The Shooting Party

by Anton Chekhov

  THE SHOOTING PARTY

  ANTON PAVLOVICH CHEKHOV, the son of a former serf, was born in 1860 in Taganrog, a port on the Sea of Azov. He received a classical education at the Taganrog Gymnasium, then in 1879 he went to Moscow, where he entered the medical faculty of the university, graduating in 1884. During his university years he supported his family by contributing humorous stories and sketches to magazines. He published his first volume of stories, Motley Stories, in 1886 and a year later his second volume, In the Twilight, for which he was awarded the Pushkin Prize. His most famous stories were written after his return from the convict island of Sakhalin, which he visited in 1890. For five years he lived on his small country estate near Moscow, but when his health began to fail he moved to the Crimea. After 1900, the rest of his life was spent at Yalta, where he met Tolstoy and Gorky. He wrote very few stories during the last years of his life, devoting most of his time to a thorough revision of his stories, of which the first comprehensive edition was published in 1899–1901, and to the writing of his great plays. In 1901 Chekhov married Olga Knipper, an actress of the Moscow Art Theatre. He died of consumption in 1904.

  RONALD WILKS studied Russian language and literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, after training as a Naval interpreter, and later Russian literature at London University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1972. Among his translations for Penguin Classics are My Childhood, My Apprenticeship and My Universities by Gorky, Diary of a Madman by Gogol, filmed for Irish Television, The Golovlyov Family by Saltykov-Shchedrin, How Much Land Does a Man Need? by Tolstoy, Tales of Belkin and Other Prose Writings by Pushkin, and six other volumes of stories by Chekhov: The Party and Other Stories, The Kiss and Other Stories, The Fiancée and Other Stories, The Duel and Other Stories, The Steppe and Other Stories and Ward No. 6 and Other Stories. He has also translated The Little Demon by Sologub for Penguin.

  JOHN SUTHERLAND has edited Wilkie Collins’s Armadale, William Thackeray’s The History of Henry Esmond and Anthony Trollope’s The Eustace Diamonds, Phineas Finn and Rachel Ray for Penguin Classics. He is now Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English at University College London. His other publications include The Longman Companion to English Literature, Mrs Humphry Ward and Is Heathcliff a Murderer?, a collection of puzzle-pieces on Victorian fiction.

  ANTON CHEKHOV

  The Shooting Party

  Translated with Notes by RONALD WILKS

  With an Introduction by JOHN SUTHERLAND

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

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  First published 2004

  4

  Translation, Chronology, A Note on the Text and Notes © Ronald Wilks, 2004

  Introduction © John Sutherland, 2004

  All rights reserved

  The moral rights of the translator and editors have been asserted

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject

  to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,

  re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s

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  EISBN: 978–0–141–90681–2

  Contents

  Chronology

  Introduction

  Further Reading

  A Note on the Text

  The Shooting Party

  Notes

  Chronology

  1836 Gogol’s The Government Inspector

  1852 Turgenev’s Sketches from a Hunter’s Album

  1860 Dostoyevsky’s Notes From the House of the Dead (1860–61)

  Anton Pavlovich Chekhov born on 17 January at Taganrog, a port on the Sea of Azov, the third son of Pavel Yegorovich Chekhov, a grocer, and Yevgeniya Yakovlevna, née Morozova

  1861 Emancipation of the serfs by Alexander II. Formation of revolutionary Land and Liberty Movement

  1862 Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons

  1863–4 Polish revolt. Commencement of intensive industrialization; spread of the railways; banks established; factories built. Elective District Councils (zemstvos) set up; judicial reform Tolstoy’s The Cossacks (1863)

  1865 Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1864) by Leskov, a writer much admired by Chekhov

  1866 Attempted assassination of Alexander II by Karakozov Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment

  1867 Emile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin

  1868 Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot

  Chekhov begins to attend Taganrog Gymnasium after wasted year at a Greek school

  1869 Tolstoy’s War and Peace

  1870 Municipal government reform

  1870–71 Franco-Prussian War

  1873 Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1873–7)

