The Kiss by Anton Chekhov
Dec. 31st, 2007 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
One of the greatest Russian writers, Chekov was both a brilliant dramatist and accomplished author of short fiction. Penguin publishes the widest range of his plays, letters and stories, including three new volumes of short fiction from which these two tales are taken. Offering a compelling insight into human nature, they describe the joy and sorrow found when two people come together with different expectations and desires.
This book was given away for free as part of a Starbucks/Penguin Books/The Times promotion to tie in with the 70th anniversary of Penguin Books. At a little over 50 pages long, I suspect that this promotion is intended to give a taster of a longer work, rather than representing the whole of the promotional book.
The title story follows a too-thin young officer with huge side whiskers called Ryabovich, who is unexpectedly kissed by an unseen woman in a darkened room after getting lost in a country house during a party. The kiss awakens in him an awareness of love and his need for something that he'd hitherto given up on and Chekov shows what happens to these feelings when Ryabovich revisits the house where the kiss took place.
The second story is 'A Visit To Friends' follows a middle-aged lawyer called Podgorin who goes to visit some childhood friends who stand to lose their family home and who want his help. It's a well-observed tale of a man who's become emotionally stunted and who resents the expectations placed upon him by his former friends. There's a bitter quality to the ending, which is something of a downer, but it is incredibly well-written so that you find that you understand Podgorin whilst also pitying him.
The Verdict:
An interesting read and as good an introduction to Chekov's short stories as anything else.
One of the greatest Russian writers, Chekov was both a brilliant dramatist and accomplished author of short fiction. Penguin publishes the widest range of his plays, letters and stories, including three new volumes of short fiction from which these two tales are taken. Offering a compelling insight into human nature, they describe the joy and sorrow found when two people come together with different expectations and desires.
This book was given away for free as part of a Starbucks/Penguin Books/The Times promotion to tie in with the 70th anniversary of Penguin Books. At a little over 50 pages long, I suspect that this promotion is intended to give a taster of a longer work, rather than representing the whole of the promotional book.
The title story follows a too-thin young officer with huge side whiskers called Ryabovich, who is unexpectedly kissed by an unseen woman in a darkened room after getting lost in a country house during a party. The kiss awakens in him an awareness of love and his need for something that he'd hitherto given up on and Chekov shows what happens to these feelings when Ryabovich revisits the house where the kiss took place.
The second story is 'A Visit To Friends' follows a middle-aged lawyer called Podgorin who goes to visit some childhood friends who stand to lose their family home and who want his help. It's a well-observed tale of a man who's become emotionally stunted and who resents the expectations placed upon him by his former friends. There's a bitter quality to the ending, which is something of a downer, but it is incredibly well-written so that you find that you understand Podgorin whilst also pitying him.
The Verdict:
An interesting read and as good an introduction to Chekov's short stories as anything else.
