The first class traveler

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Anton Chekhov

The First Class Traveler ( Russian Пассажир 1-го класса , Passaschir perwowo klassa ) is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on August 23, 1886 in the daily newspaper Novoje wremja . During the author's lifetime, the text was translated into Bulgarian, German, Romanian, Czech and Hungarian.

content

The elderly Real Councilor of State Krikunov, a deserving Russian civil engineer, likes to chat after good food and drink. His visa in the first-class train compartment, also a man of the right age, is ready for the chat. First the other person just has to listen: Krikunow - at the end of his career - has built a number of bridges and water pipes in his professional life, has worked abroad and has written articles. The engineer asks the eavesdropping person if the name Krikunow means anything to him. The addressee must answer in the negative.

In his monologue, Krikunow now discusses the public's ignorance of deserving personalities. He puts this in relation to the so-called prominence. There is his former mate, a half-world lady; referred to in society as a singer. This talentless creature has always attracted people's attention through its dressing and appearance. For example, at the ceremonial opening of one of Krikunov's imposing bridges, nobody cared about him. But two young men stared at that little singer. One of them would have referred to the engineer with the words: “This is your lover!” Krikunow puts one example after the other and closes with the fast-moving King, about whom everyone is talking. “It's a mess!” Excites the engineer.

His counterpart in the compartment is silent and then asks Krikunov for the name of Pushkov. The engineer has never heard the name. The person opposite is called Professor Pushkov, is a member of the Academy of Sciences and has been a university professor for thirty years.

The two first class travelers laugh out loud.

filming

Used edition

  • The first class traveler. P. 196–204 in Gerhard Dick (ed.) And Wolf Düwel (ed.): Anton Chekhov: The Swedish match. Short stories and early narratives. German by Wolf Düwel. 668 pages. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1965 (1st edition)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Note under The First Class Traveler (Russian) in FEB, pp. 645–647
  2. ↑ Edition used, p. 200, 16. Zvu
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 204, 12. Zvu
  4. ↑ Russian ВИD
  5. ↑ Russian Чехов и Ко
  6. ↑ Russian Ройзман, Зиновий Александрович
  7. ↑ Russian Брусникин, Дмитрий Владимирович
  8. ↑ Entry in WorldCat