  Chekhov sees local productions of Hamlet and Gogol’s The Government Inspector

  1875 Chekhov writes and produces humorous magazine for his brothers in Moscow, The Stammerer, containing sketches of life in Taganrog

  1876 Chekhov’s father declared bankrupt and flees to Moscow, followed by family except Chekhov, who is left in Taganrog to complete schooling. Reads Buckle, Hugo and Schopenhauer

  1877–8 War with Turkey

  1877 Chekhov’s first visit to Moscow; his family living in great hardship

  1878 Chekhov writes dramatic juvenilia: full-length drama Fatherlessness (MS destroyed), comedy Diamond Cut Diamond and vaudeville Why Hens Cluck (none published)

  1879 Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (1879–80)

  Tolstoy’s Confession (1879–82)

  Chekhov matriculates from Gymnasium with good grades.

  Wins scholarship to Moscow University to study medicine Makes regular contributions to humorous magazine Alarm Clock

  1880 General Loris-Melikov organizes struggle against terrorism Guy de Maupassant’s Boule de Suif

  Chekhov introduced by artist brother Nikolay to landscape painter Levitan with whom has lifelong friendship

  First short story, ‘A Letter from the Don Landowner Vladi-mirovich N to His Learned Neighbour’, published in humorous magazine Dragonfly. More stories published in Dragonfly under pseudonyms, chiefly Antosha Chekhonte

  1881 Assassination of Alexander II; reactionary, stifling regime of Alexander III begins

  Sarah Bernhardt visits Moscow (Chekhov calls her acting ‘superficial’)

  Chekhov continues to write very large numbers of humorous sketches for weekly magazines (until 1883). Becomes regular contributor to Nikolay Leykin’s Fragments, a St Petersburg weekly humorous magazine. Writes (1881–2) play now usually known as Platonov (discovered 1923), rejected by Maly Theatre; tries to destroy manuscript

  1882 Student riots at St Petersburg and Kazan universities. More discrimination against Jews

  Chekhov is able to support the family with scholarship money and earnings from contributions to humorous weeklies


  1883 Tolstoy’s What I Believe

  Chekhov gains practical experience at Chikino Rural Hospital

  1884 Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck.J.-K. Huysmans’ À Rebours Chekhov graduates and becomes practising physician at Chikino. First signs of his tuberculosis in December

  Six stories about the theatre published as Fairy-Tales of Melpomene. His crime novel, The Shooting Party, serialized in News of the Day

  1885–6 Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886)

  On first visit to St Petersburg, Chekhov begins friendship with very influential Aleksey Suvorin (1834–1912), editor of the highly regarded daily newspaper New Times. Chekhov has love affairs with Dunya Efros and Natalya Golden (later his sister-in-law). His TB is now unmistakable

  Publishes more than 100 short stories. ‘The Requiem’ is the first story to appear under own name and his first in New Times (February 1886). First collection, Motley Stories

  1887 Five students hanged for attempted assassination of Tsar; one is Lenin’s brother

  Tolstoy’s drama Power of Darkness (first performed in Paris), for which he was called nihilist and blasphemer by Alexander III

  Chekhov elected member of Literary Fund. Makes trip to Taganrog and Don steppes

  Second book of collected short stories In the Twilight. Ivanov produced – a disaster

  1888 Chekhov meets Stanislavsky. Attends many performances at Maly and Korsh theatres and becomes widely acquainted with actors, stage managers, etc. Meets Tchaikovsky Completes ‘The Steppe’, which marks his ‘entry’ into serious literature. Wins Pushkin Prize for ‘the best literary production distinguished by high artistic value’ for In the Twilight, presented by literary division of Academy of Sciences. His one-act farces The Bear (highly praised by Tolstoy) and The Proposal extremely successful. Begins work on The Wood Demon (later Uncle Vanya). Radically revises lvanov for St Petersburg performance

  1889 Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata (at first highly praised by Chekhov)

  Chekhov meets Lidiya Avilova, who later claims love affair with him. Tolstoy begins to take an interest in Chekhov, who is elected to Society of Lovers of Russian Literature ‘A Dreary Story’. The Wood Demon a resounding failure

