Дама с собачкой и другие рассказы

Translated by Constance Garnett

УДК 
372.8
ББК 
84(2Рос=Рус)
 
81.2 Англ
 
Ч 56

ISBN 978-5-9925-0980-9

 
Чехов А. П.
Ч 56 Дама с собачкой и другие рассказы: пер. с рус. 
К. Гарнетт. — СПб.: КАРО, 2014. — 256 с.: — (Русская классическая литература на иностранных 
языках).

ISBN 978-5-9925-0980-9.

Вашему вниманию предлагаются переводы наиболее известных рассказов, относящихся к позднему периоду творчества А. П. Чехова.
Чехов следует принципу художественной объективности 
и не прописывает рецептов нравственного совершенствования и общественного переустройства. Мастер тонкого психологического анализа, он видит, что его герои страдают по 
причине житейских ошибок, дурных поступков и нравственной и умственной апатии.
Английский перевод рассказов, выполненный Констанс 
Гарнетт, снабжен постраничными, в большей степени культурологическими, комментариями. Книга адресована студентам языковых вузов, носителям языка и всем любителям 
русской классической литературы.

УДК 372.8
ББК 81.2 Англ

© КАРО, 2014

THE LADY WITH THE DOG 
AND OTHER STORIES
by
Anton Chekhov

Translated by Constance Garnett

In this collection are some of the most well-known stories of Anton Chekhov’s later period (1892–1898) which depict various issues 
of both personal and contemporary social problems. They provide a 
deep insight into various aspects of the human condition, including 
woe, desire, and hope. The stories also examine the problems with 
Russian society and society in general. The power of Chekhov’s prose 
provokes thoughts and ideas that are just as relevant now as they were 
then.
The English translation of the short stories made by Constance 
Garnett is complemented with footnotes. The book may be of interest 
to the University or College students who study English, the native 
English speakers and everyone who admires Russian Classic Literature.

The Life and Works 
of Anton Chekhov

Th e famous writer and dramatist Anton Pavlovich 
Chekhov was born in 1869 in Taganrog. Th e writer’s 
family descends from the serf peasants, though his father 
was a merchant.
Chekhov attended the Greek school and later the 
Taganrog classical gymnasium. It was then that he 
started writing his fi rst literary works which we now only 
know by their names.
In 1879 Chekhov moved to Moscow where he entered 
the Medical Faculty of the Moscow University. In 1880 
he published his fi rst parodic short story “A Letter to the 
Learned Neighbor.”
From 1880 to 1884 Chekhov endeavored to write in 
comic and serious genres at the same time. Chekhov’s 
comic and satirical sketches were based on amusing or 
ridiculous incidents, curious or funny true-life stories. 
His early works were published in newspapers under 
various pseudonyms — Antosha Chekhontey, Th e Man 
without a Spleen, Brother of my brother, Ulysses, etc.
In 1885 he wrote such well-known works as “A Horsey 
Surname,” “Misery,” “Vanka,” etc. Many of these new 

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF ANTON CHEKHOV 

5

stories combined ridiculous and tragic, irony and 
sympathy for the characters. The stories were then 
published in collections.
Since 1886 the writer began to publish his stories 
under his real name. Th e new stories (“Th e Witch,” 
“Agafya,” “Th e Teacher,” etc.) were even more mature and 
meaningful. From 1884 to 1888 Chekhov created more 
than 350 works displaying vast variety of images, characters and subjects of Russian life. Th e type of Chekhov’s 
hero was fi nally defi ned: “the average person” with their 
everyday, ordinary life.
In 1888 Chekhov wrote only 9 stories. A new feature 
which became signifi cant for many of the later works 
appeared in this period: representation of life rose to be 
a generalization, a symbol. Chekhov tried to express the 
following idea: “Russian life beats the Russian to a pulp, 
pounds him like a thousand-pood stone... Th ere is so 
much space that the tiny individual does not have the 
strength to get his bearings.” Th is idea is refl ected in the 
works of the late 80’s: “Th e Steppe,” “Fires,” “Th e Trouble,” 
etc. Th e characters try “to resolve the issue,” to fi nd 
reference points to understand and accept the life; all of 
them feel helpless in the odd and incomprehensible 
world.
In 1890 Chekhov went to Siberia, and then to 
Sakhalin where the penal colonies were situated. He had 
collected a large number of documentary materials about 
life of the Sakhalin convicts and locals and upon 
returning to Moscow wrote the book “Th e Sakhalin 

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF ANTON CHEKHOV

Island” (1893–1894), which caused a huge resonance in 
Russia. 
Th is trip had worsened Chekhov’s health considerably — he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Th erefore 
in 1892 Chekhov bought the Melikhovo manor near 
Moscow. He helped local peasants as doctor and built 
schools for country children. In his later, “melikhovsky,” 
period Chekhov wrote among others his famous short 
stories “Ward No. 6,” “Th e Man in a Case,” “Th e Case 
from the Practice,” etc., and the plays “Th e Seagull” and 
“Uncle Vanya.”
In 1897 Chekhov`s illness sharply aggravated again, 
and he had to be hospitalized. Th e doctors insisted on 
his moving to the south. In 1898 Chekhov sold Th e 
Melikhovo manor and moved to Yalta.
In Yalta Chekhov wrote the play “Three Sisters” 
(1900) for the Moscow Art Th eatre. It was staged in 1901. 
In this play there is no common plot, the style is defi ned 
by the nature of the dialogues which show disrupted 
relations between people and remind the “conversations 
of the deaf.” In 1903 he had written the play “Th e Cherry 
Orchard” for the Moscow Art Th eatre again and it was 
staged in 1904. Th e main feature of this work is Chekhov’s 
unique symbolism. Th e protagonist is not a character, 
but an image of the cherry orchard representing the 
noble Russia and the old life foundations.
Chekhov’s illness amplifi ed so that in May of 1904 he 
went to Badenweiler, a well-known resort in south 
Germany, and died there.

