Chekhov is my favorite writer. The three short stories ,which left inedible mark on my mind are Chekhov's 'Lady with the Dog' and other short stories and Gogol's Government Inspector and Maupassant's 'Necklace'.

@lorenzomizushal3980

10 ай бұрын

I think most short stories are inedible for me, or people in general. 😂😂😂😂😂

@stuartwray6175

10 ай бұрын

​@@lorenzomizushal3980 you mean unedifying? - I disagree with your unsubstantiated deprecation.

@lorenzomizushal3980

10 ай бұрын

@@stuartwray6175 no, I mean inedible.

@powbobs

10 ай бұрын

@@lorenzomizushal3980 Explain please.

@lorenzomizushal3980

10 ай бұрын

@@powbobs in a literal sense.

This is my favorite video of yours so far. Chekhov had a huge influence on me through the years. I'm an avid gardener and didn't know about Chekhovs gardening. The point you make about that is very good. Chekhov was a hard worker but he seemed to know what gives most pleasure in life, at least on the serotonin way over the dopamine way. It's very rare to fins a work that is truly chekhovian. Most people focus on the psychology and the sociology. For me it was always the naturalist details he had. The wind in the trees. These sorts of details can give one peace with life, even after suffering. Like the end of Uncle Vanya. Like so so so many of his short stories. You've done a very good job with this video. Chekhov really comes through.

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Really appreciate it, Justin! I apologise, I have not had the time to reply to your awsome comments. But I always love reading them. So thanks a heap!

@squamish4244

5 ай бұрын

He died quite young, but in his short life displayed incredible insight into the human condition.

I’d like to emphasise that in Russia Chekov is known for his mastery of sarcasm and satire first and foremost. That’s why he is never hard to read unlike some other famous Russian writers. His tongue is cheeky and his stories are bittersweet.

@squamish4244

5 ай бұрын

He is renowned as a master of these qualities and tragicomedy everywhere in the Western world. If you google 'greatest playwrights', Shakespeare comes up first - obviously - but Chekhov is right after him. Which is even more remarkable considering he only wrote a fraction of the plays Shakespeare did. Of course, you are also referring to his short stories, and Shakespeare didn't write any of those or any books of any kind.

I grew up with Anton Chekhov's work translated into my native tongue. To this day I love the stories of Uncle Wanja, the Seagull, the Cherry Orchard and the Three Sisters (and other stories)

We need more authors like Chekhov for today's life. We have the billionaires who think they have the answers for governing the world just because they have a talent for making and manipulating money, and then there are others who consider themselves victims, people unable to escape from their cases.

@rylandpeters8982

8 ай бұрын

Write it then. Don't be a sheep. Do something

@33Donner77

7 ай бұрын

I write in websites, and have demonstrated and spoken in a local environmental concern. Everyone should support their beliefs. What have you done?@@rylandpeters8982

@squamish4244

5 ай бұрын

@@rylandpeters8982 Hahaha this person could be a brain surgeon for all you know. They just don't have Chekhov's talent with words. YOU write something to match his abilities before you insult someone you know nothing about.

@rylandpeters8982

5 ай бұрын

@@squamish4244 prove hes a brain surgeon. go on

@mainstreet3023

2 ай бұрын

@@rylandpeters8982I will write a banger of a book

Wonderful! As a lover of literature (a retired English language teacher) this was necter to my ears.

@smkh2890

10 ай бұрын

Nectar

@pjmlegrande

9 ай бұрын

What a wonderful mixed metaphor. Thank you

@smkh2890

9 ай бұрын

@@pjmlegrande Mellifluous , derived from meli, 'honey'

Thank you so much. Chekov is one of my favorites. Both the short stories and plays, I read again and again. I’ve probably seen seagull in the theater five times.

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoy it! Thanks Mark for sharing your experience of Chekhov!

In addition to the authors you mentioned, Tennessee Williams really admired Anton Chekhov, and even wrote an adaptation of The Seagull which he entitled, "The Notebook of Trigorin"

“Ward No.6” is the most talked about and quoted story in Russia by many generations. If someone wants to criticise someone’s way of life or the path of their ideas they say “Are you from the ward number 6?”

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

That’s a cool fact.

