Chekhov's works have probably never enjoyed such a degree of
popularity in his own country as they do in England to-day. There is
an ever increasing demand for his admirable short stories, and his
plays, despite their gloomy and depressing character—so contrary to
all that English audiences require when they go to the theatre—have
attained great success and attracted large numbers of people to the
little theatre at Barnes, as well as to the West End houses where they
have been given.
Deeming that the time has now come when readers, who have shown so
much admiration for his works, would like to have a deeper insight
into the development of this remarkable genius, we are here offering,
for the first time in English, a translation of one of his early
works, which is perhaps his most ambitious effort—at least with regard
to length and to complexity of plot. “The Shooting Party” was written
in 1885, in the early and difficult period of Chekhov's life. While
still a student at the University, he found himself obliged to support
his family with his pen, and when he wrote this novel he was only
beginning to make his way to the forefront of literature.
Anton Chekhov was only sixteen years old when his father failed in the
business he had carried on for many years in Taganrog, and was obliged
to go to Moscow in search of employment. Shortly after his mother and
his younger brother and sister joined the father, and Anton was left
to complete his course of studies at the Taganrog Gymnasium. During
the three years he remained in Taganrog Anton lived as tutor in the
family of a Mr. Selivanov, who had bought the Chekhov's house at the
auction of their property. In 1879, having gone through all the
classes of the Gymnasium, Anton joined his family in Moscow, where he
entered the University to study medicine. At that time his father had
a small post in a merchant's office, and lived and was boarded in his
employer's house. Two of Chekhov's elder brothers had left the home
some years before, and Anton found himself at the head of the family,
which was in great straits. In order to help in its support every one
of the children did what they could. It was then that Anton Chekhov
began writing his short stories for a number of provincial newspapers
and magazines. These stories attracted general attention, and the
editors of the Press of the two capitals soon asked him to contribute
to their magazines also. The stories and sketches he wrote at that
time appeared above the _nom de plume_ of Antosha Tchekhonte, a
nickname that had been given him at school. They are chiefly of a
humorous character and mostly of an ephemeral nature, having been
dashed off in haste as potboilers. There is a marked difference
between these early works and the tales he wrote during the last
fifteen years of his short life.
In the year 1885 the first collection of Chekhov's tales appeared in
book form; it was followed by several other volumes of stories, and in
1899 Chekhov sold the copyright of all his works, that had already
been published or that he might yet write, to the publishing firm of
A. F. Marks. By the terms of the contract which he made with Marks he
ceded to them the exclusive rights of publishing his works in book
form, but he retained the right of first publishing in periodicals any
stories he might write in the future. He was then at the height of his
popularity, and all the best magazines and newspapers were eager to
obtain contributions from his pen.
A re-issue of Chekhov's complete works was also contemplated, subject
to the selection and revision of the author. This project was carried
out by Marks in an edition that formed eleven volumes. This edition
comprises all Chekhov's best works, selected by himself from the very
voluminous contributions he had made to the periodical Press during
the twenty years he had devoted his talents to literature, and this
collection may be looked upon as representing the works by which
Chekhov wished to be remembered. In the choice of the 240 novelettes
and stories that are comprised in these volumes the author evidently
applied very strict criticism, with the result that they are of an
astonishingly high and even standard of merit. The task of selection
was no easy one for the author, as his writings were so numerous, and
were scattered in many periodicals and newspapers. But few of the
early stories were included in these volumes. However, after his death
in 1904, there was a general demand for a more complete edition of his
works, and regrets were expressed that so many of his stories, written
in early life, were hidden away in old periodicals inaccessible to his
admirers. For this reason his publisher, A. F. Marks, decided to add
several supplementary volumes containing all that could be found of
the early writings of this popular author, to the already published
collected works. In a prefatory notice the editor of these volumes
says that the desire of having all that Chekhov had written was very
natural, as everything that had come from his pen was dear to his
friends, no matter at what time it had been written, nor however
critically the author, in his maturer years, might have looked upon
these works, as they show the development and the extraordinary growth
of his fine and subtle talent and his outlook on the world at various
periods of his life. Besides the desire to have everything Chekhov had
written there were also just grounds for thinking that, if he had not
been cut off so prematurely by death, he would himself have added the
greater number of these stories and sketches to his collected works.
