The Schoolmistress and Other Stories (1920) is a collection of short
stories by Russian writer Anton Chekhov. "The Schoolmistress" was
written in 1897 and published in an issue of Moscow's daily newspaper
Russkiye Vedomosti. Even for Chekhov, whose work is characteristically
bleak and noted for its unsparing realism, the title story of this
collection is particularly hopeless. And yet, reading it alongside these
other stories by a true icon of world and Russian literature, one cannot
help but feel a sense of hope, reminded--as Chekhov's readers almost
invariably are--of the light one finds in even the darkest of places.
"The Schoolmistress," which Chekhov wrote in Nice, is a brief story that
follows Maria Vasilyevna as she returns to the village where she lives
and works after collecting her pay in town. On the way, her cart nearly
overturns, and she is forced to get out in the middle of a freezing
river. To dry off, she takes a break at a local tavern, where she meets
the formerly handsome Khanov, a landlord of her acquaintance. As she
continues on her journey, she muses on her lot in life. Beset with
memories and regrets, she struggles to make it home to a life she can
hardly bear. "A Nervous Breakdown," originally published in 1889, is the
story of a young law student who reluctantly agrees to accompany his
friends on a night in Moscow's red-light district. Overwhelmed with
despair and guilt, he struggles to reconcile what he sees with his own
idealistic sense of the world. These are only two of the twenty-one
works collected in The Schoolmistress and Other Stories, which
showcase the immense talents of Anton Chekhov, an icon of Russian
literature.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of Anton Chekhov's The Schoolmistress and Other Stories
is a classic of Russian literature reimagined for modern readers.
