Misery (Chekhov)

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Anton Chekhov

Misery ( Russian Горе , Gore ) is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on November 25, 1885 in the daily newspaper Peterburgskaja Gazeta .

At the age of 20, the skilled wood turner Grigorij Petrow - known as Grischka - married his matron, at the time a pretty, funny girl from a rich farm. After the wedding, Grischka hadn't accepted orders, as expected, but lazed around, drank and beaten Matryona. Grischka has not changed a bit in forty years of marriage and now wants to improve. Because he sees that he has sinned badly against his wife. Just now, in the middle of the cold winter, Matryona fell ill. Grischka has to drive his wife through a heavy snowstorm to the hospital far away from the village.

During those forty years of marriage, Matryona Grischka had always looked “like a dog that is often beaten and poorly fed.” On the horse-drawn sleigh, he can hardly bear her stern, immobile gaze.

Matrjona died on the way. Grischka gets lost in the snowstorm. He wakes up in the hospital. His frozen hands and feet had to be amputated. Grischka does not survive.

German-language editions

Output used:

  • Misery , pp. 79–85 in Anton Chekhov: Happiness and other stories. Translated from the Russian by Alexander Eliasberg . 187 pages. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1962, Goldmann's yellow paperbacks, vol. 868

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edition used, p. 82, 13. Zvo