Subject
Rediscovered Chekhov
From
Date
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EDITOR's NOTE. Chekhov was one of VN's favorites and Nabokov's
connection to the older writer is discussed in Maxim Shrayer's The World
of Nabokov's Stories_ and his _Nabokov: temy i variatsii_ (St.
Petersburg: Akademicheskii proekt, 2000).
------------------
January 28, 2001
Chekhov's Birthday Celebrated
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:18 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- The story is called ``Goat or
Scoundrel,''
written by the master Anton Chekhov. It has never been heard or
published in English.
``A sultry afternoon,'' Chekhov begins. ``A young lady is
reclining in the drawing room. Flies are wandering over her face, an
open book is lying at her feet, her mouth is slightly ajar and her
breath is light and even.''
Chekhov was born 141 years ago this month and on Monday
his
birthday was to be celebrated with a free reading in midtown
Manhattan,
featuring Broadway stars Tammy Grimes and Cherry Jones. ``Goat or
Scoundrel'' was to have its world debut in English.
``This great writer and his stories are a perfect way to
show that the arts strike across all countries,'' said Stanley Eugene
Tannen, founder of the TIPA Project, a peace organization sponsoring
the Chekhov program.
``Goat or Scoundrel'' was translated by Peter Constantine,
who for the past few years has single-handedly resurrected the Russian
writer's
lesser-known stories. He did not track them down in a warehouse or
closet in Russia, but instead came upon them at the New York Public
Library.
Constantine was reading through a volume of Budilnik, a
Russian magazine from the late 19th century. Among the bylines he
found was Antosha Chekhonte -- Anton Chekhov. He soon found other early
stories, never before translated into English.
``I knew there were these magazines that people like
Chekhov
and Turgenev had published in. When I read the Chekhov stories I
thought they were
fabulous. I couldn't believe they hadn' t been translated,'' said the
37-year-old Constantine.
Three years ago, 38 of Constantine's translations were
compiled in ``The Undiscovered Chekhov'' and released by the
independent publisher Seven
Stories Press. Constantine, an award-winning translator who knows more
than two dozen
languages, now plans a second volume with Seven Stories.
``I want to have about 80 stories this time,'' he said.
Chekhov was just 44 when he died, in 1904, and like others who die young
or suddenly, he left an incomplete public catalogue. Ernest
Hemingway, Franz Kafka and Sylvia Plath are among the writers whose
posthumous releases continued for years.
It would have been hard to publish all of Chekhov's
stories
in his lifetime since he wrote hundreds of them. He's considered by many
the greatest of
all short story writers, but the author often disparaged his fiction
as ``little trifles''
and ``literary excrements.''
In 1954, Thomas Mann cited the author's modesty for
damaging
his reputation. This modesty, Mann wrote, ``was an extremely appealing
trait, but
it was not designed to exact respect from the world. And, one could
say that it set the
world a bad example.''
Chekhov is now virtually sainted in the literary community
as a wise, forgiving observer of human nature. Constantine believes
the magazine stories
reveal a less appreciated side.
``Some of the stories are jokes, vignettes, and the past
generation of Chekhovists thought they were juvenilia,'' Constantine
said. ``But I think they're quite good.''
One newly translated piece is the satire ``Bibliography,''
in which Chekhov imagines the publication of such titles as ``A
Tourist Guide to Siberia
and Environs'' and ``Is There Any Money in Russia? And If So, Where is
It?''
In the story ``Advertisement'' Chekhov sends up a
then-popular ``anti-combustion'' ointment. Noting it's already worked
wonders for ``Lapshin, the match-stick magnate,'' Chekhov urges readers
to apply the product directly on people: ``Entrepreneurs whose
business is about to go up in
flames.''
``Men in whose hearts love is all too easily kindled.''
``Combustible daughters and flaming mothers.''
``The hot heads of young provincial officials.''
``Bureaucrats who sizzle with so much zeal that it can
only
lead to no good.''
connection to the older writer is discussed in Maxim Shrayer's The World
of Nabokov's Stories_ and his _Nabokov: temy i variatsii_ (St.
Petersburg: Akademicheskii proekt, 2000).
------------------
January 28, 2001
Chekhov's Birthday Celebrated
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:18 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- The story is called ``Goat or
Scoundrel,''
written by the master Anton Chekhov. It has never been heard or
published in English.
``A sultry afternoon,'' Chekhov begins. ``A young lady is
reclining in the drawing room. Flies are wandering over her face, an
open book is lying at her feet, her mouth is slightly ajar and her
breath is light and even.''
Chekhov was born 141 years ago this month and on Monday
his
birthday was to be celebrated with a free reading in midtown
Manhattan,
featuring Broadway stars Tammy Grimes and Cherry Jones. ``Goat or
Scoundrel'' was to have its world debut in English.
``This great writer and his stories are a perfect way to
show that the arts strike across all countries,'' said Stanley Eugene
Tannen, founder of the TIPA Project, a peace organization sponsoring
the Chekhov program.
``Goat or Scoundrel'' was translated by Peter Constantine,
who for the past few years has single-handedly resurrected the Russian
writer's
lesser-known stories. He did not track them down in a warehouse or
closet in Russia, but instead came upon them at the New York Public
Library.
Constantine was reading through a volume of Budilnik, a
Russian magazine from the late 19th century. Among the bylines he
found was Antosha Chekhonte -- Anton Chekhov. He soon found other early
stories, never before translated into English.
``I knew there were these magazines that people like
Chekhov
and Turgenev had published in. When I read the Chekhov stories I
thought they were
fabulous. I couldn't believe they hadn' t been translated,'' said the
37-year-old Constantine.
Three years ago, 38 of Constantine's translations were
compiled in ``The Undiscovered Chekhov'' and released by the
independent publisher Seven
Stories Press. Constantine, an award-winning translator who knows more
than two dozen
languages, now plans a second volume with Seven Stories.
``I want to have about 80 stories this time,'' he said.
Chekhov was just 44 when he died, in 1904, and like others who die young
or suddenly, he left an incomplete public catalogue. Ernest
Hemingway, Franz Kafka and Sylvia Plath are among the writers whose
posthumous releases continued for years.
It would have been hard to publish all of Chekhov's
stories
in his lifetime since he wrote hundreds of them. He's considered by many
the greatest of
all short story writers, but the author often disparaged his fiction
as ``little trifles''
and ``literary excrements.''
In 1954, Thomas Mann cited the author's modesty for
damaging
his reputation. This modesty, Mann wrote, ``was an extremely appealing
trait, but
it was not designed to exact respect from the world. And, one could
say that it set the
world a bad example.''
Chekhov is now virtually sainted in the literary community
as a wise, forgiving observer of human nature. Constantine believes
the magazine stories
reveal a less appreciated side.
``Some of the stories are jokes, vignettes, and the past
generation of Chekhovists thought they were juvenilia,'' Constantine
said. ``But I think they're quite good.''
One newly translated piece is the satire ``Bibliography,''
in which Chekhov imagines the publication of such titles as ``A
Tourist Guide to Siberia
and Environs'' and ``Is There Any Money in Russia? And If So, Where is
It?''
In the story ``Advertisement'' Chekhov sends up a
then-popular ``anti-combustion'' ointment. Noting it's already worked
wonders for ``Lapshin, the match-stick magnate,'' Chekhov urges readers
to apply the product directly on people: ``Entrepreneurs whose
business is about to go up in
flames.''
``Men in whose hearts love is all too easily kindled.''
``Combustible daughters and flaming mothers.''
``The hot heads of young provincial officials.''
``Bureaucrats who sizzle with so much zeal that it can
only
lead to no good.''