Ralph E. Matlaw (–1990)

This one recalls beery evenings when I still shuddered from the emotional impact of such simple stories. I suppose most folks at the time - the early 1990s - were swayed by Carver or Bukowski. I worked ALL the ime but recall buying this new at hawley Cooke and then being floored. The Grasshopper is the one which lingers, assuming a parallel position with Joyce's Araby and tales from Sherwood Anderson as the haunting foundation of a life spent between pages.

This collection contains only thirty-four of the hundreds of stories written by Chekhov. It does not contain the longer stories like The Steppe of Ward No. 6, but it does include a judicious selection by the late Ralph Matlaw of stories primarily in the Garnett translations.
Chekhov's stories portray individuals and their relations with each other in specific situations. These often demonstrate the results of difficult choices with sometimes devastating results. I particularly enjoyed stories show more like "The Lady with a Dog" that were a little further developed than some of the briefer sketches. The most notable aspect in my reading was the modern feeling that I encountered in reading Chekhov. These stories, while set in a very different place and time are still relevant in the twenty-first century. The Norton Critical Edition is especially valuable with a selection of Chekhov's letters, major criticism, and a select bibliography. show less

2 stars for the first half, 3.5 stars for the second half, compromising with three. The first half was MIND-NUMBINGLY BORING and I could not make myself care about it, but once the crime happened it started getting interesting to me. There was a LOT that could have been edited out even in the more interesting second half, though.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, for a retrospective collection, I found this very patchy. My favourite parts of the collection were actually some of the shortest stories, in which Chekhov did a wonderful job of painting a vivid scene and one or two very real characters in just a couple of pages each time. Some of the longer stories convey a deep sense of pathos, but there were also a few that just didn't engage me emotionally at all.