@snick0o0

10 ай бұрын

not ones in my 30 years that came up

@thierryalbert2228

10 ай бұрын

Ward No. 6 is one of my favourite short story by Checkow

@marcinkene

10 ай бұрын

Hahaha that's not really true, I'm Russian speaker for 36 years

@varvarvarvarvarvar

10 ай бұрын

Not at all. It's a rather fringe saying in Russian. If anything, it would be mostly used by uncultured Russians, Belarussians and Ukrainians who would get it from mandatory school reading as a funny sounding insult. Which is how you correctly describe it being used. Before the internet and TV, memes came from school programmes. "Ward No. 6" was typically taught and interpreted by teachers as a brilliant social parody of the stupid, repressive czarist regime. Curiously, the Soviet state produced nobody who comes close to the greats of Russian literature. I guess that life under the red banner was so great that there was nothing to parody anymore.

I am so happy to have found your channel! Thank you so much for all your content and as a Russian, special thank you for covering Russian literature, Chekhov is my favourite, although the does bring a bitter sweet depression on me every single time 😅🎉❤

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

That’s awesome. Thanks so much!

Fiction Beast, I love all your lectures on writers. (All!!) You always capture the essence of them. I love Russian writers. Anton Chekhov, of course he is one of the finest writers' of short stories and plays. The explanation why he was different was perfectly put by your analysis. He saw what was in every day mundane life as lived by the serfs. Captured its realness and what was hidden as in all human beings. My favorite early short story by Chekhov is "The Kiss," which is in the presence of Chekhov, which is to be simpler, more truthful. He always prevails in his short stories. "The Lady with a Dog," a later one in 1899. All of his plays are brimming with subtlety of existence. Again, thank you for all your lectures and a very happy 2023. Respectfully and with affection. 💖

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, Anna! You always leave some great thoughtful comments. Really appreciate it.

@cheri238

10 ай бұрын

​@@Fiction_Beast My name is Cheri, don't tell anyone. I LOVE YOU!!!❤

BOOKS was the theme of 2022. I read 52 books in 52 weeks. 1) "The Way We Live Now" by Anthony Trollope 2) "Can You Forgive Her?" by Anthony Trollope 3) "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro 4) "Mark Twain: A Life" by Rom Powers 5) "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" by Mark Twain 6) "The Innocents Abroad" by Mark Twain 7) "The End of the Affair" by Graham Greene 8) "Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady" by Samuel Richardson 9) "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" by Muriel Spark 10) "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Truman Capote 11) "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" by Raymond Carver 12) "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy 13) "Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy 14) "Master and Man" by Leo Tolstoy 15) "A Confession" by Leo Tolstoy 16) "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" by Leo Tolstoy 17) "The Raid" by Leo Tolstoy 18) "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs 19) “In the First Circle" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 20) "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" by Victor Hugo 21) "Clara Militch" by Ivan Turgenev 22) "Mumu" by Ivan Turgenev 23) "Kassyan of Fair Springs" by Ivan Turgenev 24) "The Portrait Game" Ivan Turgenev 25) " Punin and Baburin" by Ivan Turgenev 26) "The Inn" by Ivan Turgenev 27) "The Watch" by Ivan Turgenev 28) "Acia" by Ivan Turgenev 29) "Home of the Gentry" by Ivan Turgenev 30) "On the Eve" by Ivan Turgenev 31) "Rudin" by Ivan Turgenev 32) "Smoke" by Ivan Turgenev 33) "First Love" by Ivan Turgenev 34) "The Torrents of Spring" by Ivan Turgenev 35) "How Russians Meet Death" by Ivan Turgenev 36) "Sketches from a Hunter's Album" by Ivan Turgenev 37) "Volodya" by Anton Chekhov 38) "Ward No. 6" by Anton Chekhov 39) "The Lady with the Dog" by Anton Chekov 40) "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" by Alexander Pushkin 41) "The Captain's Daughter" by Alexander Pushkin 42) “Le Grand Meaulnes, or the Lost Domain” by Alain-Fournier 43) "Poor Folk" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 44) "White Nights" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 45) "Flipped" by Wendelin Van Draanen 46) "Kolyma Tales" by Varlam Shalamov 47) "An Island Hell" by S. A. Malsagoff 48) "The Return of the Native" by Thomas Hardy 49) "Jude the Obscure" by Thomas Hardy 50) “Strait is the Gate” by André Gide 51) “And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer” by Fredrik Backman 52) “Middlemarch” by George Eliot It amounted to reading around 1,500 pages per month. Many months were over 2,000 pages. Samuel Richardson's book was from 1748 A.D. and was over 1,800 pages when written. I read the 808 page abridged edition and it was amazing. One of the first writers of English novels wrote one that can be loved today. I almost desire to look up the unabridged to read two of the letters near the end which I missed. The whole story was in letters like "Poor Folk" or "Les Liaisons Dangereuses." 20 of my top 100 books of all time I read this year. I am thinking this year was the best year of reading I've ever had. Neither of Mark Twain's books made the top 100, but they were amazing reads. I was reading him because of a biography by Ron Powers of Mark Twain and I plan to read another biography this year coming up. This is the year I found out Ivan Turgenev from Russia is my favorite author of all time and will never be surpassed. I plan on reading more of him next year too.

