
Sanditon
An adaptation for our times
...
Oct
14
Oct
24
It is probably true to say that to most people Anton Chekhov (1869
– 1904) is best remembered today for his plays such as Uncle Vanya, The Three
Sisters, The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard which are regularly
revived by prestigious stage companies all around the world. However, apart
from being a brilliant and innovative playwright, he was also the master of the
short story, penning over two hundred. Like that other genius of the form Guy
de Maupassant, his snapshots of life,
although set in his native Russia at the end of the nineteenth century, have
not only a universality but also a timeless appeal and relevance which elevates
these tales into the category of ‘the modern short story’.
Chekhov once wrote that, ‘any
idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out’. And it is
this notion that is the kernel at the heart of most of his tales. He probed below the surface of life, laying bare the
secret motives of his characters. Minor occurrences become the focus of the
drama. The short stories lack complex plots and neat solutions; instead they
concentrate on apparent trivialities, creating a special kind of atmosphere
both haunting and lyrical. Never bitter, never cynical, Chekhov related the
everyday life of the little man, the cornered peasant, the teacher, the
government clerk, the student, the
down-at-heel intellectual – for the most part those who live grey, hopeless and
apparently uneventful lives – but in doing so revealed there was great drama,
comedy, tragedy in the commonplace.
An ideal example of his
approach to the narrative is found in the story ‘The Death of the Official’,
which concerns Ivan Chervyakov, a petty government official who, while in the
theatre, sneezes on the head of a man sitting in front of him. This happens to
be General Brizzhalov, a high-ranking official. Following the embarrassing
incident Chervyakov spends a great deal of time and effort attempting to make
amends for his faux pas by ingratiating himself with the General but his actions bring about grave results.
Through
his tales Chekhov managed to universalise commonplaces and lent dignity to the
pathos of the most ludicrous of personalities. The story ‘Lean and Fat’ epitomises
this particular aspect of his writing. It is a slender narrative with nothing
that one could consider a plot. The story merely involves a brief encounter
between two men who in their childhood were close comrades but it speaks
volumes concerning the changing nature and fragility of friendship. At a
railway station the fat one, Mischa, accidentally meets the thin one, Porfiri.
The thin man travels accompanied by his wife and son who are equally as thin –
their size reflecting their lack of success in life. The two old school friends,
who have not seen each other since their youth, greet each other in an
exuberant and informal manner. A conversation follows about the careers of both
of them as government officials. The thin one appears to be an office chairman
with a low salary, and his wife gives music lessons. By contrast, the fat one has
become a Privy Council and has a greater authority than the other. Their
conversation not only highlights how different they from their younger selves
but also how alien they are now to one another. Also, Chekhov is able to use
this anecdotal encounter to attack and pillory the strict vertical nature of Russian society
during his time. The ending is very poignant.
This particular tale
illustrates Chekhov’s theory and practice
in creating a short story – in Russian it was called Chekhov’s Gun - which is a
dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary,
and irrelevant elements should be removed; elements should not appear to make
‘false promises’ by never coming into play ... ‘Remove everything that has no
relevance to the story’.
Before he earned enough to allow him
to write full time, Chekhov was a doctor who went out of his way to help the poor and needy. His encounters
with poverty and squalor – the injustices of life - angered him and influenced
his writing. The much-quoted lines from his letter to the poet Alexey
Plescheyev are perhaps the clearest articulation of his philosophy: ‘My holy of holies is the human
body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love and absolute freedom –
freedom from violence and falsehood, no matter how the last two manifest themselves.’
The little man, the insignificant man, the naïve man find sympathy in Chekhov’s
tales. Their plight is recognised and illuminated.
This
aspect of the human condition is examined in the story ‘Dreams’, which incorporates
the themes of appearance,
identity, struggle, freedom, hopes and aspirations. The narrative involves two
constables escorting a prisoner to gaol. In the course of the story the
incidents that befall the trio illustrate the author’s message that everyone,
whether or not they are guilty or innocent of a crime or misdemeanour, longs to
be free.
Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko, the Russian theatre director, writer, playwright, producer and founder of the Moscow Art Theatre called Chekhov the poet of the bourgeoisie, which may account why the Soviets do not, in general, rate his work highly. By contrast, he exercised considerable influence on English writers, especially during the 1920s. He was particularly admired by Somerset Maugham and Saki.
In the last twenty years of his life Chekhov gradually he devoted more of his time to writing plays. He began writing more slowly and focusing more on the plays than before, but his stories continued to appear in the leading magazines published in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Chekhov was popular and admired.Anton Chekhov died of tuberculosis at the young age of forty four. Who knows how many more stories he would have created had he lived longer. Nevertheless, despite the comparative brevity of his writing career produced a remarkable treasury of wonderful, insightful and engaging tales which we can still read and enjoy.
Image: Monument to Anton Chekhov, State Literary Memorial Museum, Reserve of Anton Chekhov, Melikhovo.
Editorial credit: Pukhov K / Shutterstock.com