Title: Hush!
Date Read: 21st February 2012
Briefly: Journalist Ivan Yegoritch returns home late one night, clearly frustrated at the writing task that lies ahead of him.
Afterthoughts: An hilarious tale from Chekhov, which focuses on the theme of writing, and the emotions and dramatics that a writer often goes through in getting the words onto paper. And if the writer is suffering in this one then his poor wife is suffering a lot more, for it is she who has the bear the brunt of her husband’s frustrations, and it is she who has to accommodate her husband’s wishes, no matter what time of day or night. Summing it up more succinctly, Ivan Yegoritch is a bit of a diva, but then again aren’t all male writers? Thank you Chekhov for reminding me of that fact, and for doing so in a highly entertaining way.
Notable Quote: “Nadya,” he says, “I am sitting down to write. . . . Please don’t let anyone interrupt me. I can’t write with children crying or cooks snoring. . . . See, too, that there’s tea and . . . steak or something. . . . You know that I can’t write without tea. . . . Tea is the one thing that gives me the energy for my work.”
Rating: 
*Story read as part of my Checkin’ Off The Chekhov Shorts reading challenge.
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