The Prank, page 11
*In the Greek myth, the daughters of King Danaus killed their husbands and were sentenced to fill a bottomless barrel in Hades for all of eternity.
NOTES
As source text for the stories, I have used the standard academic edition of Chekhov’s works, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii pisem (The Complete Collected Edition of Works and Letters) (Moscow: Nauka, 1973–1983) vols. 1–18, works; vols. 1–12, letters, the text versions indicated for The Prank. I prefer the Library of Congress system of transliteration as the most practical one available, and that is what I used to transliterate the Russian text when needed. I have made an exception for Russian names and attempted to use the versions most familiar to Anglophone readers.
INTRODUCTION
1 See Ivan Bunin, About Chekhov: The Unfinished Symphony, edited and translated by Thomas Gaiton Marullo (Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 2007), 63. Olga Vasilieva, a young Russian who was translating Chekhov’s stories into English, asked him to which English journals she should submit these translation, and he responded: “I am of so little interest to the English public that I don’t care in the least”; see Donald Rayfield, Anton Chekhov: A Life (London: HarperCollins, 1997), 513.
2 Chekhov wrote sketches, stories, and plays as a teenager and managed to publish at least two short sketches with his brother Alexander’s help in 1879, but it was only in 1880 that he began to write and publish as a way of making a living.
3 Bunin, About Chekhov, 38.
4 Cited by Chekhov’s colleague and friend A.V. Amfiteatrov in “Anton Chekhov i A.S. Suvorin: Otvetnye mysli,” Novoe russkoe slovo (July 2, 1914).
5 Anton Chekov to V.V. Bilibin, letter of January 18, 1895, in A.P. Chekhov, Perepiska (Moscow: Nasledie, 1996), vol. I: 243.
6 Although it is often claimed that Chekhov cared more about making money with the early stories than anything else, literary recognition was clearly important to him. He downplayed his literary ambitions, but he was keenly interested in all signs of attention to his work. In the letters to his brother Alexander of 1883, Anton was writing with some satisfaction that he was “becoming better known and had already read critical reviews [of his work]” and that his “stories are not sordid and, it is said, better than others in form and substance, and [some] consider [him] to be among the very best humorist—even the very best, and [his] stories are being recited at literary evenings . . . let’s wait and see [what happens next]”; see Alexander and Anton Chekhov, Perepiska. Vospominania (Moscow: Zakharov, 2012), 326, 342.
7 Older than Anton by two years, Nikolay was a promising artist, now chiefly remembered for his much reproduced portrait of the young handsome Anton in profile, unruly locks of hair falling on his forehead. Nikolay’s drawings featured fine flowing lines and dramatic compositions; what is more important, they were funny and memorable: He had a gift for caricature, for including telling—sometimes daring—detail, and for capturing likeness. Despite all of Nikolay’s talent and early promise, he would become a nonfunctioning alcoholic and die of tuberculosis five years before Anton.
8 K.P. Pobedonostsev, Pis'ma K.P. Pobedonostseva k Aleksandru III (Moscow: Novaia Moskva, 1924–1926), vol. 1: 367.
9 N.A. Leikin, N.A. Leikin v ego vospominaniiakh I perepiske (St. Petersburg: T-vo R. Golike and A. Vid'borg, 1907), 240–41.
10 Ibid., 100.
11 Anton Chekhov to N.A. Leikin, letter of April 1, 1885, Perepiska, vol. I: 170.
12 A description of Oriental Suites is found in K.A. Korovin, “Iz moikh vstrech’s. A.P. Chekhovym,” in A.P. Chekhov v vospominaniakh sovremennikov (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia literature, 1986), 26–27.
13 Ibid., 20.
14 Gilbert Phelps, The Russian Novel in English Fiction (London: Hutchinson’s University Library, 1956), 187.
15 Peter Constantine has brought out several collections of lively translations of the early stories, starting with The Undiscovered Chekhov (New York: Seven Stories Press, 1998).
