The head gardener's story
The story of the head gardener ( Russian Рассказ старшего садовника , Rasskas starschewo sadownika) is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on December 25, 1894 in the Moscow Russian newspaper .
Reinhold Trautmann translated the text into German in 1947. In 1904 the short story was translated into Bulgarian ( Разказ на главния градинар ) and in 1908 into English ( The Head Gardener's Tale ).
content
The Swede Michail Karlowitsch, gardener in the orangery of Count N., tells his customers who buy plants from him in April, a story that he got from his paternal grandmother.
In one town an elderly, lonely scholar named Thomson or Wilson settled. The man made himself an excellent healer there . When this respected man was murdered, no one in town could explain the crime. The victim had unselfishly helped sick people from all walks of life free of charge. When the killer is found, the population insists on punishment. When the presiding judge is supposed to pronounce the death sentence, he surprises those present with his refusal, which he justifies as follows: The accused cannot be a murderer because there cannot be anyone who could have killed the deserving medic.
The crowd reconsiders and finally approves acquittal. The accused is released.
The Swede also quotes his above-mentioned grandmother: "And because of this belief in people, God forgave all the inhabitants of the town their sins."
censorship
Out of consideration for censorship , the editors of the Russian newspaper deleted the following passage from Anton Chekhov's manuscript: “Believing in God is not difficult. The inquisitors also believed in him , as did Biron and Araktschejew . No, you have to believe in people! "
reception
On the Maeutics of the Christian motif: The text is considered to be Anton Chekhov's contribution to the Christian-motivated polemics about justice , especially about the death penalty in Russia in the last two decades of the 19th century.
German-language editions
- Anton Pavlovič Čechov: The narrative work in ten volumes. Diogenes Zurich 1976. Part: Rothschild's violin . Stories 1893-1896. Translated from the Russian by Gerhard Dick, Ada Knipper and Michael Pfeiffer . 334 pages, ISBN 978-3-257-20265-6 (also contains: Volodja the great and Volodja the little . The black monk . Women's economy . The student . The literature teacher . On the estate . The head gardener's story. The wife. Anna on the neck . White forehead . The murder . Ariadna. The house with the mezzanine )
Used edition
- The head gardener's story. Translated from the Russian by Ada Knipper and Gerhard Dick , pp. 448–453 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)
Web links
- The text
- June 2, 2015, Audio Media Digital audio book , 14 min .mp3
- Reading samples from the audio book at chartsinfrance.net
- Рассказ старшего садовника (Чехов) (Russian)
- The Head Gardener's Tale (English, translator Robert Edward Crozier Long anno 1908)
- online in FEB (Russian)
- online at litmir.co (Russian)
- Chekhov Bibliography, Entry Stories No. 547 (Russian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Russian Русские ведомости
- ↑ Russian entry at fantlab.ru
- ↑ Gerhard Dick (Ed.) In the edition used, p. 570, 22. Zvo
- ↑ Russian reference to translation
- ↑ Gerhard Dick (Ed.) In the edition used, p. 570, 8. Zvo
- ↑ Russian M. Ranewa-Iwanowa (M. Ранева-Иванова), Göteborg anno 2001: On the masculinity of the Christian motif in Chekhov's story by the head gardener