Penguin Classics: The Steppe And Other Stories, 1867 – 1891

This new collection of Chekov’s finest early writing reveals a young writer mastering the art of the short story. Translated with notes by Ronald Wilks with a new Introduction by Donald Rayfield.

‘The Steppe’ established Chekov’s reputation. It is the simple yet unforgettable tale of a young boy’s journey to a new school in Kiev, travelling through majestic landscapes towards an unknown life. ‘Gusev’ depicts an ocean voyage, where a man dies and is thrown to sharks, and the sea takes on a terrifying, primeval power. In ‘The Kiss’ a shy soldier is kissed by mistake in a darkened room; in ‘A Dreary Story’ a man reaches the end of his life and questions its worth; and in ‘The Duel’ two men’s enmity ends in farce.

Haunting and highly atmospheric, these stories show a writer in dialogue with his masters – Tolstoy, Turgenev and Gogol – with a sense of good and evil and a lack of ambiguity not found in his later work. They also illustrate Chekov’s genius for evoking the power of the natural world and penetrating inner lives.