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Janet Malcolm

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Reading Chekhov: A Critical Journey Paperback – November 12, 2002

by Janet Malcolm (Author)

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To illuminate the mysterious greatness of Anton Chekhov’s writings, Janet Malcolm takes on three roles: literary critic, biographer, and journalist. Her close readings of the stories and plays are interwoven with episodes from Chekhov’s life and framed by an account of Malcolm’s journey to St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Yalta. She writes of Chekhov’s childhood, his relationships, his travels, his early success, and his self-imposed “exile”—always with an eye to connecting them to themes and characters in his work. Lovers of Chekhov as well as those new to his work will be transfixed by Reading Chekhov.

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

The author's pilgrimage to Chekhov's Russia—Moscow, St. Petersburg, the gardens of his villa in Yalta—is a reunion with this most reticent of literary fathers. Malcolm analyzes the transformations that Chekhov grants his redeemable roués and guileless heroines, and illuminates the hidden surreality and waywardness of his realism.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

Review

“One of the most gratifying things about Reading Chekhov is its quiet, vigorous defense of the prerogatives of criticism against the imperial banality of biography.” —The New York Times Book Review

“[A] thoughtful and sensitive study . . . A great part of the charm and the skill of Janet Malcolm’s book lies in the very Chekhovian way she mingles personal with critical comment, taking us not only through Chekhov’s stories but through the removals and journeys of his life and her own travels in quest of his Russian haunts.” —The New York Review of Books

“With the gentle inevitability of a balloon lofting skyward, the discourse effortlessly ascends from chatter to contemplation to genuinely brilliant critique. . . . With its balance of distilled perception and companionable spirit, Reading Chekhov embodies the same qualities it celebrates.” —San Francisco Chronicle

From the Inside Flap

To illuminate the mysterious greatness of Anton Chekhov's writings, Janet Malcolm takes on three roles: literary critic, biographer, and journalist. Her close readings of the stories and plays are interwoven with episodes from Chekhov's life and framed by an account of Malcolm's journey to St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Yalta. She writes of Chekhov's childhood, his relationships, his travels, his early success, and his self-imposed "exile"—always with an eye to connecting them to themes and characters in his work. Lovers of Chekhov as well as those new to his work will be transfixed by Reading Chekhov.

From the Back Cover

e the mysterious greatness of Anton Chekhov’s writings, Janet Malcolm takes on three roles: literary critic, biographer, and journalist. Her close readings of the stories and plays are interwoven with episodes from Chekhov’s life and framed by an account of Malcolm’s journey to St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Yalta. She writes of Chekhov’s childhood, his relationships, his travels, his early success, and his self-imposed “exile”—always with an eye to connecting them to themes and characters in his work. Lovers of Chekhov as well as those new to his work will be transfixed by Reading Chekhov.

About the Author

Janet Malcolm was an author and a journalist at The New Yorker. Her books include Reading Chekhov: A Critical Journey, The Crime of Sheila McGough, and The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Born in Prague, she grew up in New York. Janet Malcolm died in 2021.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

One

After they have slept together for the first time, Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna von Diderits, the hero and heroine of Anton Chekhov's story "The Lady with the Dog" (1899), drive out at dawn to a village near Yalta called Oreanda, where they sit on a bench near a church and look down on the sea. "Yalta was hardly visible through the morning mist; white clouds stood motionless on the mountain-tops," Chekhov writes at the start of the famous passage that continues:

The leaves did not stir on the trees, grasshoppers chirruped, and the monotonous hollow sound of the sea rising up from below, spoke of the peace, of the eternal sleep awaiting us. So it must have sounded when there was no Yalta, no Oreanda here; so it sounds now, and it will sound as indifferently and monotonously when we are all no more. And in this constancy, in this complete indifference to the life and death of each of us, there lies hid, perhaps, a pledge of our eternal salvation, of the unceasing movement of life upon earth, of unceasing progress towards perfection. Sitting beside a young woman who in the dawn seemed so lovely, soothed and spellbound in these magical surroundings-the sea, mountains, clouds, the open sky-Gurov thought how in reality everything is beautiful in this world when one reflects: everything except what we think or do ourselves when we forget our human dignity and the higher aims of our existence.

