the chekhov cave


The Chekhov mood is that cave in which are kept all the unseen and hardly palpable treasures of Chekhov’s soul, so often beyond the reach of mere consciousness.

— Constantin Stanislavski

I’ve talked before about The Sister and how we’re really crushin on our Russians right now. She’s heavy on her Tolstoy and keeps reminding me why I should reread Anna and ‘wow, he writes women well.”

But Anton’s way prettier and his short stories suit my in-between-other-things. One of those things is Nabokov. Earlier tonight I was reading some of his notes…

Nabokov on Kafka

…in them he called Chekhov an “amateur”. But he went on to say that “Lady with the Dog” was the best short story every written. And it makes sense that he would. Because it is.

I also found this little beauty…Nabokov’s edits of Kafka’s Metamorphosis. If you know me you know I’ve never managed that one. I just can’t get beyond the insect thing long enough to do anything with it. I mean, hell.

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