16 Anton Chekhov to Olga Knipper-Chekhova, letter of April 20, 1904, Correspondence of A.P. Chekhov and O.L. Knipper (Perepiska A.P. Chekhova i O.L. Knipper) (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 2004) vol. 2: 1024.
ARTISTS’ WIVES
The story was first published on December 7, 1880, in the St. Petersburg daily paper Minute (Minuta), which billed itself as “a political and literary gazette,” under the pseudonym “Don Antonio Chekhonte.” It is sometimes assumed that the story is a parody of Alphonse Daudet’s Les Femmes d’Artistes (1874), but it obviously has more to do with the bohemian lives of Russian artists, writers, and musicians, which Chekhov witnessed firsthand. The original title was “A Portuguese Legend in the Russian Manner About Artists’ Wives.” There are many private and not-so-private jokes; for example, the title of Zinzaga’s awful novel The Sleepwalker Upon the Seas echoes the title of a long story by Alexander Chekhov (Anton’s older brother), “The Sleepwalker,” published in The Alarm Clock in 1881. Chekhov reworked the story twice: the first time, for publication in The Alarm Clock Anthology (Almanakh Budil'nika) in 1882—this version, with minor stylistic changes, was also included in The Prank; the second time, for publication in Tales of Melpomene in 1884. Chekhov’s changes were mostly stylistic in nature, but some were obviously meant to avoid problems with the censors. Thus, Amaranta’s exclamation at finding out that Alfonso’s poem would not be published was changed from “Oh those censors! Since I became your wife, I’ve hated censors with all my heart!” to the less incendiary “Since I became your wife, I’ve hated editors with all my heart!”
PAPA
The story was first published on June 29, 1880, in The Dragonfly (Strekoza), a weekly journal of the arts and humor that was published in St. Petersburg, and signed “An. Ch.” Chekhov edited the story for The Prank by introducing minor stylistic changes, by adding the episode of the attempted bribe, and by getting rid of the conclusion, which satirized all too clearly the corruption of Russian society of the time: “He succeeded. Others will follow this example.” The math teacher and his wife are probably based on Chekhov’s own teacher V.D. Starov and his free-spending wife, Ariadna, back in Taganrog, where Chekhov spent his childhood and early youth. Interestingly, Chekhov himself had to repeat grade three mathematics after failing it.
ST. PETER’S DAY
The story was first published on June 29, 1881, in The Alarm Clock and signed “Antosha Chekhonte.” The original title of the story was “June Twenty-ninth (A Joke) (Dedicated with pleasure to those hunters who don’t shoot well and those who don’t know how to shoot).” When Chekhov edited the story for The Prank, he changed the title and got rid of some minor stylistic glitches.
CHASE TWO RABBITS, CATCH NONE
The story first appeared on May 11, 1880, in The Dragonfly with the subtitle “A Novel in One Chapter, Without a Prologue or an Epilogue,” and was signed “Chekhonte.” Editorial changes made by Chekhov for The Prank were minor. The proverb had a very personal meaning for Chekhov, who saw himself as chasing after the two rabbits, as it were, of medicine and writing; as he wrote to Dmitry Grigorovich, “that proverb about the two rabbits drove me to the point of insomnia” (letter of March 28, 1886, in A.P. Chekhov, Perepiska [Moscow: Nasledie, 1996], vol. 1: 292).
A CONFESSION, OR, OLYA, ZHENYA, ZOYA
The story was first published on March 20, 1882, in The Alarm Clock and was not signed. The changes made for the book were minor and mostly stylistic. Chekhov gave a name to the “narrator” of the story (Makar Baldastov) and added a new subtitle (“A Letter”).
A SINNER FROM TOLEDO
The story was first published on December 23, 1881, in The Spectator (Zritel'), an illustrated literary, arts, and humor journal published in Moscow, and signed “Antosha Ch.” The changes made for the book version included an omission of the following important passages: “[in his book, Augustine] boasted of his love for Christ. ‘But is it possible,’ Maria had thought many times, ‘for one to love Christ if one does not love man?’”; and “His [Spalanzo’s] father taught him to mock the teachings about the ‘succubi and incubi.’”
