From the supreme artist of the short story, three disturbing tales of supernatural hallucinations, hysterical obsession and moral decay. "I did have hallucinations, but did they harm anyone? Who did they harm, that's what I'd like to know!' From the supreme artist of the short story, three disturbing tales of supernatural hallucinations, hysterical obsession and moral decay. This is one of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.

"I did have hallucinations, but did they harm anyone? Who did they harm, that’s what I’d like to know!" From the supreme artist of the short story, three disturbing tales of supernatural hallucinations, hysterical obsession and moral decay. One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics’ huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.

"I did have hallucinations, but did they harm anyone? Who did they harm, that’s what I’d like to know!" From the supreme artist of the short story, three disturbing tales of supernatural hallucinations, hysterical obsession and moral decay. One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics’ huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.

Anton Chekhov was a master of the short story. The son of a former serf in southern Russia, he attended Moscow University to study medicine, writing short stories for periodicals in order to support his family. What began as a necessity became a legitimate career in 1886 when he was asked to write in St. Petersburg for the Novoye Vremya (New Times), owned by millionaire magnate Alexey Suvorin. Chekhov began paying more attention to his writing, revising and developing his own principles and conceptions of truth, for a time coming under the influence of Leo Tolstoy. As a result of his widespread popularity, Chekhov amassed a vast collection of short stories displaying an early use of stream-of-consciousness writing, as well as his powerful ideas concerning the individual, the tedium of life, and the beauty nature and humanity. "Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov" including many of the author's greatest shorter works.

Anton Chekhov was a master of the short story. The son of a former serf in southern Russia, he attended Moscow University to study medicine, writing short stories for periodicals in order to support his family. What began as a necessity became a legitimate career in 1886 when he was asked to write in St. Petersburg for the Novoye Vremya (New Times), owned by millionaire magnate Alexey Suvorin. Chekhov began paying more attention to his writing, revising and developing his own principles and conceptions of truth, for a time coming under the influence of Leo Tolstoy. As a result of his widespread popularity, Chekhov amassed a vast collection of short stories displaying an early use of stream-of-consciousness writing, as well as his powerful ideas concerning the individual, the tedium of life, and the beauty nature and humanity. "Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov" including many of the author's greatest shorter works.

Anton Chekhov was a master of the short story. The son of a former serf in southern Russia, he attended Moscow University to study medicine, writing short stories for periodicals in order to support his family. What began as a necessity became a legitimate career in 1886 when he was asked to write in St. Petersburg for the Novoye Vremya (New Times), owned by millionaire magnate Alexey Suvorin. Chekhov began paying more attention to his writing, revising and developing his own principles and conceptions of truth, for a time coming under the infl uence of Leo Tolstoy. As a result of his widespread popularity, Chekhov amassed a vast collection of short stories displaying an early use of stream-of-consciousness writing, as well as his powerful ideas concerning the individual, the tedium of life, and the beauty nature and humanity. "Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov" including many of the author's greatest shorter works.

Anton Chekhov was a master of the short story. The son of a former serf in southern Russia, he attended Moscow University to study medicine, writing short stories for periodicals in order to support his family. What began as a necessity became a legitimate career in 1886 when he was asked to write in St. Petersburg for the Novoye Vremya (New Times), owned by millionaire magnate Alexey Suvorin. Chekhov began paying more attention to his writing, revising and developing his own principles and conceptions of truth, for a time coming under the infl uence of Leo Tolstoy. As a result of his widespread popularity, Chekhov amassed a vast collection of short stories displaying an early use of stream-of-consciousness writing, as well as his powerful ideas concerning the individual, the tedium of life, and the beauty nature and humanity. "Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov" including many of the author's greatest shorter works.

A Russian version of Don Juan is the focus of Chekhov's first play, a farce in which a newly arrived schoolmaster proves irresistible to the bored women of a provincial community. Platonov's charm lies in his novelty, and his seductions are strictly passive as a libidinous widow, her idealistic stepdaughter, and an earnest student vie for his romantic attentions. Discovered in 1923, two decades after Chekhov's death, this play was written while the author was still a medical student. Adapted and translated by Alex Szogyi, it offers the trenchant wit and rich characterizations typical of the dramatist's later works. Woven amid the love affairs, suicide attempts, parties, and shootings are the customary themes of Chekhovian theater: the passions and frailties of human nature, the futility of the search for happiness, and the alternating episodes of comedy and tragedy that shape every life.

