A Russian author, playwright, and physician, Anton Chekhov is widely considered one of the best short-story writers of all time. Having influenced such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and James Joyce, ChekhovтАЩs stories are often noted for their stream-of-consciousness style and their vast number. Raymond Carver once said, тАЬIt is not only the immense number of stories he wroteтАФfor few, if any, writers have ever done moreтАФit is the awesome frequency with which he produced masterpieces, stories that shrive us as well as delight and move us, that lay bare our emotions in ways only true art can accomplish.тАЭ
In The Complete Stories of Anton Chekhov, Volume 2: 1886, Blackstone has compiled fifty-five of ChekhovтАЩs short stories:
ArtA BlunderChildrenMiseryAn UpheavalAn ActorтАЩs EndThe RequiemAnyutaIvan MatveyitchThe WitchA Story without an EndA JokeAgafyaA NightmareGrishaLoveEaster EveLadiesStrong ImpressionsA Gentleman FriendA Happy ManThe Privy CouncillorA Day in the CountryAt a Summer VillaPanic FearsThe ChemistтАЩs WifeNot WantedThe Chorus GirlThe SchoolmasterA Troublesome VisitorThe HusbandA MisfortuneA Pink StockingMartyrsThe First-Class PassengerTalentThe DependentsThe Jeune PremierIn the DarkA Trivial IncidentA Tripping TongueA Trifle from LifeDifficult PeopleIn the CourtA Peculiar ManMireDreamsHush!Excellent PeopleAn IncidentThe OratorA Work of ArtWho Was to Blame?VankaOn the Road
Anton Chekhov (1860тАУ1904), the author of hundreds of short stories and several plays, is regarded by many as both the greatest Russian storyteller and the father of modern drama. He described the Russian life of his time using a deceptively simple technique devoid of obtrusive literary devices, thereby becoming the prominent representative of the late nineteenth-century Russian realist school. His early stream-of-consciousness style strongly influenced the literary world, including writers such as James Joyce.
Constance Garnett (1862тАУ1946) translated the works of numerous Russian authors, including Tolstoy, Gogol, Pushkin, and Turgenev.
Anthony Heald, an Audie AwardтАУwinning narrator, has earned Tony nominations and an Obie Award for his theater work; appeared in televisionтАЩs Law & Order, The X-Files, Miami Vice, and Boston Public; and starred as Dr. Frederick Chilton in the 1991 Oscar-winning film The Silence of the Lambs. He has also won numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards for his narrations.