In 1898, the Russian playwright Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, whose Little Trilogy opened a new theme that reflects the life of a certain part of Russian society, set out to continue his research. The topic promised to be quite extensive and the writer gave it the name "case". Separation, isolation, “one’s own world”, in which there is no place for other people, these are the characteristic signs of “a man in a case”.
Chekhov's Little Trilogy, the story of creation
According to the researchers of the great writer, the idea of a trilogy was suggested to him by Leo Tolstoy. Anton Chekhov, whose “Little Trilogy” became the “first sign”, intended to create a series of works on the peculiarities of the “case life” of people, but he managed to write only three stories, after which the writer was disappointed in his creative aspirations. He said so about the state of his soul: "I don’t want to write, you write as about boring, fresh, lean food, without taste and smell ..."
Chekhov's Little Trilogy, compositional features
All three stories are united by a common compositional scheme, revealing the essence of each plot. Chekhov's Little Trilogy, which included three short stories: A Man in a Case, Gooseberry, and About Love, was published in 1898. The trilogy took its place among the immortal works of the great Russian writer.
The Little Trilogy, Summary
The trilogy, like any literary work, follows a certain plot. Chekhov's “Little Trilogy” is built on the principle of “storyteller and listeners,” Chekhov brought together three bosom friends who, over the years of friendship, are used to sharing stories from their lives with each other. This is a teacher of a rural gymnasium, a certain Burkin, a veterinarian Ivan Ivanovich Chimsha-Himalayan and Alekhine, an educated middle-aged man who lives in his father’s estate, which he inherited.
"The man in the case"
“On the edge of the village of Mironositsky, in the hay shed of the headman of Prokofia, late hunters settled for the night ...” So begins the story of Anton Chekhov's “Man in a Case”. These hunters were Burkin and Ivan Chimsha-Himalayan. Comfortably sitting on the hay, friends got into a conversation. I did not want to sleep, and Burkin began to tell the story of his colleague, a teacher of the Greek language Belikov.
Strange Belikov
Strange Belikov always wore a warm cotton coat, in galoshes and with an umbrella. He went like that at any time of the year, and in the summer too. The teacher carefully packed his personal belongings in special covers and cases. He laid out his watch, penknife, and snuffbox in boxes that he always carried with him. Such unusual actions of an educated and still not old person were explained by his desire to protect himself from the influence of the external environment, he reasoned like this: "... what if something like this happens ...".
Belikov systematically created his defense, and the whole city made fun of the hapless teacher, considering his quirks a sign of easy madness. But since he was a good teacher, the performance of high school students in his subject was not satisfactory, and he was not touched. Belikov lived alone, was afraid to marry, otherwise, after all, his wife would have to be put in a case.
But now a new teacher came to the gymnasium - a teacher of geography and history Mikhail Kovalenko. He recently arrived in the city with his sister, Varenka, a charming person of less than thirty years old, a smiling fidget. The whole gymnasium was subdued by the cheerful disposition of Varenka, and Belikov did not escape this fate. He even sometimes began to walk with a young woman, and while walking, he proved to her with a grim look that "marriage is an extremely serious thing." Varenka did not listen to him very carefully, and soon she was completely tired of moralizing.
Once Belikov met Misha Kovalenko and Varenka when they rode bicycles. Looking out of his case, he saw two happy free people, and the whole world turned upside down for him. Shocked Belikov the next day came to the house of Kovalenko, wanting to prove how unreasonable it is to ride a bicycle, indecent and dangerous, ugly and humiliating. Varenka was not at home, and Mikhail took and let his colleague down from the stairs.
And then Varenka came up. She laughed merrily when she saw Belikov tumbling along the steps. And he was so shocked by what happened that he barely got to the house and lay down. Sick for a month, and he died of a mental disorder. At the funeral, everyone wished him a "kingdom of heaven," and thought to themselves: "Well, at last the man received a real case, which now will protect him from any trouble."
Gooseberry
Chekhov's “Little Trilogy” contains another story about the “case” life of an ordinary person. Once, Burkin and Ivan Ivanovich Chimsha-Himalayas, walking along the field, decided to go to their friend, Pavel Konstantinovich Alekhine. He cordially met old acquaintances, invited him to the garden. Friends sat among the overgrown gooseberry bushes, and the Chimsha-Himalayan told the story of his brother Nikolai Ivanovich.