Saki (H.H. Munro) stands alongside Anton Chekhov and O Henry as a master of the short story. His extraordinary stories are a mixture of humorous satire, irony and the macabre, in which the stupidities and hypocrisy of conventional society are viciously pilloried. .

Saki (H.H. Munro) stands alongside Anton Chekhov and O Henry as a master of the short story. His extraordinary stories are a mixture of humorous satire, irony and the macabre, in which the stupidities and hypocrisy of conventional society are viciously pilloried. .

Anton Chekhov was one of Russian literature's greatest short story writers. This collection brings together twenty-five of his best known, including ‘Fat and Thin’, ‘Sleepy’, ‘Rothschild’s Fiddle’, and ’The Lady with a Dog’. An acute observer of everyday life in late 19th-century Russia, Chekhov was a master of wry precision. His clear, subtle prose conjures up a diverse range of characters, whether they be small children arguing over a game, two old school friends meeting by chance, or lovers conducting an illicit affair. By turns tragic, comic, and satirical, each story paints a vivid picture that lives long in the mind.

Combining psychological detail with a strong sense of place and time, this tale bears all the hallmarks of Chekhov's genius, and perfectly captures the political and social tensions of its day. A secret terrorist group infiltrates the household of a government official's son, with a view to spying on the father and, ultimately, assassinating him. But the young man entrusted with the task-an ailing, world-weary "nobody"-seized with the purposelessness of life and a sense of his own impending death, gradually becomes disillusioned with his mission, and decides to embark on a new path which will lead him to tragedy.

A secret terrorist group infiltrates the household of a government official’s son, with a view to spying on the father and, ultimately, assassinating him. But the young man entrusted with the task – an ailing, world-weary “nobody” – seized with the purposelessness of life and a sense of his own impending death, gradually becomes disillusioned with his mission, and decides to embark on a new path which will lead him to tragedy. Combining psychological detail with a strong sense of place and time, The Story of a Nobody bears all the hallmarks of Chekhov’s genius, and perfectly captures the political and social tensions of its day.

Anton Chekhov's popularity in the West is without parallel for a foreign writer. He has been absorbed into our culture, and accepted as one of our own. His plays lend themselves easily to the stage, calling for actors with intelligence and common sense rather than a dramatic voice or histrionic skills. He takes from everyday life themes of frustration which apply to us all - the difficulty of carving out a happy existence, the problems of love, the fading of hope, the universal feeling that time passes and we never quite get things right. This seems pessimistic, and yet Chekhov claimed he was writing comedy. Readers, actors and directors must decide for themselves which way to play these pieces. They are full of sadness, but a sadness described as the 'darkness of the last hour before the dawn'. Whether tragic or comic, however, they are works of the first importance. "The Cherry Orchard" has been described as 'the best play since Shakespeare', "Three Sisters" as 'the best play in the world'.

"Oh, good God," he kept saying with great relish. "Good God..." 'Gooseberries' is accompanied here by 'The Kiss' and 'The Two Volodyas' - three exquisite depictions of love and loss in nineteenth-century Russia by Chekhov, the great master of the short story form. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Anton Chekhov (1860-1904). Chekhov's works available in Penguin Classics are The Steppe and Other Stories, Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, The Lady with the Little Dog and Other Stories, The Shooting Party, Plays and A Life in Letters.

The most widely staged dramatist after Shakespeare, Chekhov left a deep mark both on the development of Russian literature and world theatre, with plays that were remarkable not just for their dialogue but their atmosphere and the tensions expressed between the lines. Collected in this volume are Chekhov's four most celebrated plays - The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard - in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin. In these personal stories of unfulfilled love, failed ambition and existential ennui, set against a background of unsettling social and economical change, the reader can appreciate the groundbreaking qualities of Chekhov's theatrical genius.