@ReligionOfSacrifice

Жыл бұрын

Anton Chekhov is probably the best author in terms of skill but I have some problems with him, which are best said by critics of his time. E. J. Dillon thought "the effect on the reader of Chekhov's tales was repulsion at the gallery of human waste represented by his fickle, spineless, drifting people" and R. E. C. Long said "Chekhov's characters were repugnant, and that Chekhov revelled in stripping the last rags of dignity from the human soul."

@janestones323

Жыл бұрын

Studying in Russia, in year 5 at school Mumu was the most discussed about storyline for a long long time. The students would even start fighting defending their opinions and principles over was Gerasime right or wrong

@whawkins8636

Жыл бұрын

You are clearly a fast reader

@ReligionOfSacrifice

Жыл бұрын

​@@whawkins8636, not as fast as my friend in high school or my nephew who are speed readers. I just read steadily throughtout life.

@goswamigeeta

Жыл бұрын

Full of admirations for you. This is an inspiration!

Wow! Stunning life! Almost unbelievable what he did in 44 years

Truly one of the best videos on your channel. Unfortunately, I have not read a lot of Chekhov but after watching this, I'm sure that's going to change. Thank you for putting out such amazing and insightful content! :)

thank you for making this video. Chekhov is one of my favourites. I've always loved the saying that Chekhov's writing is like lace - it's the missing pieces that give it it's beauty.

The Virginia Wolfe quote reminds me of an video essay on David Lynch's final Twin Peaks season where it is asserted that the longing for closure tends to eclipse the more pressing need for balance.

Thank you, you do an amazing job of analyzing complex people, stories, human topics and explaining or distilling them into snack-size ways of understanding them. I love your channel. Bless you and please keep the coming.

Your Russian pronunciation is really good in the beginning, I'm impressed

brilliant as usual, am always waiting in anticipation of the next, you have the gift of brevity without sacrificing detail and meaning. that makes you a poet I suppose!

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much 😀

I am so glad I found your site! This is just like sitting in on an Ivy League seminar in Literature. Thank you!

I enjoy your philosophical videos very much. I listen to them while working. Keep it up, love from Malaysia.

Fiction Beast, I absolutely adore your content. Keep it up! They're my favorite, and I always feel a bit more productive after learning about those stuff!

Spasibo bolshoi! Thank you for your insightful and thorough presentation! Im glad I found your channel! I am looking forward to your other videos. You have inspired me to read and re-read the Russians and others.

This was narrated so well!!! Such a great video!! Loved it!

Fascinating material! Thank you for posting. I'm a new subscriber. 🎉

The ganre of the short story gripped me many years ago. A good short story encapsulates human experiences by condensing it in a way that makes it an emotional or cerebral experience which can leave you breathless! I feel that I have learned a lot about human nature through the reading of masters of the short story. Your lecture on Checkof was very informative and interesting.... Funny enough, 'The Lady with the dog' is one of my most remembered stories... There was so much complexity of human behavior which is dictated by their perception of morality. It was fascinating to follow their actions and emotions throughout the tale of this love story. The beauty of it was greatly due to the fact that I didn't have to read an entire novel to be moved in such a way.

