Chekhov Shorts: Agafya

Title: Agafya
Date Read: 16th February 2010
Word Count: 4047
Briefly: Agafya is the young wife of the village signalman and she’s taken to sneaking off in the night to visit the desirable Savka, who is the watchman for the kitchen gardens of Dubovo. On the night that this story is set Agafya turns up in the [...]

Chekhov Shorts: A Joke

Title: A Joke
Date Read: 16th February 2010
Word Count: 1637
Briefly: Poor old Nadenka is trying to come to terms with her aversion towards cascading down a steep, icy hill on a sledge. She’s coaxed into it however, and after going down a first time she is keen to repeat the ordeal again. Not because she [...]

Devouring De Maupassant: Country Living

Title: Country Living (also known as The Adopted Son)
Date Read: 15th February 2010
Available Online?: YES (although read for this review was the David Coward translation of the story in A Day in the Country and Other Stories (Oxford University Press)).
Briefly: Two peasant families – Vallins and the Tuvaches – live on the edge of [...]

Devouring De Maupassant: A Day in the Country

Title: A Day in the Country (also known as A Country Excursion)
Date Read: 8th February 2010
Available Online?: YES (although read for this review was the David Coward translation of the story in A Day in the Country and Other Stories (Oxford University Press)).
Briefly: It’s Madame Dufour’s birthday and the family are heading off on [...]

Devouring De Maupassant: A Farm Girl’s Story

Title: A Farm Girl’s Story (also known as The Story of a Farm Girl)
Date Read: 8th February 2009
Available Online?: YES (although read for this review was the David Coward translation of the story in A Day in the Country and Other Stories (Oxford University Press)).
Briefly: On a farm in the middle of the French [...]

Chekhov Shorts: Ivan Matveyitch

Title: Ivan Matveyitch
Date Read: 2nd February 2010
Word Count: 2063
Briefly: Frustrated with the persistent lateness of his young male secretary Ivan Matveyitch, the ‘man of learning’ (for he has no other name) is determined to let his young secretary know that he isn’t too happy.
Afterthoughts: This story is quite enjoyable actually. Not the best story [...]

Chekhov Shorts: Anyuta

Title: Anyuta
Date Read: 2nd February 2010
Word Count: 1543
Briefly: Medical student Stepan Klotchkov is in the throes of exam revision in his rather rundown apartment, when he calls upon his room mate Anyuta to pose as his ‘living skeleton’ for him (so that he can get it clear in his head the exact positioning of [...]

Devouring De Maupassant: Family Life

Title: Family Life (also known as A Family Affair)
Date Read: 1st February 2009
Available Online?: YES (although read for this review was the David Coward translation of the story in A Day in the Country and Other Stories (Oxford University Press)).
Briefly: Overweight, depressed and completely ingrained in the monotonous routine of his job as a [...]

Shot of Short #59: Cicada Cadence, Katie Didn’t by Craig Davis

Title: Cicada Cadence, Katie Didn’t by Craig Davis
Date Read: 27 January 2010
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2010).
Briefly: Two men in a bar reminiscence on their youth, sharing [...]

Shot of Short #58: Belinda by Amity Gaige

Title: Belinda by Amity Gaige
Date Read: 27 January 2010
Available Online?: YES (as one of the stories posted by Harper Perennial on their website Fifty-Two Stories, which promises a new (or classic) short story from their collection, posted every week throughout 2010).
Briefly: The story follows Karin as she progresses through a number of unsuccessful marriages. [...]

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