The Steppe & Other Stories

This new collection of Chekovs finest early writing reveals a young writer mastering the art of the short story. Translated with notes by Ronald Wilks with a new Introduction by Donald Rayfield. The Steppe established Chekovs reputation. It is the simple yet unforgettable tale of a young boys journey to a new school in Kiev, travelling through majestic landscapes towards an unknown life. Gusev depicts an ocean voyage, where a man dies and is thrown to sharks, and the sea takes on a terrifying, primeval power. In The Kiss a shy soldier is kissed by mistake in a darkened room; in A Dreary Story a man reaches the end of his life and questions its worth; and in The Duel two mens enmity ends in farce. Haunting and highly atmospheric, these stories show a writer in dialogue with his masters - Tolstoy, Turgenev and Gogol - with a sense of good and evil and a lack of ambiguity not found in his later work. They also illustrate Chekovs genius for evoking the power of the natural world and penetrating inner lives.