Chechov's
Short Stories, Folio Society Exhibition,
1999,
Pastels on paper, 24,5 x 31 cm each
Click on image to enlarge
The
Grasshopper
Olga is so ambitious that she fails to realise she's married to a brilliant man, until it's too late.
Olga is so ambitious that she fails to realise she's married to a brilliant man, until it's too late.
The
Kiss
'Like a lecturer at his first appearance in public, he could see everything in front of him well enough, but at the same time he could make little sense of it (physicians call this condition, when someone sees without understanding, 'psychic blindness').'
'Like a lecturer at his first appearance in public, he could see everything in front of him well enough, but at the same time he could make little sense of it (physicians call this condition, when someone sees without understanding, 'psychic blindness').'
Misfortune
Mrs. Lubyantsev is pursued by her neighbour Ilyin. Rationalising the situation she tells him to stop bothering her. He confuses her by telling her that you can't just stop loving someone, and he points out that she's been less than honest to him, since she's never given him a clear 'no'. She tries to concentrate on her married life, but finds herself in love with Ilyin, against all logic. She tells her husband, but he doesn't realise the seriousness of the situation. She leaves him, cursing herself for being a slut.
Mrs. Lubyantsev is pursued by her neighbour Ilyin. Rationalising the situation she tells him to stop bothering her. He confuses her by telling her that you can't just stop loving someone, and he points out that she's been less than honest to him, since she's never given him a clear 'no'. She tries to concentrate on her married life, but finds herself in love with Ilyin, against all logic. She tells her husband, but he doesn't realise the seriousness of the situation. She leaves him, cursing herself for being a slut.
Agafya
Savka (lazy, handsome, despises women) is visited by the narrator. They fish, eat, watch nature and sky. Young (married) Agafya cheats on her husband by coming to see Savka. When he tries to catch a nightingale with his hands, she waits for him, even though this means she won't be home in time for her husband.
Savka treats her badly, but she stays the night. She leaves in the morning feeling very guilty and scared to face her husband.
Savka (lazy, handsome, despises women) is visited by the narrator. They fish, eat, watch nature and sky. Young (married) Agafya cheats on her husband by coming to see Savka. When he tries to catch a nightingale with his hands, she waits for him, even though this means she won't be home in time for her husband.
Savka treats her badly, but she stays the night. She leaves in the morning feeling very guilty and scared to face her husband.
Peasants
'The villagers crowded round and did nothing - they just gazed at the fire. No one had any idea what to do - no one was capable of doing anything - and close by were stacks of wheat and hay, piles of dry brushwood, and barns. Kiryak and old Osip, his father, had joined in the crowd, and they were both drunk. The old man turned to the woman lying on the ground and said - as though trying to find some excuse for his idleness - 'now don't get so worked up! The hut's insured, so don't worry!''
'The villagers crowded round and did nothing - they just gazed at the fire. No one had any idea what to do - no one was capable of doing anything - and close by were stacks of wheat and hay, piles of dry brushwood, and barns. Kiryak and old Osip, his father, had joined in the crowd, and they were both drunk. The old man turned to the woman lying on the ground and said - as though trying to find some excuse for his idleness - 'now don't get so worked up! The hut's insured, so don't worry!''
Ariadne
"The moment a woman regards me not as a man, not as an equal, but merely as a male, and is all her life thinking only of how she can make me fall in love with her, or in other words how she can get possession of me, there can be no talk of equality of rights."
"The moment a woman regards me not as a man, not as an equal, but merely as a male, and is all her life thinking only of how she can make me fall in love with her, or in other words how she can get possession of me, there can be no talk of equality of rights."
A Boring Story
''Whether the sky is covered with clouds or the moon and stars shine in it, on returning home I always look up at it and think that I shall soon be dead. It would seem that at such moments my thoughts ought to be as deep as the sky, bright and striking.... But no! I think about myself, my wife, Lisa, Gnekker, the students, and about people in general; my thoughts are mean and trivial. (...) In other words, everything is disgusting, there is nothing to live for, and the sixty-two years of my life must be regarded as wasted. I catch myself in these thought and try to convince myself that they are accidental and transient and not deeply rooted in me....''
''Whether the sky is covered with clouds or the moon and stars shine in it, on returning home I always look up at it and think that I shall soon be dead. It would seem that at such moments my thoughts ought to be as deep as the sky, bright and striking.... But no! I think about myself, my wife, Lisa, Gnekker, the students, and about people in general; my thoughts are mean and trivial. (...) In other words, everything is disgusting, there is nothing to live for, and the sixty-two years of my life must be regarded as wasted. I catch myself in these thought and try to convince myself that they are accidental and transient and not deeply rooted in me....''