Great! Thank you FB - perhaps your best video so far. Looking forward to more.

@Fiction_Beast

11 ай бұрын

Thanks

love it! ❤ thank you for this

What a superb condensed analysis of - to me - the most humanist Russian writer in a country steeped with great Humanist writers! No wasted words (you followed Chechov's minimalist style) but you have made his life and Art glow as few others have. Thank you for your excellent contribution to this great man.

@hughjass6646

10 ай бұрын

Speaking of humanist writers. 0:15 Dostoevsky was also an ideologist of Russian Orthodox fascism, along with a number of Slavophiles during that time. They were united by the ideas of Russian nationalism and the cultural and spiritual significance of the Russian people, such as the concept of the "God-bearing nation" and the belief in a "special path" for Russia. Dostoevsky specifically believed that Western Europe was doomed to collapse. He envisioned that after this collapse, Russia, together with the Russian Orthodox Church, would establish the kingdom of God on Earth, thereby fulfilling the promise of the Book of Revelation. Being a devoted follower of political philosopher Ivan Ilyin and Alexandr Dugin - Putin is considering the use of nuclear weapons to achieve this goal. Ironically, we are talking about the nuclear weapon, which Ukraine peacefully conceded to Russia in exchange of the security guarantees from Russia, UK and the USA.

You’re making me grow broke by adding to my book purchases…and I love it

@42976675

11 ай бұрын

Library near?

@johannsebastianbach3411

Ай бұрын

😂😂😂 same over here. Joking aside, a trick that I use to be economical is, that I look out for huge compilation volumes, so that I can have all the works of an author in two or three huge books, and try to find those in second hand

Thanks for sharing!

was in love since i read "The Bet" (in english) in junior high Thank you so much for your work!

Thanks Fiction Beast!

3 minutes in and im already in love with your style you are so fun to listen to!

I did not know anything, anything at all, about Anton Chekhov. Thank you very much for this video!

'Condemned as I was to a life of idleness'. My favourite opening line!

Great content. Keep it up!

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Appreciate it!

Thank you for this excellent lecture! What I like most is that you make brief comparison with other Russian authors and also you quote others opinion about Chekhov. I also find your point about joy vs happiness thought provoking. Болшое спосибо из Болгарии!

That was very refreshing. I have never thought about the difference between Russian authors just enjoyed them. Now that I think about it, Anna Karenina's crowd, for instance, were all very privileged and that state of wealth held me, the reader, apart from being able to participate in the story. I am going to revisit Chekhov. thanks so much

Muchas gracias. Thank you very much. I enJOYed this video very much. You also has a great voice too.

I LOVED this presentation!

Thank you very much for the wonderful introduction to Chekhov. You pronounce 'kh' very well😊 Have a happy 2023 🎊

Great video - thanks! Keep 'em coming!

@Fiction_Beast

10 ай бұрын

Thanks, will do!

@doyle6000

10 ай бұрын

@@Fiction_Beast Great!

Thank you. Beautiful telling of these interesting things.

very precise and informative!

Thank you so much. A favourite from your videos.

Beautiful essay. I learned so much. I loved it. Thank you.

@Fiction_Beast

9 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FICTION BEAST 🎉

Excellent summary. Thank you.

Thanks for this admirable presentation.

Simply brilliant! Like always!

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Wow, thank you!

Your vids are really great. You're very well informed and charming

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

Interestingly Chekhov's humanism and atheism were his strengths and you can see these traits in his short stories.

@uncle_julius5743

7 ай бұрын

«Между «есть Бог» и «нет Бога» лежит целое громадное поле, которое проходит с большим трудом истинный мудрец. Русский же человек знает какую-либо одну из этих двух крайностей, середина же между ними не интересует его; и потому обыкновенно не знает ничего или очень мало». А. Чехов, 1897

Chekhov knew exactly what should be done in order to improve our miserable, low lives and he says it too: We have to continue to do our duty and do that as well as we can. The last words of his Uncle Vanya express this openly. And he opposes narcissistic figures who only talk and talk, like the professor in Uncle Vanya, but never DO anything. Chekhov was into the philosophy of the stoics, they do also teach this. In a letter to his brother Anton Chekhov gives him the same advice.