THE TEMPERAMENTS
The story was first published on September 17, 1881, in the journal The Spectator and signed “Antosha Ch***.” Chekhov edited the story for The Prank by making minor stylistic changes and deleting two segments of text satirizing the ultraconservative newspaper Moscow News (Moskovskie vedomosti) and its editor, M.N. Katkov (1818–1887). Thus, this sentence describing a male with a melancholic temperament was deleted: “He was once a reader of Moscow News but stopped being one when he realized that reading it resulted in a feeling of heaviness in the pit of his stomach, heart palpitations, and blurred vision.” So was this entire segment that was a satire on Katkov himself:
Choleric-Melancholic Temperament in a Male
The choleric-melancholic male was sanguine in his youth. But then a black cat crossed his path, the devil gave him a whack on the back of his head, and he became choleric-melancholic. (I have in mind here the ultra-famous and ultra-immortal neighbor of The Spectator’s editorial office.) Ninety-nine percent of Slavophiles are choleric-melancholics. A choleric-melancholic is an unappreciated poet, an unappreciated pater patriae, an unappreciated Jupiter and Demosthenes, and so forth. He is a cuckolded husband. Generally speaking, he is anyone who is all bark and no bite.
FLYING ISLANDS BY JULES VERNE
The story was supposed to have been published in The Prank. When the book was killed by the censors, Chekhov submitted the story to Splinters (Oskolki), a St. Petersburg humorous weekly magazine whose editor, Nikolay Leikin, considered it too long for his journal. Chekhov then published it (along with Nikolay Chekhov’s illustrations) in The Alarm Clock on May 21, 1883, signed “A. Chekhonte.” Early air travel was all the rage in the 1880s in Russia; “aeronauts” drew crowds and reporters (in 1882, for instance, Chekhov’s colleague and friend Vladimir Gilyarovsky had to report on a flight of one Aeronaut Berg in a balloon).
BEFORE THE WEDDING
The story was first published on October 12, 1880, in The Dragonfly and signed “Antosha Chekhonte.” When editing the story for the book, Chekhov deleted the subtitle (“Dedicated to the One I Love”) and the entire first paragraph satirizing the wedding season (in nineteenth-century Russia, most weddings took place in the fall):
Last Thursday fall had officially begun, and with it, the great wedding season. The fair sex is on the prowl. Men keep getting caught in the fateful web. Oh, that web! Laciate ogni speranza [“abandon all hope”—an ironic reference to the opening of Dante’s Hell] all who get caught in it! We men are a miserable bunch. In the spring, we spend a small fortune answering Nature’s call; in the summer, we’re hot; in the fall, we’re married off; in the winter, we’re cold. It’s terrible! For the female sex, fall is a great season. Balls, dinners, suppers . . . Hearts beat with more gusto, cheeks glow brighter, womanly patience reaches its peak and usually runs out; the luckier Miss becomes a Mrs. Then again, not all men have a rotten time in the fall. Certain men who have never worn even a cheap fur coat all their lives, who begin to shiver and whose teeth begin to chatter even at the thought of winter, all of a sudden—due to a successful move made on the water or on land, under the moonlight or under the ceiling—receive eternal summer together with a spouse. (For what could be warmer, dear sirs, than a good dowry?) Whatever the case, I really like the fall. It’s both scary and pleasant. Because of all this, I have an insurmountable desire and need to praise the wedding season, and so, attention please!
The paragraph was probably deleted by Chekhov because of a family scandal. Anton and his brother Nikolay attended the wedding of their cousin in Taganrog in the summer of 1881, only to caricature it that fall in a full-page spread in The Spectator titled “The Wedding Season.” (Nikolay provided the illustrations—the characters he drew resembled the Taganrog crowd; Anton wrote funny but insulting captions.) The offended Taganrog relatives complained of ingratitude. Anton did not return to Taganrog for six years. The opening paragraph of “Before the Wedding” would have been perceived as an additional insult and so was sensibly removed as he was editing the story for the book.