  1890 World weary, Chekhov travels across Siberia by carriage and river boat to Sakhalin to investigate conditions at the penal colony (recorded in The Island of Sakhalin). After seven months returns to Moscow (via Hong Kong, Singapore and Ceylon (Sri Lanka))

  Collection Gloomy People (dedicated to Tchaikovsky). Only two stories published – ‘Gusev’ and ‘Thieves’. Immense amount of preparatory reading for The Island of Sakhalin

  1891 Severe famine in Volga basin (Chekhov organizes relief) Chekhov undertakes six-week tour of Western Europe with Suvorin. Intense affair with Lika Mizinova

  Works on The Island of Sakhalin. ‘The Duel’ published serially. Works on ‘The Grasshopper’

  1892 Chekhov buys small estate at Melikhovo, near Moscow; parents and sister live there with him. Gives free medical aid to peasants. Re-reads Turgenev; regards him as inferior to Tolstoy and very critical of his heroines

  ‘Ward No. 6’ and ‘An Anonymous Story’

  1893 The Island of Sakhalin completed and published serially

  1894 Death of Alexander III; accession of Nicholas II; 1,000 trampled to death at Khodynka Field during coronation celebrations. Strikes in St Petersburg

  Chekhov makes another trip to Western Europe

  ‘The Student’, ‘Teacher of Literature’, ‘At a Country House’ and ‘The Black Monk’

  1895 ‘Three Years’. Writes ‘Ariadna’, ‘Murder’ and ‘Anna Round the Neck’. First draft of The Seagull

  1896 Chekhov agitates personally for projects in rural education and transport; helps in building of village school at Talezh; makes large donation of books to Taganrog Public Library ‘My Life’ published in instalments. The Seagull meets with hostile reception at Aleksandrinsky Theatre

  1897 Chekhov works for national census; builds second rural school. Crisis in health with lung haemorrhage; convalesces in Nice

  ‘Peasants’ is strongly attacked by reactionary critics and mutilated by censors. Publishes Uncle Vanya, but refuses to allow performance (until 1899)

  1898 Formation of Social Democrat Party. Dreyfus affair Stanislavsky founds Moscow Art Theatre with Nemirovich-Danchenko

  Chekhov very indignant over Dreyfus affair and supports Zola; conflict with anti-Semitic Suvorin over this. His father dies. Travels to Yalta, where he buys land. Friendly with Gorky and Bunin (both of whom left interesting memoirs of Chekhov). Attracted to Olga Knipper at Moscow Art Theatre rehearsal of The Seagull, but leaves almost immediately for Yalta. Correspondence with Gorky

  Trilogy ‘Man in a Case’, ‘Gooseberries’ and ‘About Love’. ‘Ionych’. The Seagull has first performance at Moscow Art Theatre and Chekhov is established as a playwright

  1899 Widespread student riots

  Tolstoy’s Resurrection serialized

  Chekhov has rift with Suvorin over student riots. Olga Knipper visits Melikhovo. He sells Melikhovo in June and moves with mother and sister to Yalta. Awarded Order of St Stanislav for educational work

  ‘Darling’, ‘New Country Villa’ and ‘On Official Duty’. Signs highly unfavourable contract with A. F. Marks for complete edition of his works. Taxing and time-consuming work of compiling first two volumes. Moderate success of Uncle Vanya at Moscow Art Theatre. Publishes one of finest stories, ‘The Lady with the Little Dog’. Completes ‘In the Ravine’. Begins serious work on Three Sisters; goes to Nice to revise last two acts

  1900 Chekhov settles in the house built by him in Yalta. Actors from the Moscow Art Theatre visit Sevastopol and Yalta at his request. Low opinion of Ibsen

  Sees Uncle Vanya for first time

  1901 Formation of Socialist Revolutionary Party. Tolstoy excommunicated by Russian Orthodox Church

  Chekhov marries Olga Knipper

  Première of Three Sisters at Moscow Art Theatre, with Olga Knipper as Masha. Works on ‘The Bishop’