@evinnra2779

10 ай бұрын

Yes , moreover, one could argue that Chekhov was more a philosopher than any of his famous compatriots. For instance, he did give a very definitive answer as to what he actually thought of the Stoics in 'Ward No. 6', (which answer disappointed me somewhat since I personally do appreciate the Stoics philosophy.) My favorite short story by Chekhov is 'The Ravine', which , on the face of it ends in tragedy, loss and despair, but the way Chekhov written it, the story feels excruciatingly real and even hopeful that no matter what, justice will prevail. Chekhov reminds me of Plato's writing style, so concise and generously full of meaning it is quite breath taking. What I wondered, though , is why would a master of eloquence, who's every short story is like a master piece of Impressionist painting would allow his prose to be played in theatres, where the accurate meaning of these short stories are objectively impossible to bring forth. The Chekhov plays I have seen I found dreadfully boring, but his short stories I became addicted to.

@yuukihoffner8433

10 ай бұрын

@EvInnra Ad Chekhov plays and boring: This reminds me of my own reaction to Proust's Lost Time many years ago. I could not perceive the inner drama of the little boy waiting for his mother in volume 1 e.g. Now, many years later I felt it. Of course this completely dependent child was desperate, there alone in Normandy. Do not condemn yourself because you do not like these plays yet. As you love the stories your understanding of his theater will come. Uncle Vanya is my favorite play. In assoluto! It displays the Stoic philosophy: An overworked country doctor is secretly in love with the beautiful but ignorant wife of an ignorant landowner. This self possessed individual, an incompetent university professor, nearly destroys the lives of his employees on the land estate. Opposing him, they succeed in rescuing house and land, knowing that "they have to continue working." An allusion to the Roman and stoic VIRTUS. Take care!

thanks for the video :)

Thank you for these thoughts

Thank you. well appreciated.

Truly a beast! thank you for this video 🤝

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

No problem 👍

I loved your telling. Beautiful. Thank you.

Well done!

He sounds like such a humane and insightful person, not to mention highly intelligent. I have read a bit of Gogol (laugh out loud funny in a darkly humorous way) and a bit of Dostoyevsky, but have not gotten round to reading Checkov although have always meant to. Now is a good time for me to do it. I’m convalescing from surgery and I’m older and wiser (hopefully), so perhaps I will be able to appreciate this great man’s writing. Thanks for this lesson.

Best biography of Chekhov that really makes justice to his genius.

A very great one. Read “Heartache “. He doesn’t tell you what to think or feel but makes you feel through his style.

Excellent presentation, thank you

great analysis--thanks much!

Wonderful documentary. Thank you. My favorite story is " The Duell".

My favourite short stories made by this man are Rothschild's violin and The kiss. They hit so hard is scary

Thank you for making this! Anton Chekhov might have been a rarely used minor league hockey player for all i knew, until i enrolled in an acting class. we had a 2 week period where we studied his work so that we could act in a play of his. I was the doctor in Uncle Vanya, I believe I was the doctor at least. It's been years. But I completely remember being hungover, reading the play for the first time, and crying from laughing at his brutal brilliant way of describing how awful some folks had it- i wasn't laughing at the characters (or the people he may have based them on), but by the outrageous situations they go through. He made my hangover a little better, even meaningful because i guess i felt as shitty as the characters should, but in Chekhov's way of dialogue the characters didn't feel shitty about how shitty their lives could be.

So glad I discovered your channel.

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Welcome!

Thank you for the video from ethiopia

Just love this, could you please make more on him? Anything else you observed about him and would like to share?

@Fiction_Beast

11 ай бұрын

Thank you! I love Chekhov so I might make another video in the future.

First Class. Большое спасибо.

Hello! I’ve just discovered your channel & your episode on Chekhov, my fav writer. I found your critique very interesting. My one major quibble is that C mostly left his own personal philosophy & politics out of his stories. As you point out, he was well aware of human suffering. I believe he was also angered by the injustice of human suffering. I suggest you re-read the scene in Uncle Vanya when Sonya orders Maria to answer the door when the peasants come knocking & how the 2 women react. It’s Chekhov’s brief & subtle inclusion of his on-going anger over Russian society’s treatment of the poor. I believe he frequently included scenes like these in his writing, some much less subtle than others, such as his story The Steppe which you mention briefly. Thanks!!

