Fear (Chekhov)
Fear , also Die Fear ( Russian Страх , Strach) is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on December 25, 1892 in the St. Petersburg daily newspaper Novoje wremja .
A translation into German was printed in Issue 7 of the Present in 1894 under the title Die Furcht . Translations into other languages: 1894 into Hungarian ( A félelem ), Norwegian ( Skræk ) and Serbo-Croatian, 1901 into French ( Angoisse ) and 1903 into Slovak ( Strachy ).
action
The established academic Dimitrij Petrovich Ssilin had given up his position in Petersburg at the age of 30 and had become a fairly successful farmer in the province. He thinks the anonymous narrator is his friend. The narrator Dimitrijs wife Marija Ssergejewna has already been about a year and a half. Marija and Dimitrij have two children together.
Dimitrij confides in the wrong friend in private. Dimitrijs family life is his "greatest misfortune" and his "main fear". Dimitrij, the foolish, as he calls himself, loves his wife as he did on the first day they met, but the love has never been returned to date. One source of fear seems to be a remark Marijas made after she finally heard him after his long, persistent solicitation: "I do not love you, but I will be loyal to you."
After this revelation, the narrator observes Marija with different eyes and wants to see that Dimitrij was telling the truth. Soon he regards Marija, this wonderful creature, as his property. When he hugs her, she confesses that she has loved him for over a year. After a night of love, Marija leaves the narrator's room. She meets her husband in the corridor. Marija and Dimitrij are silent as they pass each other - Marija with disgust and Dimitrij with a strange smile. The narrator, standing in his open door, observes the process. When Marija is gone, Dimitrij makes a mocking remark to the narrator. The narrator has the feeling that Dimitrij's fear suddenly spreads to him. He travels back to Petersburg and closes his text about the Ssilins with: “They say they continued to live together.” He never saw them again.
German-language editions
- Fear. My friend's story. Translation: Ada Knipper and Gerhard Dick, pp. 190–204 in: Anton Chekhov: Weiberwirtschaft. Master stories , volume from: Gerhard Dick (Ed.), Wolf Düwel (Ed.): Anton Chekhov: Collected works in individual volumes. 582 pages. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1966 (1st edition)
Used edition
- Fear. My friend's story . Pp. 121-139 in AP Chekhov: New Master Tales . German by Reinhold Trautmann . 367 pages. Dieterich'sche Verlagbuchhandlung , Leipzig 1949 (edition 1958, foreword 20 pages by RM)
Web links
- The text
- Страх (Чехов) (Russian)
- online at author-chehov.ru (Russian)
- online in FEB (Russian)
- online at litmir.co (Russian)
- online in the Komarow library (Russian)
- Chekhov Bibliography, Entry Stories No. 541 (Russian)