Question by jebber: Chekhov. I read a few of his stories, but I must admit I don’t see the point of them. What am I missing?
Are they “slice of life” stories…portraits of people…
Answers and Views:
Answer by Smells like New Screen Names
Yes, that is it. Admittedly, it is hard to judge anyone’s style in translation. I’ve often wondered if Hemingway’s love for this terse style came from Chekov or from the translator, who might have simplified whatever prose was present. Then that my enjoyment of Chekov is merely backwards engineering from Hemingway
Chekov’s point is to portray real people in a real way, something rather innovative for the time. He wasn’t going for melodrama, nor did he spin yarns like Twain, and he didn’t pull the heart strings like Kipling.
Chekov is a Craftsman home in a world of gingerbread Victorians.
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Joe says
Strong first answer, but here’s another anyway: Chekhov paints pictures of people who are often silly, over-emotional, frustrated, or immature. The rare full-blown, happy character is often in the background, perhaps feeling pity fot the others.
What separates his work from caricature, though, is that he loves his characters for their silliness, their humanity, not in spite of it. He is the antithesis of a judge; he celebrates them in their weakness, and he makes a big deal of their potential for happiness.
If you want to love his work, I’d start there. Ask yourself how easy it would be to laugh at most of his characters and then notice that he never does. Instead, he invites us to see them as flawed and beautiful, beautiful because they’re flawed.