Yes, Chekov is a key seed of the realist impulse, caring deeply about presenting what he saw, but there's contradiction in that genious which is key to the magic of the writing. As we get more distance on early realists it's far clearer that their plays do have things to say to society. There is, after all an inherent contradiction to the instinct to write a play in which nothing is superfluous to the telling of a particular story, while trying to present life as it is. Since life is full of things the writer is trimming away, what and who falls under the lens of writing and what is defined as worthy real human experience necessarily expresses a perspective. Watching "The Seagull", it is truly difficult not to judge the morality of the renown writer who uses his fame and privilege to intentionally bring down the universally loved aspiring actress Nina and it's hard not to root for her, enduring as much of an acing career as she can build at the play's end, even in her disillusioned and broken state. And even if you think Constantine's plays are pretty bad, as you are given ample room to think throughout The Seagull, it's hard not to be similarly enraged at the willful blindness and denial in Constantin's famous actor mother of the harm she is doing her suicidally depressed son by not allowing him enough money to grow as in artist in literally ANY environment more conducive to finding and accepting who he is than one in her shadow and the shadow of other famous artist she seems to keep by her side purely to support her own former-fame-inflated ego. Things like this wouldn't hit the way they do if there wasn't opinion baked into the play, but after it's tragedy the "what now" is less obvious as most of the remaining characters sit around a table confronted by their reshaped reality. It's almost a convention by now to try to make plays do this, so that what will or should happen is left to the audience. Plays and short stories, being so short, often seem better served when they aim to open discussion by presenting a reality with compelling moral stakes that drive us to do business with things that otherwise don't get talked about.

Great vid

Thank you✨✨✨🎭

Thank you for this

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

My pleasure!

I had to fast forward a little, but i followed the narrative with pleasure. I will read more Chekhov. Thank you.

Thank you👌

Thank you 🙏

Excellent as usual

I only remember the name Chekhov from a character on Star Trek back in the 1960s. As a newspaper cartoonist I only had to keep up with American pop culture. I was surrounded by writers but know nothing of literature. Thanks for your insights, FicBst.

@margaretgoodheart4167

10 ай бұрын

As in Calvin and Hobbs? There was a sweetness in their relationship that made the strip memorable.

I hope that Maxim Gorky would be next. He is my favourite writer.

Good work! Thank you very much. I have one question. Where it was emphasized that Anton Chekhov read Artur Schopenhauer's works? Is it study or what? I'm really interested in, could you answer, please.

I would like to know where his altruism came from and what really motivated him for ‘the self exile’ to Sakhalin coughing blood. Also, I’m glad that I’m not alone in often feeling left behind by his short stories. But I do like his plays. By the way, my favourite novel ‘The Setting Sun’ by O. Dazai is based on The Cherry Orchard with a pinch of The Seagull. 良いお年を🎍

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

That’s a good question. I guess his own family background and misfortunes must have motivated to explore social misfortunes. He knew humans were flawed so punishing them in Sakhalin was a reality but also cruel.

Thank you.👋

please make a video on Boris Pasternak's doctor Zhivago.

Thanks!

Thanks for this lovely analysis of Chekhov. I am a slow reader and have been reading An Anonymous Story for several months now. You assert that Chekhov is a minimalist, but how do you reconcile that with the almost breathless descriptions of his characters on introduction, that extend to minute detail about their appearance, behavior, philosophy, predispositions, etc.?

Ive just read Ward No. 6 and loved it. Which other stories of Chekov’s would u recommend?