Today, I am sitting on that same bench near the church looking at the same view. Beside me is my English-speaking guide Nina (I know no Russian), and a quarter of a mile away a driver named Yevgeny waits in his car at the entrance of the footpath leading to the lookout point where Gurov and Anna sat, not yet aware of the great love that lay before them. I am a character in a new drama: the absurdist farce of the literary pilgrim who leaves the magical pages of a work of genius and travels to an "original scene" that can only fall short of his expectations. However, because Nina and Yevgeny have gone to some trouble to find the spot, I pretend to be thrilled by it. Nina-a large woman in her late sixties, with short, straight blond hair, forget-me-not blue eyes, and an open passionate nature-is gratified. She breaks into song. "It's a big, wide wonderful world that we live in," she sings, and then asks, "Do you know this song?" When I say I do, she tells me that Deanna Durbin sang it in the 1948 film For the Love of Mary.

"Do you like Deanna Durbin?" she asks. I say yes.

"I adore Deanna Durbin," Nina says. "I have adored her since I was a girl."

She tells me of a chance encounter in a church in Yalta, two years earlier, with an Englishwoman named Muriel, who turned out to be another adorer of Deanna Durbin, and who subsequently invited her to the annual conference of an organization called the Deanna Durbin Society, which was held that year in Scarborough, England. Nina owns videos of all of Deanna Durbin's movies and knows all the songs Deanna Durbin sang. She offers to give me the address of the Deanna Durbin Society.

Nina was born and educated in St. Petersburg and, after studying the languages at the university there, became an Intourist guide, presently moving to Yalta. She has retired, and, like most retirees in the former Soviet Unioin, she cannot live on her pension. She now hires out as an independent guide and waits for assignments from the Hotel Yalta, currently the only habitable hotel in the town, My trip to Yalta is a stroke of good fortune for her; she had not worked for a long time when the call from the hotel came.

It is the second day of my acquaintance with Nina, the third day of my stay at the Hotel Yalta, and the ninth day of my trip to the former Soviet Union. I have worked my way south from St. Petersburg and Moscow. My arrival in Yalta was marked by an incident that rather dramatically brought into view something that had lain just below my consciousness as I pursued my itinerary of visits to houses where Chekhov lived and places he had written about. I had flow from Moscow to Simferopol, the nearest twon to Yalta with an airport, a two-hour drive away. Checkov lived in Yalta during much of the last five years of his life. (He died in July, 1904.) At that time, exile to places with mild climates, like the Crimea and the Riviera, was the favored therapy for tuberculosis, into whose last stages Chekov was entering inthe late eighteen-nineties. He built a handsome villa a few miles outside the city center, in a suburb called Autka, and also bought a small cottage on the water in a seadisde Tatar village called Gurzuf. He wrote "Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard," as well as "The Lady with the Dog" and "The Bishop," in these houses.

At the Simferopol airport, as I stood in line at the immigration counter waiting to have my passport and visa stamped, I saw, as if in a dream's slow motion, a man in the baggage area on the other side of a glass panel walk out of the building with my suitcase in his hand. The hallucination proved to be real. In a daze, I filled out a lost luggage form and followed an English-speaking woman who worked for the Hotel Yalta to a car in the parking lot. She said she would trace my lauggage and disappeared. The driver--the same Yevegeny who now twists in the car in Oreanda--drove me to the hotel in silence, his English and my Russian in exact equilibrium.

As we neared the Black Sea coast, the Ukranian farm country gave way to terrain ressembling--and, in the variety and beauty of its vegetation, surpassing--that of the Riviera corniches. The winding road offered views of mountains and glimpses of the sea below. But when the Hotel Yalta came into view I caught my breath at its spectacular ugliness. It is a monstrous building--erected in 1975, with a capacity of twenty-five hundred people--that is like a brute's blow in the face of the countryside. Its scale would be problematic anywhere, and on the hillside above Yalta it is catastrophic.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Trade Paperbacks (November 12, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375761063
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375761065
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.5 x 7.95 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #947,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #240 in History & Criticism of Russian & Soviet Literature
- #4,934 in Author Biographies
- #29,067 in Memoirs (Books)

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"This was a fine book that came just how it was described. I will not hesitate one moment in the future to buy from this seller...." Read more

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"This book is just wonderful. Malcolm analyzes Chekhov's stories and plays and life with much astuteness...." Read more

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Customers appreciate the book's thought-provoking insights, with one customer highlighting its astute handling of religious themes in the stories.

