Book overview
Chekhov's fiction offers a subtle yet powerful message: another life is possible. Something can always happen to our lives - a possibility that breaks the monotony of servitude and points to a different, more liberated existence. This is the way to approach all these brief tales of lost lives, nights filled with tears and joy, landscapes, or love, against the cynicism of those who believe that time is destined to replicate the same. In these glimmers, new forms of life arise - noble and sensible shapes that we occasionally perceive and may strive to unfold if we have the courage to do so.
Jacques Ranci