Sweetheart

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Anton Chekhov

Herzchen , also Seelchen , Oljenka ( Russian Душечка , Duschetschka), is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on January 3, 1899 in the magazine Semja .

Oljenka has three men one after the other in this farce - Vanichka Kukin, Wassitschka Pustowalow and Voloditschka Smirnin. This tender-feeling wife adapts her view of the world little by little.

action

The good-natured, compassionate homeowner Olga Semyonovna Plemjannikowa, called Oljenka, can listen - for example, her neighbor Mr. Kukin, the entrepreneur and leaseholder of the Tivoli entertainment establishment . Wanitschka Kukin had spoken to Oljenka at the court: he could despair - neither his operetta, nor the pantomime, nor the committed couplet singer reach the indifferent audience. Oljenka suffers so much while listening that tears come to her eyes. From home she can hear the music ringing over at night in Tivoli, which is quite close by, and “her heart stops in sweet trepidation”. Your affection is reciprocated. Oljenka becomes Mrs. Kukina. The couple lives happily ever after. Over time, Olenka adopted one view after another of Wanitschka Kukin - for example, that the theater is the most wonderful, most important and essential thing in the world. Like Kukin, who calls his Oljenka "my little soul", she gradually hates the indifferent audience and their bad taste. Oljenka sits at the cash register, pays the fees, complains personally to the newspapers about disparaging reviews and watches over the behavior of the committed artists. The latter they call behind closed doors “Das Seelchen” or “Wanitschka and me”. The husband of the gods wants to hire a new troop in Moscow and dies a sudden death on this business trip.

Oljenka has several neighbors. After three months of mourning, the deeply veiled woman happens to have a conversation with her neighbor Wassilij Andrejitsch Pustowalow - Wassitschka for short - after going to church. She would like to marry this manager of the neighboring timber wholesaler on the spot. Three days after the service, the taciturn Wassitschka Pustowalow comes to the widow's apartment for just ten minutes. Oljenka falls in love with him and can think of nothing but him and his dark beard. A few weeks later they get married. Oljenka Pustowalowa and the timber merchant live peacefully together. Often the husband leaves Oljenka alone; travels to Mogilev Governorate in Belarus for wood . Nevertheless, over time, the woman has nothing else on her mind than endless trucks full of long boards and sturdy planks . When the wait for Wassitschka doesn’t want to end, Ms. Pustowalowa occasionally passes the time with one of her tenants. This regimental veterinarian Vladimir Platonych Smirnin is unfortunately married to a notorious adulteress.

After six years of marriage, the timber wholesaler makes a mistake. In the Russian winter he goes out without covering his head, catches a cold, is ailing and dies. Oljenka is again without a husband. After six months of mourning, the woman takes off the black pile. In the meantime she has approximated Smirnin's veterinary views and trumpeted them to the people. In addition, Voloditschka Smirnin's son Sascha needs a surrogate mother. If Oljenka interferes too much in conversations about foot-and-mouth disease in cattle while entertaining her partner's regimental comrades , she will be reprimanded by Smirnin when the guests have left. Oljenka's answer: “Voloditschka, what should I talk about?” People quarrel and get along. Voloditschka's regiment is moved eastwards - soon to Siberia . Oljenka is alone again.

Voloditschka submits his farewell and settles completely in Oljenka's town. Because his ten-year-old Sascha is supposed to go to high school. Which friends! But ojemine, Voloditschka got along with his wife and brought this ugly lady with him. Never mind. Oljenka comes to terms with the loss of the veterinarian and mothers Sascha. This is necessary because the adulteress has run away; allegedly to her sister in Kharkov . Voloditschka is almost never there; examines herds outside for days. Mothering around the clock is too much for Sascha. Oljenka, who watches the dear boy's sleep every now and then, hears him muttering in a dream: "Go away, you!"

filming

  • November 5, 1966 Soviet Union : Mosfilm Herzchen (76 min) by Sergei Kolossow with Lyudmila Kassatkina in the title role.

reception

German-language editions

Used edition

  • Oljenka , S. 240-260 in Anton Chekhov: Stories from everyday life. Translated from Russian and provided with a foreword by Leo Borchard . 279 pages. Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag GmbH, Weimar 1938 (edition from 1950, see also reprint: p. 220 in: Anton P. Chekhov: The thick and thin at nexx-verlag.de)

Web links

Wiktionary: Hearts  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Russian Семья - family
  2. ↑ Russian entry at fantlab.ru
  3. ↑ Russian entry 338 in the FEB : "В журнале" Семья "в 1899 г. опубликован рассказ «Душечка» - единственный случай участия Чехова в этом журнале. "
  4. ↑ Russian Душечка (фильм)
  5. ↑ Russian Колосов, Сергей Николаевич
  6. ↑ Russian Касаткина, Людмила Ивановна
  7. ↑ Dushechka in the IMDb
  8. ↑ Russian Потресов, Александр Николаевич
  9. ↑ Russian comments on the text at chekhov.velchel.ru on p. 8, 14. Zvu