The complete short novels /
Anton Chekhov ; translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky ; with an introduction by Richard Pevear
- New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2004
- xli, 548 pages ; 22 cm
- Everyman's Library ; 277 .
- Everyman's library ; 277 .
"A new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky"--Jacket
Includes bibliographical references (pages xxiv-xxv)
The steppe -- The duel -- The story of an unknown man -- Three years -- My life
"The Steppe is an account of a nine-year-old boy's frightening journey by wagon train across the steppe of southern Russia. The Duel sets two decadent figures--a fanatical rationalist and a man of literary sensibility--on a collision course that ends in a series of surprising reversals. In The Story of an Unknown Man, a political radical spying on an important official by serving as valet to his son gradually discovers his own terminal illness has changed his long-held priorities in startling ways. Three Years recounts a complex series of ironies in the personal life of a rich but passive Moscow merchant. In My Life, a man renounces wealth and social position for a life of manual labor. The resulting conflict between the moral simplicity of his ideals and the complex realities of human nature culminates in a brief apocalyptic vision that is unique in Chekhov's work."--Page 2 of cover