The night before the trial

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Anton Chekhov

The night before the hearing ( Russian Ночь перед судом , Notsch pered sudom ) is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on February 1, 1886 in the weekly Oskolki . During the author's lifetime, the text was translated into Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish, Serbo-Croatian and Czech.

content

The narrator is to be charged with bigamy before the court of the district of S. The journey there is hampered by a snow storm. At night, the journey must be interrupted at the nearest post office. In the room assigned to the narrator by the postman, someone is already sleeping behind a screen. The sofa is still free. First, the narrator, who is already half-undressed, performs gymnastic exercises to warm up in front of the stove. Embarrassing - while he is being watched by Mrs. Zinochka Sjelowa. This is plagued by bedbugs. The narrator lies that he is Dr. med. Saizew and gives her an insect powder. Sinotschka's husband Fedja, also resting behind the screen, can no longer sleep and starts talking to the “medic”. Fedya asks the “doctor” to cure the “tightness on the chest” of Zinochka, against which the family doctor was previously powerless. The narrator, a charlatan among medical professionals, does. In the meantime, Fedja takes care of the samovar at the post office. The morning before the onward journey, the husband urges the narrator ten rubles for the "treatment".

When the trial opens with the narrator in the dock, it turns out that the prosecutor is Fedya. The narrator said: "According to all indications, the prosecutor was determined to hole me."

Since the narrator wrote the story down immediately before Fedja's plea during a break in court, the reader does not know the verdict.

filming

  • 1971, Soviet Union , TV company Screen : These different, different, different faces ... - episode film by Igor Ilyinsky (Russian).

Used edition

  • Gerhard Dick (ed.), Wolf Düwel (ed.): Anton Chekhov: Collected works in individual volumes : The night before the hearing. Story of a defendant. P. 473–480 in: Gerhard Dick (Ed.): Anton Chekhov: From the rain to the eaves. Short stories. Translated from Russian by Ada Knipper and Gerhard Dick. With a foreword by Wolf Düwel. 630 pages. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1964 (1st edition)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Notes on the narrative (Russian)
  2. ↑ Edition used, p. 480, 12. Zvo
  3. ↑ Russian Экран (творческое объединение)
  4. ↑ Russian Эти разные, разные, разные лица…
  5. ↑ Entry in WorldCat
  6. ↑ Russian Александр Водяной - Alexander Vodjanoi