toy Dog," which explored the age old phenomenon of extramarital affairs and the tragedy of forbidden love. Chekhov explores the chraracters' emotions, in this story, without being judgmental one way or the other. Another engaging story is "The Black Monk" which explores happiness in one's delusions as opposed to unhappiness in the real world (or was the main character's vision a delusion at all?). Like I say, the translations are not the latest and only five stories are included but this is a five star value. The book has made me interested (when I have more time) to explore a larger volume of Chekhov's stories so, this edition has fulfilled its task well.
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Title: The Overcoat and Other Short Stories (Dover Thrift Editions) by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol ISBN: 0486270572 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 February, 1992 List Price(USD): $2.00 |
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Title: The Necklace and Other Short Stories (Dover Thrift Editions) by Guy De Maupassant ISBN: 0486270645 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 February, 1992 List Price(USD): $2.00 |
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Title: The Gambler (Dover Thrift Editions) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky ISBN: 0486290816 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $2.00 |
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Title: The Queen of Spades and Other Stories : A New Translation by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin ISBN: 0192839543 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri ISBN: 0395927218 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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