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF ANTON CHEKHOV 

7

* * *
Th e stories of Anton Chekhov’s later period examine 
the problems with Russian society and society in general. 
In this collection are stories which provide a deep insight 
into various aspects of the human condition, including 
woe, desire, and hope.
Th e theme of “Th e Lady with the Dog” (1898) is a rare 
and true love. In it, a chance meeting turns into a 
passionate love aff air, revealing to the protagonist a rich 
inner life he himself did not know he had. Despite 
various obstacles, the two attempt to realize happiness 
with each other.
In “Th e Grasshopper” (1892), the main characters 
are the social and philandering Olga Ivanovna and her 
husband, the humble and scientifi cally driven Dr. Dymov. 
Her utter disrespect of and unfaithfulness to her husband 
and his unceasing humility and kindness provide a stark 
contrast between the two.
“Ward No. 6” (1892) takes every possible psychological 
ailment in Russia at the time and puts it in the ward of 
a mental hospital. Not only does it include a remarkable 
cast of characters, but it also incorporates a dialogue 
between the sane and the insane, the highly revered and 
the complete outcasts. It reveals the problems in the 
structure of the prisonlike institution and shatters the 
barrier between doctor and patient.
In “Th e House with the Mezzanine” (1896) an artist 
begins to frequent the estate of a wealthy family. Th rough 
the narrator’s conversations with the two daughters, the 

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF ANTON CHEKHOV

author focuses on both love and the needs of the 
common people. Th rough the eyes of the four diff erent 
members of the nobility, the story examines the roles of 
art, education, and labor.
Th e caricature of a Classics teacher comes alive in 
“The Man in a Case” (1898) through Byelikov. He 
attempts to shield himself from reality as it poses a threat 
to his ideally craft ed system of beliefs. Justifying himself 
through mild criticisms, he creates a world to his liking. 
Although he is able to do so initially, the story watches 
his barriers fall.
“Gooseberries” (1898) depicts a main character with 
the sole life goal of owning an estate with gooseberry 
bushes. He makes sacrifi ces in every possible way, many 
of them painstaking, in order to achieve his goal. 
Blinding himself to everything else, he shows the results 
of a single focus consuming him.
Th e stories in this collection depict various issues of 
both personal and contemporary social problems. 
Chekhov’s insight into the plight of the human condition 
and the power of his prose provokes thoughts and ideas 
that are just as relevant now as they were then.

THE LADY WITH 
THE DOG

I

It was reported that a new face had been seen on 
the quay; a lady with a little dog. Dmitri Dmitrich 
Gurov, who had been a fortnight at Yalta1 and had 
got used to it, had begun to show an interest in new 
faces. As he sat in the pavilion at Verné’s2 he saw 
a young lady, blond and fairly tall, and wearing a 
broad-brimmed hat, passed along the quay. Aft er 
her ran a white Pomeranian3.
Later he saw her in the park and in the square 
several times a day. She walked by herself, always 
in the same broad-brimmed hat, and with this white 
dog. Nobody knew who she was, and she was called 
the lady with the dog.

1 Yalta — a resort town on the north coast of the Black 
Sea on the Crimean Peninsula.
2 Verné’s — an actual french chocolate house in Yalta.
3 Pomeranian — a dog breed of the Spitz type named 
aft er the Pomerania region to the south of the Baltic Sea.

THE LADY WITH THE DOG AND OTHER STORIES

10

“If,” thought Gurov, “if she is here without a 
husband or a friend, it would be well to make her 
acquaintance.”
He was not yet forty, but he had a daughter of 
twelve and two boys at school. He had married 
young, in his second year at the University, and now 
his wife seemed half as old again as himself. She was 
a tall woman, with dark eyebrows, erect, grave, 
stolid, and she thought herself an intellectual 
woman. She read a great deal, called her husband 
not Dmitri, but Demitri, and in his private mind he 
thought her short-witted, narrow-minded, and 
ungracious. He was afraid of her and disliked 
evenings. He had begun to betray her with other 
women long ago, betrayed her frequently, and, 
probably for that reason nearly always spoke ill 
of women, and when they were discussed in his 
presence he would maintain that they were an 
inferior race.
It seemed to him that his experience was bitter 
enough to give him the right to call them any name 
he liked, but he could not live a couple of days 
without the “inferior race.” With men he was bored 
and ill at ease, cold and unable to talk, but when he 
was with women, he felt easy and knew what to talk 
about, and how to behave, and even when he was 
silent with them he felt quite comfortable. In his 
appearance as in his character, indeed in his whole