Horse thieves

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Anton Chekhov

Horse thieves , also thieves ( Russian Воры , Wory), is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on April 1, 1890 in the St. Petersburg newspaper Novoje wremja .

action

At the end of December, on the ride from the village of Repino to his place of work, the hospital, the field police officer Ossip Wassiljitsch Jergunow, a limited man, got caught in a snow storm. When it is absolutely impossible to continue, the rider waits for the storm in Andrei Tschirikow's inn. Tschirikow had been killed by stagecoaches some time ago . He left a wife and a 20-year-old daughter Lyubka. Jergunow carefully keeps his purchases and the saddle on his man. Inside, he starts talking to a certain Kalashnikov from Bogalyovka. Jergunow knows that the farmers from Bogalyovka are considered horse thieves . Kalashnikov, who has already served twice in prison, makes a fool of the field sergeant with his questions. Jergunow tells of his time before 1878 as a military field surgeon during the war . Then there is talk of the tramps in the area. The Feldscher can contribute something to any subject; describes one of these fellows who stopped him on his ride to Golyschino for the smallpox vaccination. This guy, a certain Merik, a Kharkovian from Mishiritsch, is astonishingly present, happened to have slept in, climbed down from the stove and corrected Jergunov's statements. Furthermore, the likely cause of death of Tschirikows comes up: He was a horse thief. In general, the Feldscher is surrounded by horse thieves. Merik is one too. Kalashnikov toast with Merik. Lyubka is in league with the two thieves.

The drunk Jergunov regrets his honesty and is annoyed because Merik, not himself, arrives at the robust, fiery and busty Lyubka. Ljubka and Merik dance like the tops. But their tone is rough. Merik jokingly says to Lyubka: "I'll find out where your old woman has hidden the money, I'll beat her to death, and I'll cut your throat with a knife, and afterwards I'll set fire to the inn."

Merik prepares for departure. Lyubka flatters him, urges him to stay: "Where are you going ... Did you come on foot, what do you want to ride on?" and keep an eye on it. Lyubka prevents both; ensnared Jergunow. When Yergunov hugs Lyubka, she numbs him with a blow on the temple.

Jump in time: Around a year and a half later, Jergunow has long since become unemployed and a thief. He leaves the Repino tavern and sees Andrei Tschirikow's courtyard in flames in the distance. When, in view of the fire, he imagines how Merik killed the two women in the inn, the former field sergeant thinks: "It would be nice to sneak into one of the wealthier ones at night!"

background

The tramp Merik appears earlier in Anton Chekhov; for example in On the Street - Dramatic Sketch in One Act from 1884. The author closed the horse thieves on March 15, 1890 and immediately sent it to the newspaper. Two weeks later, on April 1st, he wrote to his friend Alexei Suvorin , the publisher of Neue Zeit , that he knew these horse thieves. You not only steel out of necessity, but also out of passion. And after the encounter with the horse thieves, Jergunow looked back contemptuously on his "normal life".

Contemporary connoisseurs speculate that Anton Chekhov had an action location in the area around his native Taganrog in mind while he was writing .

reception

July 15, 2004, two comments from the SZ and the FAZ on the editor Heddy Pross-Weerth (see below).

German-language editions

Used edition

Web links

Wiktionary: Horse thieves  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Russian entry at fantlab.ru
  2. ↑ Russian Репино
  3. ↑ Russian Богалёвка
  4. ↑ Russian конокрад - konokrad - man who steals horses
  5. ↑ Russian Голышино
  6. ↑ Russian Мижирич
  7. ↑ Edition used, p. 17, 1. Zvu
  8. ↑ Edition used, pp. 20, 16. Zvo
  9. ↑ Edition used, p. 26, 3rd Zvu
  10. ↑ Russian На большой дороге
  11. ↑ Russian. Notes on the text: Антон Павлович Чехов (1860–1904): Повести и рассказы по дате: Воры
  12. ↑ Reviews . buecher.de. Retrieved September 21, 2019.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Anton Chekhov describes the snowstorm: “White clouds, which got stuck with their tows on the steppe grass and bushes, raced across the yard, and beyond the fence, in the field, giants in long white robes with wide sleeves circled, they circled and fell down, got up again to wave their arms and fight each other. And the wind, that wind! The bare young birch and cherry trees, which could not stand his rough tenderness, bowed low to the ground and wept ... "(Edition used, p. 18, 18. Zvo)
  2. ↑ See also На большой дороге .