The Complete Short Novels

Anton Chekhovs short novels are here brought together in one volume for thefirst time in a masterly new translation by the awardwinning translatorsRichard Pevea... » 

Anton Chekhovs short novels are here brought together in one volume for thefirst time in a masterly new translation by the awardwinning translatorsRichard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.Chekhov widely hailed as the supreme master of the short story also wrotefive works long enough to be called short novels. The Steppethe most lyricalof the fiveis an account of a nineyearold boys frightening journey by wagontrain across the steppe of southern Russia to enroll in a distant school. TheDuel sets two decadent figuresa fanatical rationalist and a man of literarysensibilityon a collision course that ends in a series of surprisingreversals. In The Story of an Unknown Man a political radical plans to spy onan important official by serving as valet to his son however as he graduallybecomes involved as a silent witness in the intimate life of his youngemployer he finds that his own terminal illness has changed his longheldpriorities in startling ways. Three Years recounts a complex series of ironiesin the personal life of a rich but passive Moscow merchant engaging time as anarrative element in a way unusual in Chekhovs fiction. In My Life a manrenounces wealth and social position for a life of manual labor and theresulting conflict between the moral simplicity of his ideals and the complexrealities of human nauture culminates in an apocalyptic vision that is uniquein Chekhovs work.In these five short novels Chekhovs masterful storytelling and his profoundunderstanding of human nature are brilliantly evinced. «