The hero of the story from the age of nineteen worked in the state chamber for a small salary and barely made ends meet. And like any financially constrained person, he had a dream. Nikolai Ivanovich wanted to have his estate, a good house, and most importantly, gooseberries grew in the garden. Not that he loved ripe berry jam, but he just dreamed about it. Years passed, and all the time the gooseberry bushes stood before the official’s eyes. To someday buy the estate, Nikolai Ivanovich saved every penny, often he had nothing to do, he put all the money in a box and hid it in a cache.
When the time came to start a family, Nikolai Ivanovich embarked on a widow, rich and very ugly, with a nasty character. In addition, she was almost twenty years older than him. They didn’t start to play the wedding - for reasons of economy, and Nikolai Ivanovich put all his wife’s money in the bank. They lived from hand to mouth, went about anything, they did not give birth to children. From such a life, the woman soon died.
A dream come true
Nikolai Ivanovich acquired a small estate with stunted trees in the garden and healed for his pleasure. First of all, he bought twenty bushes of gooseberries and planted them all around. Then he started a lawsuit with a nearby plant, which, in his mind, poisoned the air, and gooseberries did not grow from this. The trials were endless and devastating for Nikolai Ivanovich. And yet he felt like a happy man when he went out into the garden in the mornings and looked at the gooseberry bushes.
Two months later, Nikolai Ivanovich fell ill, he discovered stomach cancer. Poor nutrition for many years, nervous disorders, insomnia - all this was not in vain. When he could no longer get out of bed, and death was about to come, the servant brought into the room a full plate of ripe gooseberries. Nikolai Ivanovich did not even glance at him.
About love
And finally, Chekhov's Little Trilogy ends with a love story. In the morning it started to rain. Pavel Konstantinovich Alekhine called for breakfast his friends Ivan Chimsh-Himalayas and Burkin, who had been visiting him since yesterday. Over coffee with liquor, a conversation began about this and that, and Alekhine told friends a love story that had happened to him in his youth.
Once Pavel Konstantinovich was elected district judge as an educated person who knows languages and is well versed in jurisprudence. In court, he met with the deputy chairman, Dmitry Luganovich, and good friendships arose between them. Once, after an intricate trial that lasted two days in a row, when everyone was tired enough, Luganovich invited Alekhine to dinner at his home.
So Pavel Konstantinovich met Anna Alekseevna, the wife of Luganovich, a young woman of twenty-two years old, intelligent, beautiful. He immediately felt a kindred spirit in Anna. At dinner, they talked about various trifles, had fun, all three understood each other perfectly, as if they had known each other for many years. Alekhine noted that there was complete mutual understanding between the spouses, and many were surprised by this, since Anna Alekseevna, with her sophistication and deep inner culture, was a cut above the simple and superficial Dmitry Luganovich.
On the same day, Pavel Konstantinovich realized that Anna occupied all his thoughts, tried to remember her every word, every look. Then he still had no idea that the young woman, too, was in a slight confusion after Alekhine bowed and went home. Between them stretched invisible threads that connected their souls.
Since then, Alekhine has often been in the house of the Luganovich, made friends with them and tried his best to be useful. Dmitry and Anna, too, did not remain in debt, offered help with money when Pavel Konstantinovich had difficulty paying off debts left from his father. But something else was important for him, he wanted to see Anna's radiant eyes every minute, to hear her voice, to be near her.
Both were already in love with each other, but each understood that it was impossible to give free rein to feelings, this would make all those around us unhappy and ultimately destroy the Luganovich family and the life of Alekhine himself. I had to restrain myself, neither Pavel Konstantinovich, nor Anna allowed love to break free, kept it in a durable case.
And only once, when Anna Alekseevna left for the Crimea for treatment, Alekhine, being in the train compartment alone with her, was able to hug his beloved woman and kiss her. She answered him, shedding tears, the lovers spent several happy minutes together and then parted forever.
Little Trilogy, analysis
The work of Anton Pavlovich in accordance with his time, at the end of the 19th century there were plenty of problems in the life of Russian society. Chekhov's “Little Trilogies” could be created on any topic, with the writer most of the stories can be combined on a thematic basis. And if the writer had not been disappointed in the essence of his research and continued to create, then we would have received many more works on the "case" theme. And Chekhov's “little trilogies” could well have become “big trilogies”.