  1902 Sipyagin, Minister of Interior, assassinated. Gorky excluded from Academy of Sciences by Nicholas II

  Gorky’s The Lower Depths produced at Moscow Art Theatre Chekhov resigns from Academy of Sciences together with Korolenko in protest at exclusion of Gorky. Awarded Griboyedov Prize by Society of Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers for Three Sisters

  Completes ‘The Bishop’. Begins ‘The Bride’, his last story. Begins The Cherry Orchard

  1903 Completion of Trans-Siberian Railway. Massacre of Jews at Kishinev pogrom

  Chekhov elected provisional president of Society of Lovers of Russian Literature

  Completes ‘The Bride’ and the first draft of The Cherry Orchard. Arrives in Moscow for Art Theatre rehearsal of The Cherry Orchard; strong disagreement with Stanislavsky over its interpretation

  1904 Assassination of Plehve, Minister of Interior, by Socialist revolutionaries. War with Japan

  Chekhov dies of TB on 15 July at Badenweiler in the Black Forest (Germany)

  Première of The Cherry Orchard at Moscow Art Theatre

  Introduction

  Say ‘The Shooting Party is a detective story, first published in 1885’ and most readers of Penguin Classics will adjust their sets accordingly. The publication date locates Chekhov’s novel (his first and only full-length one) plumb in the centre of the genre’s cradle – at the point at which a clever plot gimmick, plausibly invented by Edgar Allan Poe, with his The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), was growing into one of the five big categories of popular fiction (Poe, coincidentally, can take credit for a couple of the others – Gothic/Horror and SF).

  Francophiles, however, claim priority in the invention of the roman policier, with François-Eugène Vidocq’s Memoirs (1828), the autobiography of a celebrated chief of the Paris secret police. Vidocq’s book laid out the ground rules of the sleuthing genre. A mysterious and sensational crime is committed which must be solved by
the skilled interpretation of certain ‘clues’. The baffled reader, meanwhile, is challenged to match his or her wits with those of the criminal – or sometimes the author. Of all the literary genres, detective fiction (‘mysteries’, as they are aptly called) is the most gamesome.

  The setting up of organized police forces, with detective bureaux in London (Scotland Yard) and Paris (the Sûreté) in the 1830s was a necessary precondition to the genre’s emergence. First came the detective service, then the detective novel. The genre as we know it took a distinctive turn in the English-speaking world with Dickens’s Inspector Bucket (based on the Yard’s best-known thief-taker, Inspector Field) in Bleak House (1852–3). Dickens’s favourite protégé, Wilkie Collins, patented what would become central conventions of the genre with his 1860s whodunits, The Woman in White (who murdered Laura Glyde, and was she in fact murdered?) and The Moonstone (who stole the most precious gem in England? Sergeant Cuff of Scotland Yard will investigate). Then, in the mid 1880s, appeared the writer who would elevate the detective novel to a level of popularity it has never since lost – Arthur Conan Doyle, with his Sherlock Holmes stories.

  Like other Russian writers of the period, Chekhov was clearly more alert to French literary influence than English although, as chauvinists will approvingly note, there are numerous allusions to Shakespeare in The Shooting Party. The most direct foreign source for the novel would seem to be Emile Gaboriau, whose series hero, Inspector Lecoq, was introduced in L’Affaire Lerouge (1865–6), a pioneering story of murder and criminal impersonation super-ingeniously solved. Chekhov refers frequently throughout his novel to Gaboriau (one of Chekhov’s hero’s nicknames is ‘Lecoq’).

  There is – following Poe – a strong American input into early detective fiction. Many historians of the genre, for example, would see Anna Katherine Green’s The Leavenworth Case (1878) (with its series hero, Ebenezer Gryce) as one of the great progenitors and also a forecast of the strong presence which women writers will have in the field. In 1886, a few months after the publication of The Shooting Party, there appeared The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by an obscure young New Zealander named Fergus Hume. It sold a quarter of a million copies in a year (Chekhov should have been envious), widening the appeal for the genre and creating its mass-reader base.