In the courtroom

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Anton Chekhov

In the courtroom , also The Red House , In front of the court and In court ( Russian В суде , W sude), is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on October 11, 1886 in the St. Petersburg newspaper Novoje vremja .

When Tolstoy looked through Anton Chekhov's narrative work - consisting of almost 500 titles - in 1903, he highlighted fifteen texts from them with the title “highest quality”. One of the standout titles was In the Courtroom .

Vladimir Czumikov's translation into German was printed on April 3, 1897 in Simplicissimus under the title Das Rote Haus . Other translations: 1891 into Czech ( U soudu ), 1892 into Serbo-Croatian ( У очи судске расправе ), 1898 into Hungarian ( A vörös ház ), 1899 into Finnish ( Oikeudessa ) and 1903 into English ( In the court-room ).

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The text is written on the punch line: The defendant Kharlamov brings his son Prokhor, who is present in the courtroom, into play.

The 55-year-old, tall, strong farmer Nikolai Kharlamov stands before the district court. According to the indictment, he killed his wife with an ax on June 9. The defendant does not plead guilty. The chairman has to doubt that, because Kharlamov ran away that day and stayed away for two days. Kharlamov admits he was afraid of the trial. Then the instrument of the crime is presented. That is not his ax, claims the defendant, because his son Prochor lost his. Again, the accused is not believed. That angered him. Anton Chekhov recounts: “› Prokhor, where is the ax? ”He [the defendant] suddenly asked in a harsh tone and turned violently to the soldier.“ The chairman has the guard, that is, Nikolai Kharlamov's son Prokhor, replaced. The process then continues.

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The reader does not learn anything about the outcome of the murder trial, because the latter and its course are secondary. The social critic Anton Chekhov rather denounces the “bureaucratic indifference” in court. The chairman and, next to him, the adjunct judge briefly talk about a private matter. The deputy prosecutor has even the Cain of Lord Byron made as light reading. The prosecutor, jury with “tired expressions” and uniformed judges follow the trial “habitually and bored”. Despite the monotony, one process follows the next on this day. Before the Kharlamov murder case, "two people ... had been given prison, a privileged person had been sentenced to disfranchisement and prison, one was acquitted, a trial was adjourned ..." Then, while it is the turn of Kharlamov's case, the witnesses are heard in a hurry. The taking of evidence is completed. The prosecutor - busy with Cain - has no further questions. The defense attorney confuses the appointed doctor. “The chairman turned his sleepy, indifferent eyes to the defender,” wrote Anton Chekhov. When, at the end of the story, the reader learns that the guard is the accused's biological son, all the bored participants in the courtroom hold their breath, but only for a short time. Then everyone "continues with their previous occupation, trying to pretend that nothing has happened."

filming

German-language editions

Used edition

  • In the courtroom , pp. 220–228 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. ↑ Russian reference to first publication
  2. ↑ Düwel, p. 643, 10. Zvo
  3. ↑ Russian references to translations
  4. ↑ Edition used, p. 228, 12. Zvo
  5. ↑ engl. Cain (play)
  6. ↑ Edition used, p. 221, 7th Zvu
  7. ↑ Edition used, p. 226, 1. Zvu
  8. ↑ Edition used, p. 228, 3rd Zvu
  9. ↑ Russian Главный свидетель (фильм, 1969)
  10. ↑ Russian Манасарова, Аида Ивановна