"...Chekhov's self-proclaimed nonbelief and the way he handles religious themes in the stories; there is some evidence, presented in this book, that..." Read more

"...of my favorite writers because she possesses a poetic grace and mindful insight into matters large and small, profound and trivial...." Read more

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Dave Light
Short and sweet, but full of good things
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2005
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Few readers have time to wrestle with the long biographies and academic treatises that proliferate on beloved writers. Lack of time trumps the best intentions. Janet Malcolm has saved Chekhov enthusiasts the trouble by doing the reading herself, adding her own insights, and throwing in a bit of travel writing as well.

Literary criticism predominates in this 200-page book, with biography taking second place and travelogue third. Malcolm weaves the biographical details around comments about the stories and plays; so, for example, we learn that Chekhov was steeped in Russian Orthodoxy--more so, apparently, than even Tolstoy. What makes that especially interesting is the contrast between Chekhov's self-proclaimed nonbelief and the way he handles religious themes in the stories; there is some evidence, presented in this book, that these matters were not as settled in Chekhov's mind as one might think just based on his statements. (I, for one, have always been impressed with the sympathy Chekhov shows to the characters who appear in The Bishop, a story not discussed by Malcolm.)

Malcolm also takes on in brief compass Chekhov's trip to Sakhalin (arduous to get there; led to a rather dull, non-Chekhovian book); his death at 44 from tuberculosis in a hotel in Germany (which had various eyewitnesses and led to a variety of embellished accounts); and his relationships with women (he liked them pretty and well-dressed), with his publisher, with Tolstoy, and with his parents and siblings.

She spices it up with thought-provoking insights; one example: "In his stories and plays, Chekhov is afraid for all men. He was only in his twenties and thirties when he wrote most of them, but like other geniuses--especially those who die prematurely--he wrote as if he were old. Toward the end of Ward No. 6, he veers off--as he does in other dark and terrible works, such as Peasants and In the Ravine--to rejoice for all men in the beauty of the world."

As for her travels, Malcolm visits St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Yalta, each city in the company of a different tour guide. Her observations, far from being unfairly critical, are subtle, sardonic, and on the mark--certainly anyone who has traveled to Russia will recognize her guides.

As I wrote this, I changed the rating from four to five stars--I can't really think what would improve it. An index perhaps, since despite its brevity one would like to be able to search the contents more easily. And I would disagree with the book's jacket, which claims that those unfamiliar with Chekhov could enjoy this volume. At the very least, one should have read a volume of the major stories and be familiar with the plays. Among other works, she discusses The Lady with the Lapdog, The Steppe, The Kiss, The Schoolmistress, The Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orhard, and more.

Confound it, however, you're never off the hook--the book whets your appetite for more, naturally! Those longer biographies and critical treatments beckon...and all the stories, perhaps in a different translation this time...been a while since I looked at the plays...well, good intentions count for something, right?

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Thad
Very happy with this seller!
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2014
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This was a fine book that came just how it was described. I will not hesitate one moment in the future to buy from this seller.

The book arrived quicker than projected,and my mail is usually slow. It is clear that once the order was placed they made sure to quickly get it sent out.

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ABH
Lovely.
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2021
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I'm not well read in Chekhov but I have read quite a bit of Janet Malcolm. She is one of my favorite writers because she possesses a poetic grace and mindful insight into matters large and small, profound and trivial. You will go along with her as she travels to modern day Russia to explore the places Chekhov wrote about, all the while observing how obscene and blasphemous the reality of things are compared to the fictions in Chekhov. Ms. Malcolm will draw out of food, hotels, cities and tour guides, truisms about the character of the Russians, and human beings, tying together the imaginary and the actual, accomplishing in this book something similar to what Chekhov did over 130 years ago.

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mike
Wonderful!
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2018
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The book really helps one to understand Chekhov and the motivation behind some of the themes which appear and re-appear throughout his writings. This is not an easy task given Chekhov’s sometimes maddening ambiguity but Malcom does a great job throughout. It helps to have read some of the short stories she uses as examples but this is not critical. I read this book on the recommendation of a former English professor of mine and was delighted with what I learned.