"Chekhov has written a story. One man in a village was so idiotic, so stupid, that the whole village knew about it, that he was stupid. And he himself became so convinced that he was stupid that he became afraid even to talk, to utter a single word, because the moment he said anything someone would say, “What a stupid thing you are saying! What a silly thing.” He was so depressed, he went to a sage and asked him, “What to do? I am such a proved idiot that I cannot even utter a single word. Before I utter anything, they say, ‘Be silent. Do not speak!’ “ The sage said, “Do one thing: never say yes to anything from now on. Whatsoever you see, condemn it.” The idiot said, “But they will not listen to me.” The sage said, “Don’t bother. If they say, ‘This is a beautiful painting,’ say, ‘This painting beautiful? Such an ugly thing I have not seen before!’ If they say, ‘This novel is very original,’ say, ‘This is just a repetition. Thousands of times the same story has been written.’ Do not bother to prove it. Simply say no to everything; make it your basic philosophy. If someone says that the night is beautiful, the moon is beautiful, say, ‘You call this beauty?’ And they cannot prove otherwise, remember. They cannot prove!” The man went back to his village. He started saying no to everything. Within a week there was a rumor around the village: “We were wrong. That man is not an idiot. He is a great critic; he is a genius.” To say no needs no wisdom. If you want to become a great genius, say no, be a critic. Never bother to say yes to anything. Whatsoever anybody says, deny it flatly. And no one can prove it because to prove anything is very difficult. ‘No’ is the simplest trick."

Anton Chekhov is my favorite storyteller!

Thank you . .

Love your videos, Matt...especially the bits of humor you throw in. Merci. Our dear Salman Rushdie in hiding with a price on his head began to use "Joseph Anton" as a pseudonym to honor writers Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov. I have to go slow with your videos, Matt, because I'm super engrossed in what I'm reading. Yes, Anton, I will get back to you...eventually.

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Glad you like them! I always love reading your comments. Much appreciated.

Very Good! Thank you! Spawseebeh!

can you please make a video about the egyptian writer, Naguib Mahfouz. he won the 1988 Nobel prize for literature. this will be a beautiful addition to your collection as it will make it more diverse and inclusive.

@mateoneedham6807

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He has one on the Cairo Trilogy: kzread.info/dash/bejne/hq2WtNaliMKon6g.html

@Fiction_Beast

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As others have pointed out, I did a while back.