In the opinion of the critics Chekhov's early works are also
“documents of Russian life collected by a great literary artist with
rare knowledge and care illuminated with conscious discernment and
thoughtful humour and exploring depths of human grief and suffering
that touch the heart of the reader profoundly. Besides it must be
added that in these forgotten tales there are many glimpses of the
real Chekhov qualities, of his poetic imagination, his meditative
sadness, his subtle spiritual nature and entirely truthful portrayal
of actualities.”
Three hundred and fifty tales are published in these supplementary
volumes. They vary in length from the novelette to mere sketches of
barely a page and they were all written between the years 1880 and
1888. Many of them had been carefully collected by Chekhov himself
with the assistance of his friends, the rest were unearthed by the
assiduity of the publishers. They are arranged as much as possible
chronologically and most of them are dated.
These youthful efforts of an author, who afterwards attained to such
world-wide popularity, are interesting as showing the development and
growth of his remarkable talents and the change of his method from the
light sketches written, for provincial newspapers and humorous
magazines to the stories he produced in his maturer years, and though
not equal in power to the latter, many of them are well worth reading.
Among these works there are several of considerable length, and “The
Shooting Party,” which we now offer to the English reader, has almost
the dimensions of a novel and it is more in the style of the sensation
novels of the time when it was written, than the episodic character of
Chekhov's later works, and though we find in it occasional awkward
blendings of conventional phraseology with snatches of brilliant
impressionism—one of the peculiar features of this work,—it already
shows many of the author's characteristics.
At that time Chekhov had been supplementing his slender income by
reporting law cases for the Press, and the insight he obtained into
the backwash of many a crime probably weighed on his mind until it
found expression in the present work, which is perhaps the blackest
indictment of the proceedings of Russian provincial Law Courts that
has ever been written. Besides these descriptions he gives us graphic
pictures of the looseness of provincial life in the heart of Russia
which is sad and hopeless in the extreme. The story is written in the
first person and the hero makes his confessions with a cynical
frankness which rivals that of Jean Jacques Rousseau himself. He is
supposed to be an examining magistrate, a functionary, who in Russia
performs the combined duties of a coroner and a magistrate; he it is
who is called upon to make the preliminary investigations of criminal
cases, and who draws up the first reports. Chekhov himself plays the
part of editor and offers his comments and reflections on the events
and on the manner in which they are described in footnotes signed with
his initials. The characters are drawn with much of the Chekhov touch
and, as in so many of his works, they are all more or less failures or
degenerates, and there is little of lighter elements to relieve the
tragic gloom, however the dramatic interest is well sustained
throughout and carries the reader on so that he is not likely to lay
the book aside before he reaches the end.
In this novel one notices here and there signs of inexperience in the
construction and the development of a plot, with all its intricacies,
a fact of which Chekhov seemed well aware, as in many of his letters
he mentions that he always felt difficulties assailing him when he
arrived at the middle of a long story, and thought he was only fit to
write short ones. It shows the development of his art, so unlike that
of the old masters of literature, who employed a large canvas and
filled in all the details in order to produce their effects, while his
style resembles rather that of the impressionists, who with a few bold
strokes bring out the salient points of what they wish to depict. We
find already short word-pictures of nature, that give the necessary
atmosphere, a few pregnant words, that denote the mood, while acts and
deeds express character without lengthy analysis and long
descriptions. The Shooting Party shows signs of the perfecting of his
technique and an increase of his power and for that reason it will be
a precious document for every student of Chekhov, one of the great
masters whose works did so much towards the evolution of the modern
short story.