Reviews for The story of a nobody

The average rating for The story of a nobody based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-10-29 00:00:00 Michael Ortega Anton Chekhov is an unarguable master in painting vivid and colourful portraits of human beings. In his brilliant tale, An Anonymous Story the three worlds collide: The first is the world of ideals – the narrator is an idealist and dreamer… I was in the first stage of consumption, and was suffering from something else, possibly even more serious than consumption. I don’t know whether it was the effect of my illness or of an incipient change in my philosophy of life of which I was not conscious at the time, but I was, day by day, more possessed by a passionate, irritating longing for ordinary everyday life. I yearned for mental tranquillity, health, fresh air, good food. I was becoming a dreamer, and, like a dreamer, I did not know exactly what I wanted. Sometimes I felt inclined to go into a monastery, to sit there for days together by the window and gaze at the trees and the fields; sometimes I fancied I would buy fifteen acres of land and settle down as a country gentleman; sometimes I inwardly vowed to take up science and become a professor at some provincial university. I was a retired navy lieutenant; I dreamed of the sea, of our squadron, and of the corvette in which I had made the cruise round the world. I longed to experience again the indescribable feeling when, walking in the tropical forest or looking at the sunset in the Bay of Bengal, one is thrilled with ecstasy and at the same time homesick. I dreamed of mountains, women, music, and, with the curiosity of a child, I looked into people’s faces, listened to their voices. The second is the world of hypocrisy and deception… Everything abstract, everything belonging to the domain of thought and feeling, was to him boring and incomprehensible, like music to one who has no ear. He looked at people simply from the business point of view, and divided them into competent and incompetent. No other classification existed for him. Honesty and rectitude were only signs of competence. Drinking, gambling, and debauchery were permissible, but must not be allowed to interfere with business. Believing in God was rather stupid, but religion ought be safeguarded, as the common people must have some principle to restrain them, otherwise they would not work. Punishment is only necessary as deterrent. There was no need to go away for holidays, as it was just as nice in town. The third is the world of innocence and sincerity… To follow freely the promptings of the heart does not always give good people happiness. To feel free and at the same time to be happy, it seems to me, one must not conceal from oneself that life is coarse, cruel, and merciless in its conservatism, and one must retaliate with what it deserves – that is, be as coarse and as merciless in one’s striving for freedom. When these worlds collide the world of ideals breaks, the world of innocence collapses and the world of deception doesn’t even wince.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-06-17 00:00:00 Mary Finley Another story by Chekhov which made me finish the last page and stare in a space for ten minutes. Another story of big ideas facing little lives. This one maybe a little more tragic than melancholic. But again it is done with such an effortless touch. I've read a lot by him but i am still to meet the repetition of in his characters. All people are different and they are alive in his stories. They never really come across as "characters". The short-lived time of liberalism in Russia of the late 19th century corresponds with the second period of his art. He is interested in ideas flowing in the air. But he is not an adapt. The complexity and multiplicity of these ideas from nihilism and scepticism to revolutionary zeal penetrate his stories. But they never overshadow people in them. During the period between 1887-1896 he writes longer stories which were later classified by his scholars in Russia as "ideological novellas": "Ordinary story" 1889 "Duel" 1891 "Ward 6" 1892 "Anonymous story" 1893 - it is this one. It is called "The tale by an unknown man" in Russian. "Three years" 1894 "Black monk" 1894 "The house with mezzanine" 1896 "My life" 1896 I've read all but 2 of them. And all of them raise the questions without an easy answer. But at the same time, they talk about real alive people, not about abstract overshadowing absolutes sticking out from behind the lines like in the books by some other great Russians. The result: "Reading his biography, no-one would ask why? and how? what is the meaning? But everyone would say: he is right." That is the phrase Chekhov said about someone else. But he might as well talk about himself and his stories.