Werochka

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Anton Chekhov

Werotschka ( Russian Верочка ) is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on February 21, 1887 in the Petersburg daily Novoje wremja . During the author's lifetime, the text was translated into Hungarian, German, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak and Czech.

content

The 29-year-old statistician Ivan Alexejewitsch Ognew from Petersburg enjoyed the hospitality of the chairman of the Zemstvo administration of the district Gavril Petrovich Kuznetsov every day in the N. district from April to August . The young Ognew now wants to return to the capital after completing his statistical surveys and says goodbye to his friendly, elderly host with warm words of thanks. Most likely, Ognew will never visit the province again.

The departing step out into the moonlit garden and meets the 21-year-old, well-grown, melancholy Wera - Werotschka called. He said goodbye to Kuznetsov's daughter in the tone of a schoolboy. Werotschka suggests, following old Russian custom, that they sit down for a moment before leaving. On the occasion, the girl tearfully confesses to the statistician: "I ... love you!" Startled, Ognew turns away from the beautiful girl. Embarrassed by the declaration of love, he has to take note of the detailed story of this one-sided love from Werotschka's mouth. Ognow silently regrets the articulated feelings and would like to answer with the sentence "I do not love you". Instead, he stutters something about imbalance; means that Werotschka's love is one-sided. The girl understands, turns pale, and goes back to the house. Ognew is leaving.

reception

After its publication, the text was discussed controversially.

  • Viktor Golzew, editor at Russkaya Mysl , praised the text in issue 5 of the magazine in 1894 and tried to understand Chekhov's lines of thought. In this respect, the almost 30-year-old hero's regrets about the fading youth deserve attention. Here Golzew had on September 1, 1887 in the Russkiye Vedomosti history as fairly banal rejected.
  • Ivan Belousov contradicts Golzew, the author of the article, in a letter to Chekhov dated September 1, 1887, and emphasizes what he believes was a successful elaboration of the tension between scientific work and love for a woman.
  • Viktor Burenin, who has been on the editorial staff of Novoye Vremja since 1876 , polemics against Golzew in this paper on September 25, 1887: Chekhov has shown artistry when he has sketched the sensitivities of the two protagonists Ognew and Werotschka fairly completely in his well-known concise form.
  • Konstantin Arsenjew feels - formulated in the December issue of 1887 on p. 771 of Westnik Jewropy - the too short story as fragmentary in the sense that the reader can understand neither Ognew nor Werotschka correctly because he does not know both exactly enough.
  • Afanassi Bychkov accuses the author of saying that Ognev is too surprised by the declaration of love, but the Werotschka part has been explored sufficiently deep psychologically.
  • Dmitri Grigorowitsch wrote to Chekhov in late 1887 / early 1888 that in some of his stories - he also called Werotschka - he attested to psychological depth.
  • A. Disterlo denies the Russian scientist (here: statistician) the ability to love in the St. Petersburg paper Nedelja of April 10, 1888.
  • In 1891, in Book Week No. 5, p. 217, Vladimir Kign praised the author's originality when he addressed the intellectual poverty of a specialist scientist.
  • In the January issue of 1903, p. 95, W. Albow characterizes the statistician by Mir Boschi as a morally flaccid personality. Ognew wanted to be with a woman, but found no spark of love inside him.
  • Tolstoy didn't think the story was first class, but he liked it.

German-language editions

Used edition

  • Werochka. P. 369–384 in Gerhard Dick (ed.) And Wolf Düwel (ed.): Anton Chekhov: The Swedish match. Short stories and early narratives. German by Georg Schwarz. 668 pages. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1965 (1st edition)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edition used, p. 379, 18. Zvo
  2. ↑ Note on pp. 636–640 in the FEB under Werotschka (Russian)
  3. ↑ Russian Гольцев, Виктор Александрович
  4. ↑ Russian Белоусов, Иван Алексеевич
  5. ↑ Russian Буренин, Виктор Петрович
  6. ↑ Russian Бычков, Афанасий Фёдорович
  7. ↑ Russian А. Дистерло - A. Disterlo
  8. ↑ Russian Неделя - The week
  9. ↑ Russian Кигн, Владимир Людвигович
  10. ↑ Russian Книжки Недели - Knischki Nedeli
  11. ↑ Russian В. Альбов - W. Albow
  12. ↑ Entry in WorldCat