Reading (Chekhov)
Reading ( Russian Чтение , Tschtenije ) is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on March 24, 1884 in No. 12 of the St. Petersburg humorous weekly Oskolki . During the author's lifetime the text was translated into Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian and Czech.
content
The bureau chief - His Excellency Ivan Petrovich Semipalatov - has a visitor; is currently chatting animatedly in his office with theater director Galamidov about "the excitement and trembling of the young breast" of a graceful actress during her last appearance. Then the official Merdjajew bursts in with an urgent official matter. Semipalatov cannot suppress anger at his uncouth subordinate. The theater director Galamidov knows a solution. The lack of education can be gradually reduced through required reading.
The next day, Merdjajew is called in to see the boss and the Count of Monte Christo is ordered. When the boss queries his official in front of all employees a few days later, it turns out that, despite several reading approaches, Merdjajew did not understand what Alexandre Dumas was trying to say. The boss can't believe it. All gentlemen must now each choose a work from the boss's fiction book inventory and plow through. The officials obey, only the old crosshead Budylda contradicts His Excellency. Budylda's objection cannot be dismissed out of hand: after a week, an official who had to read the Eternal Jew suddenly insulted his colleague Budylda. And an official who has always been sober up to now goes to work drunk. But it hits Merdyayev worst of all. He becomes emaciated and also surrenders to the drink. When things got worse and worse, the boss had to give in: He thanked Budylda for the moral courage he showed and promised that the theater director Galamidov would no longer be received in the office.
Peace like in the old days returns to the crowd of officials. Merdyayev was the only one who suffered permanent damage. The officer turns away, trembling, as soon as he sees a book of fiction.
German-language editions
Output used:
- Gerhard Dick (Hrsg.), Wolf Düwel (Hrsg.): Anton Chekhov: Collected works in single volumes : Reading. Tale of an old fox. P. 187–192 in: Gerhard Dick (Ed.): Anton Chekhov: From the rain to the eaves. Short stories. Translated from Russian by Ada Knipper and Gerhard Dick. With a foreword by Wolf Düwel. 630 pages. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1964 (1st edition)
Web links
- The text
- Wikisource: Чтение (Чехов) (Russian)
- online at Lib.ru (Russian)
- online in FEB (Russian)
- Chekhov Bibliography, Entry Stories No. 183 (Russian)
- Reference to first appearance in the Laboratory of Fantastics (Russian)