Chekhov's "About Love" Synopsis and Comments - A man in love with a married man talks about the wonders of love.
Chekhov (1860-1904)Wikipedia.
On Love is the last of a trilogy of short stories published by Chekhov in 1898.
I read "About Love" in "The Complete Works of Chekhov 11" translated by Kiyoshi Kaminishi, Kentaro Ikeda, and Takuya Hara, published by Chuokoronsha.
We will look at the synopsis as soon as possible.
It begins with the outlandish narrative, "The next day, very delicious meat buns and cutlets of shrimp and mutton were served for breakfast. This is to show that the story is directly connected to "Suguri" in terms of time.
Alyokhin, a young landowner who had been the listener in "Suguri," now becomes the narrator and begins to talk about his own love affair with a married woman. The topic shifts to love because "the mystery of love" becomes an issue when Nikanor, a hard-drinking, hot-tempered cook, falls in love with Perageya, a pretty wench.
Chikuma Shobo, Seiro SatoThe World of Chekhov's Art.P300
Some line breaks have been made.
This piece is the last in a trilogy of short stories.The Man in the Box., ,"Sugoribi."The story is a continuation of the
Alyokhin, the landowner who was the listener in "Suguri," as the synopsis states, is the narrator in this film.
Alyokhin told me that the beautiful Perageya, for example, was in love with this cook. She had no intention of marrying him because the cook was a drunkard and had a bad temper, but she knew that they would continue to live together as they were.
On the other hand, he was so religious that his religious beliefs would not allow him to continue this lifestyle. He would press her to marry him or he would definitely cut her off, and when drunk he would taunt and beat her.
When he got drunk, she would hide upstairs and cry. At such times, Alyokhin and his servants would not leave the house. This was to protect her in case of emergencies.
With this story as a cue, a discussion about love began.
Alyokhin said, "How can love be born? Why did Pelagiah not fall in love with a man who was more suitable for her in both looks and appearance, but rather with that monster of a man, Nikanor, as everyone here calls him, and how important is the question of personal happiness in love? How important the issue of personal happiness is in love - all this is a matter of cloud cover and can be discussed as one pleases.
The only thing that has ever been said about love that is unquestionably true is that "it is a great mystery," and everything else that has been written or said about love is not a solution to the problem, but merely a suggestion of a problem that remains unsolved.
Chuokoronsha, Kiyoshi Kannishi, Kentaro Ikeda, translated by Takuya Hara, The Complete Works of Chekhov 11, p. 86-87
Some line breaks have been made.
Why is such a good man in love with such a man?"
This is an eternal mystery that we still see often, including the reverse gender pattern.
Starting with the topic of why the beautiful and good-natured Pelageya has fallen in love with Nikanor, a heavy-drinking, ill-tempered DV man who appears here, Alyokhin begins to talk about his former love.
He once fell in love with a married woman who had a family. He fell in love with her while he was a frequent guest in her home. He tried to forget her, but he just couldn't.
I was unhappy. Whether at home, in the fields, or in the barn, I thought about her and tried to understand the secret of how such a young, beautiful, and intelligent woman could become the wife of an old man (her husband was more than 40 years older than her) and have a child with him.
At the same time, I tried to understand the secret of why that tasteless, good-natured, thin-skinned man, who discusses common sense in tedious, tedious discussions, who sits by the stiff as a shriveled wallflower at balls and soirées, with an obedient, unassuming face as if he had been brought out to be sold to the public, could be such a man. I tried to understand the secret of why the man believed he had the right to be happy and have children with her.
And I always tried my best to understand why she had met him without me and why this terrible mistake had to happen in our lives.
Chuokoronsha, Kiyoshi Kaminishi, Kentaro Ikeda, translated by Takuya Hara, The Complete Works of Chekhov 11, p. 94
Sato responds to this passage as follows
There is a very important thought included here. It is the idea of the "He To" life. Many of the characters in Chekhov's literature are sufferers of this "wrong" life. The bitter irony heaped on Luganovich here cuts himself in return.
It is inconceivable that my quiet, sad love could suddenly and violently cut off the flow of happiness in her husband, her children, and all the members of the family who love me and believe in me in this way, It would only take me out of one normal, everyday situation, so to speak, and into another, similar, more mundane life. Besides, how long can our happiness last? What will happen to her if I fall ill or die, or if our love for each other cools? He does use what seems to be a sense of judgment, but it is not without the self-protection of a man who is incapable of doing anything about it. (omitted).
There is no doubt that these feelings reflect Chekhov's own relationship with his real-life wife, Lija Avilova (see my bookThe Life of Chekhov.(See also.)
Chikuma Shobo, Seiro Sato, The World of Chekhov's Art, p. 302
The novel reflected Chekhov's real-life experiences.
It seems that Chekhov's own feelings are expressed in this work, which makes it feel more realistic.
The novel goes on to tell what happened to Alyokhin and his wife. In fact, Mrs. Alyokhin was also vaguely dissatisfied with her current marriage and was in love with Alyokhin. We hope you will pick up a copy of this novel to find out what kind of decision the two of them will make in the end.
The above is a synopsis of Chekhov's "On Love": the wonder of love as told by a man who fell in love with a married man.
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