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Frederick B. Hendricks
good read
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2010
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This book is not an analysis of Chekov's writing or stories, so much as a leisurely travelogue through the Russian countryside where his stories unfolded. It is not a heavy work of scholarship, but provides a pleasant look at the ambiance of his stories, which should enhance one's enjoyment of them. It is worth the time.

Fred

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Kindle Customer
Malcolm is a master
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2019
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Wonderful writing about a visit to Chekhov's early years. Malcolm is a master.

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Writer/Reader
Wonderful book!
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2017
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This book is just wonderful. Malcolm analyzes Chekhov's stories and plays and life with much astuteness. The quotations from Chekhov's writings which have been included highlight the points Malcolm makes -- and brings out the heart and genius of Chekhov.

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D. Spark
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2016
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I really enjoyed this book--the conceit and Malcolm's (Chekovian) perceptions about her travels.

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John Hopper
Very readable literary analysis
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 30, 2013
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This is a very readable analysis of the plays and stories of Chekhov, examining his characters and themes and how they may relate to aspects of Chekhov's life, leavened with the author's own observations on her travels through modern day Russia visiting places significant to the great author, while also taking into account places significant to Dostoevsky and Akhmatova. The close relationship between Chekhov and Tolstoy is also interesting. This offered the right kind of literary criticism, stimulating my interest in a relatively undemanding way. 5/5

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Pismotality
Welcome to Chekhov Country...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 19, 2009
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I'm halfway through this engaging book. Janet Malcolm is following in Chekhov's footsteps - eg going to Yalta where his most famous short story A Lady with a Dog is set - and in the process, as well as telling us about her surly guides, and losing her suitcase at the airport and other stuff, she has a fair amount of illumination to offer on Chekhov's work as a whole.

It's not the plays in particular, and don't expect synopses or other student-friendly things, but if you want to get a general sense of Chekhov's work and character in a painless and engaging way, this is a very good place to go. It definitely helps to have read the odd play and story beforehand - so I think I'd say that even though it's an easy read, it's something to deepen your appreciation of Chekhov (though that word sounds too worthy - something to help you understand him more fully).

It's also worthwhile partly because along the way Malcolm meditates upon a number of things - even losing her suitcase, which she saw being spirited away "as if in a dream's slow motion" has something to teach her as she slogs up a hill to buy a replacement nightdress: the
"inevitable minor hardships of travel" help her break out of "the trance of tourism" - we're rarely, she says, as engaged in holiday places as we are in the places we frequent every day.

And that's a clue to what most appeals to me about this book so far: it's the sense that she is indeed actually trying to see those places and not have a kind of Chekhov-lovin' gauze over her eyes; and as she's an intelligent and articulate companion it's a pleasure to be with her, seeing how this or that detail she notices reminds her of some piece of Chekhov's writing. If you're a student and you need to know the plot of The Seagull, like, yesterday, forget it; if, however, you want some sense of how Chekhov's writing is all of a piece, and indeed the nature of fiction itself, and a book like Donald Rayfield's Understanding Chekhov is too much like hard work, then this has a great deal to recommend it.

If you're looking for more I'd recommend David Magarshack's Chekhov the Dramatist as a good basic guide to the plays; Rayfield's Understanding Chekhov is also worth reading although more sophisticated. Ronald Hingley's A New Life of Chekhov and Chekhov: a Literary Companion, ed. Toby Clyman, are both recommended by Stephen Mulrine in his Oberon Books translations of various Chekhov plays (and Mulrine's own brief introductory notes to those translations are concise and clear). The Clyman book, a collection of substantial essays about Chekhov-related matters by experts in their respective fields, is pricey so badger your library.

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Anton
Chekhov's footsteps
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 29, 2024
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A nice little read that combines the genres of travel book and literary criticism.

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Bing
Russian reward
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 22, 2013
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Janet Malcolm is an outstanding journalist, particularly with her work for The New Yorker. Here she goes on an extended tour to retrace the steps of Anton Chekhov, one of the greatest of all Russian writers, and in doing so she manages to capture much of the character of the man and his writings. Best of all, she lures you back into re-reading his short stories. This is a short book, finely written, and eminently rewarding.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Very readable literary analysis

4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to Chekhov Country...

4.0 out of 5 stars Chekhov's footsteps

4.0 out of 5 stars Russian reward

Very readable literary analysis

Welcome to Chekhov Country...

Chekhov's footsteps

Russian reward