Chekhov in translation
The Russian Network would like to welcome all members, new and old, and all friends, whether from the ITI or further afield, to the second English-language meeting of its regular Book Club, to be held online on Friday 19 September.
The chosen author this time is Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) – probably best known to non-Russianists as a playwright, but also acknowledged to be one of the world’s greatest short story writers.
Outside Russia, his most famous story is probably Дама с собачкой – ‘The Lady with the Little Dog’, also translated as ‘The Lady with the Dog’, ‘A Lady with a Dog’ or ‘Lady with Lapdog’ (already something to think about there!). Prompted by this captivating love story, the great Soviet writer Gorky wrote to the author:
“You are doing a great thing with your stories, arousing in people the feeling of disgust with their own sleepy, half-dead existence.… Your stories are like exquisite cut-glass bottles with all the different scents of life in them… the delicate, pungent and healthy scent of what is genuine and really valuable and necessary…”
Alongside this story, some choices to read for the Book Club could be Душечка (The Darling), Дом с мезонином (variously translated as ‘The House with the Mezzanine’,’The House with an Attic’ and ‘An Artist’s Story’), Враги (Enemies) Каштанка (Kashtanka), Ионыч (‘Ionych’, ‘Ionitch’ or ‘Doctor Startsev’)…
But there are no rules: depending on how the genre is defined, Chekhov wrote between 300 and 550 short stories! So just get hold of some that appeal to you, and come along ready to tell the group why you chose them and what you thought and felt about them.
Similarly, as the Book Club is completely informal, there will be no ban on discussion of Chekhov’s plays… or anything else that comes up. At the last English-language meeting, topics ranged from experiences of reading the same books many decades apart through to bird-watching in Britain!
Although those who can do so could, of course, choose to read some of the stories in both languages, this strand of the Book Club is not just for Russianists: the discussion will be entirely in English.
The session will be hosted by RussNet’s Coordinator, Karen George, who will be delighted to welcome anyone who is interested. Please email her to receive the Zoom link nearer the date.
ITI Network member fee: Free
ITI member fee: Free
Non-member fee: Free
Location: Online - Zoom link to be shared
Contact name: Karen George
Contact email: [email protected]
Closing date for bookings: 15 September 2025
Network website address: https://www.iti.org.uk/discover/networking/language-networks/iti-russian.html
CPD hours: 1