You know, I’m actually quite enjoying these author-themed days that I’ve introduced for myself. Not only are they ensuring that I’m making a bit of progress towards completing my myriad of reading challenges, but they’re giving me at least a weekly opportunity to connect with my most dearest of writers. Priceless! Tuesdays is now the dominion of Anton Chekhov, and so I was tasked with ticking off a couple of his shorts.
The first Chekhov story up was Misery and the opening quote from a religious prayer perfectly sets the whole tone for the story. “To whom shall I tell my grief?” proclaims the opening line, before the reader is moved on to bear witness to the sorrowful tale of grieving father, Iona Potapov. Tis a sad tale indeed, and you can skim my afterthoughts on the story HERE.
The second Chekhov tale I indulged myself in, An Upheaval was a little lighter than the first, but not by much. This story is about poor old governess Mashenka, who returns home to find her mistress overturning her room in search of a stolen brooch. Any illusion that Mashenka had that she was a cut above the other servants of the house is instantly shattered, and the indignation at being searched plays massively on the young girl’s mind. A tale then of elevated snobbery and hurt pride? You bet! Check out my ‘official’ afterthoughts on the story HERE
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And so I come to A Search for the Future, the final tale in Miller’s 1967 short story collection I Don’t Need You Any More, collected in Presence: Collected Stories (Bloomsbury), and what an incredibly powerful tale it is. It focuses on Harry, a middle-aged actor, who, edgy at the prospect of his aged father’s death (although there is nothing to suggest his death is imminent other than his age), reminiscences on a repetitive life of some regret; the biggest one being his failure to marry.
There are two things I really love things about this story. Firstly the almost overbearing sense throughout, that something bad is about to happen. I’m not going to say whether anything bad does or doesn’t happen, because I feel this would spoil the tension for anyone reading the story, but the feeling of impending doom has been remarkably well infused by Miller.
The second thing I love about this story is the hope and positivity that exudes from Harry’s aged father, and how this in turn motivates Harry to seek improvement in his own life. Here is a very old man (his age is not specified but one can tell he is very advanced in years), stuck in a nursing home, with a failing memory, having suffered a stroke which has affected his speech, making it difficult for him to be understood. Yet the old man soldiers on with cheery optimism.
It is obvious that Harry has a lot of love and respect for his aged father, and it is interesting, and not a little poignant that the story was penned around the time of the death of Miller’s own father. Another point of interest is the story’s passing reference to the war in Vietnam. Miller seems quite vehement in writing of a young American soldier who had his ‘eyes shot out’, and one wonders whether Miller is alluding to his own anti-Vietnam War sentiments. Story Rating: 
::Wednesday’s reading plans::
- My need to finish off writing a number of reviews is today even greater than my need to read. So I’m setting no firm reading plans for today
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