Anton Chekhov, the father of short stories, captured life as it is, not as it ought to be. His influence on writers who came after him was immense, for example, in the works of Albert Camus and Franz Kafka. Today, I will discuss Chekhov's life, tell you some of his stories, and discuss his genius writing style. I will also make a comparison between Chekhov and Camus. Anton Chekhov was born in 1860 in Taganrog in the South of Russia and grew up in a merchant family close to the peasantry. His mother told him many stories, which must have inspired Chekhov to do the same: tell stories. When Chekhov was 16, his father went bankrupt and fled to Moscow. The little Chekhov managed to sell household stuff, tal to bailiffs, and write funny letters to his family to cheer everyone up. The teenage Chekhov had to help his family financially and keep their morale by telling great stories. He also read a lot of fiction and philosophical books, and had affairs with older women. When Chekhov was 19, he managed to join his family in Moscow, enter Moscow State Medical University, and work for little or no money treating people with low incomes. He contracted TB but kept it hidden from his family and wrote short stories to make enough money to move his family. In 1887, Chekhov was inspired to write a short story titled Steppe. He was commissioned to write a play titled Ivanov and learned that he couldn't afford to write more or less, but what was needed to tell the story. Anton Chekhov said: "Remove everything that has no relevance to the story." Everything in the story is required. In 1890, Chekhov visited a penal colony on the Island of Sakhalin, where he witnessed many horror stories of how cruel humans can be. Chekhov witnessed children as young as six following their chained convicted fathers and sleeping in the same room with other criminals. His Sakhalin writing has been incredibly influential, not only on the issue of human rights but also on other writers. Chekhov became severe in his medical practice, moved to Melikhovo, where he wrote some of his best works, and said goodbye to god and religion to become an atheist. He also bought a house and moved to Crimea, where he entertained giant guests like Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky. Chekhov married Olga, but they lived apart. Maybe they had a long-distance relationship because he wrote a famous short story about a love affair between two married people. Chekhov's health continued to deteriorate, and he died on July 15, 1904, aged 44. He was one of the most famous writers in Russia at the time, perhaps only second to Tolstoy, but Chekhov had to work his arse off to feed his family. Chekhov is considered one of the geniuses of Russia, who revolutionized storytelling by focusing on the ordinary and turning them into extraordinary stories. Chekhov's short stories are summarized by Chekhov and Chill on Instagram. Follow her for more great content on Russian Literature. Chekhov wrote Man in a Case 1898 about a Greek teacher named Belikov who isolates himself physically and ensures that those around him do the same. His fear of change spreads to those around him, and his presence keeps the whole town in dread and stagnation. Things change when a new teacher, Kovalenko, and his sister, Varenka come to town; Belikov gravitates towards Varenka, but hesitates to take this significant step. Belikov falls ill and dies soon after, looking happier than ever in his coffin. A veterinarian narrates to his friend the story of his younger brother, Nikolai, who devoted his whole life to one goal: to buy the estate of his dreams, one with gooseberry bushes. However, the narrator is repulsed by his brother's greed, apathy, and delusional sense of self-importance. Every contented, happy man should have someone standing with a little hammer, reminding him that there are unhappy people and that life will soon show him its claws and trouble will come to him. Konstantin, a young, sensitive man hoping to become a playwright, meets Nina, a young girl who lives nearby and hopes to become an actress herself. Two years later, Konstantin is even further devastated by his encounter with Nina and her failure as an actress. Lyubov Andreievna Ranevskaya returns to her childhood home from Paris, where the family's cherry orchard no longer bears fruit. The family is offered a solution by Lopakhin, a wealthy merchant who has loved Ranevskaya since childhood. Chekhov's stories are abandoned; he doesn't give you an answer to life's problems, and he takes a neutral stance towards morality, politics, and religion. This makes him unique and distinct from other Russian writers. You're not alone if you have read Chekhov and think his stories may seem inconclusive. Virginia Woolf said that readers need to have a daring and alert sense of literature to make them hear the tune particularly those last notes that complete the harmony. Chekhov didn't want to change the world based on a particular value system, and as an artist and storyteller, he kept his tales as objective as possible. Chekhov's minimalistic description is another essential element of his storytelling. He understood that peasants don't have time to fluff, so he kept his stories as minimal and precise as possible. Maxim Gorky observed that people threw off their attire of grand bookish phrases and fashionable expressions in the presence of Anton Pavlovich. Chekhov emphasized the unsaid, silence, pauses, and everything in between, and that often meant saying less was more. Chekhov's stories are tales of the mundane, and he relied on his intuition to turn everyday people and experiences into great stories. Intuition is often defined as a quick, natural response we have to what we see or experience. Chekhov saw the contradictions between doctor and patient, between men and women, and between rich and poor, and his stories are tales of juxtaposition between two opposites. Chekhov was an obsessive gardener who wrote short stories about people as if they were plants. He didn't judge them, he just depicted them as they were. Russian literature is brutally honest in revealing the darker side of life. Chekhov tells the truth as it is, but he tells the truth from all sides, unlike other Russian writers who idolise the Russian peasants. A creed that teaches indifference to wealth, indifference to the conveniences of life, and contempt for suffering is incomprehensible to the great majority of people, who never knew wealth or the conveniences of life. Schopenhauer said we are driven by a blind will to life, Nietzsche by a will to power, but Chekhov says we are ultimately driven by a will to joy. We live for these moments of joy, which are the truer goal of human existence. Chekhov's comedy is always an awkward moment, and we all experience these little moments of joy. Because he lived with an illness himself, and saw death on a daily basis as a doctor, his stories are a snapshot of life, moments of tragedy sprinkled with moments of joy. Chekhov and Camus shared a philosophy that life is made of little moments of joy. These moments can be met with a friend, a nice meal, a drink, talking to loved ones, getting a nice comment from you beautiful people. Anton Chekhov was different from all the other writers because he rose from the bottom of the Russian society and understood real pain and real suffering. His stories are all about the characters and he doesn't care about how the world should be or how we can make things better. Chekhov wrote about life as it is, not about how society should be. A great Russian writer, Validmir Nabokov, said that Chekhov's genius almost involuntarily disclosed more of the blackest realities of hungry, puzzled, servile, angry peasant Russia than a multitude of other writers.

Great Video, Sir, on what was a very hard-working and genius mind of Mr. Chekov. Can I give you some advice? Your pronunciation of the word, "estate" sounds like "state" , instead of "eeee-state".

A,great writer indeed!

Can you please make a video on Mikhail Bulgakov's book the heart of a dog?