Short Fiction
by Anton Chekhov · translated by Constance Garnett
A collection of Chekhov’s short stories and novellas ordered by date of publication.
374 chapters · 796,184 words · about 58 hours
Contents
About this book
Anton Chekhov is widely considered to be one of the greatest short story writers in history. A physician by day, he’s famously quoted as saying, “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.” Chekhov wrote nearly 300 short stories in his long writing career; while at first he wrote mainly to make a profit, as his interest in writing—and his skill—grew, he wrote stories that heavily influenced the modern development of the form.
His stories are famous for, among other things, their ambiguous morality and their often inconclusive nature. Chekhov was a firm believer that the role of the artist was to correctly pose a question, but not necessarily to answer it.
This collection contains all of his short stories and two novellas, all translated by Constance Garnett, and arranged by the date they were originally published.
About this edition
This edition comes from Standard Ebooks, whose volunteers carefully proofread public-domain books and give their own work to the public domain too. The book is in the public domain in the US, and wherever copyright ends 70 years after its author’s death, so you’re free to read, copy and share it.
The cover is adapted from Portrait of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, a painting completed in 1898 by Osip Braz.