A LETTER TO A LEARNED NEIGHBOR
This story was first published on March 9, 1880, in The Dragonfly and signed “ . . .v.” Chekhov and his family considered this story his first publication (although he had published various humorous snippets through his brother Alexander even earlier). The editor of The Dragonfly informed Chekhov in the journal’s correspondence section that the story is “not bad at all,” that it will be published, and that he is invited to contribute more stories (Polnoe sobranie, letters vol. 1:558). According to Mikhail Chekhov (Chekhov’s youngest brother and biographer), the story represents a recorded version of the humorous skit that Chekhov would put on whenever they had guests, where he would pretend to be a third-rate professor giving a public lecture about his “discoveries.” Mikhail also wrote that the letter was a stylistic parody of a letter sent by his grandfather to his father, Pavel Egorovich. A number of changes were made to the story when Chekhov was preparing it for the book. The original title was changed from “A Letter of the Don Landowner Stepan Vladimirovich N. to His Learned Neighbor, Dr. Friedrich.” Many of the changes were aimed at ridding the story of all religious elements, thus the visitor who rails against science was changed from a priest, “Father Gerasim,” to the neutral “Gerasimov”; the day when the sun shimmers was changed from “on the day of holy Easter” to “once a year.” Finally, the closing line was cut (“My wife doesn’t like Germans, but I told her that your name is Maxim and that you are a Russian citizen”) and the signature changed from “Stepan, Vladimir’s son” to “Vasily Semi-Bulatov.”
IN THE TRAIN CAR
This story was first published in October 1881 in The Spectator, issue number 9, and signed “Antosha Ch.” Chekhov introduced a number of changes when editing it for the book. Among other things, he changed the title (the original title was “An Excerpt from a Travel Journal”); eliminated the opening sentence, “The very best of Polyakov’s railways”; omitted a listing of the narrator’s many sins (“Last year, I stole my friend’s wife . . . Because I am a fool, I write to the newspaper editors . . . I hate my mother-in-law. Forgive me, o mother-in-law! More than once have I longed for your death, more than once have I put burnt cork into your coffee”); and removed the farcical incident when the peasant attempts to get his horse into the train car. He also changed the passenger who is complaining about scientists’ inability to figure out how to unscrew our legs and then to screw them back on from a deacon to a peasant.
Chekhov’s story, with its ominous atmosphere (including a tourist guidebook, according to which the train is heading to a place known as Common Grave) and its nervous narrator who is clearly frightened by train travel, eerily prefigures a horrifying train accident known as the Kukuevka train catastrophe of June 1882, when many passengers were buried alive in a train derailment (Turgenev’s young nephew was among the dead). Chekhov’s friend and colleague, the journalist and writer Vladimir Giliarovsky, managed to cover the disaster, despite the efforts of the authorities to keep the whole thing secret (eventually, there was a ban on writing about the accident). Had The Prank been published, Chekhov’s story would have been read as a reminder of the Kukuevka derailment.
1,001 PASSIONS, OR, A DREADFUL NIGHT
The story first appeared on July 27, 1880, in The Dragonfly and was signed “Antosha Ch.” The extent of the changes made by Chekhov as he was editing the story for The Prank is unclear. It is known, however, that Chekhov deleted the original subtitle (“Novel in One Chapter with an Epilogue”) and the mock dedication (“Dedicated to Victor Hugo”) and added the new subtitle “A Timid Imitation of Victor Hugo.” The other change made by Chekhov was in keeping with his general trend of editing out the religious content in the stories as much as possible: in the original publication, the bell tower was called the Tower of the One-Hundred-and-Forty-Six Holy Martyrs; in the edited version, it became simply “the tower.” Chekhov is parodying not only Hugo’s gothic themes and staccato style but also the Russian “horror novels” popular with the readers of the time.
Anton Chekhov, The Prank
