- Define and explain Chekhov's Short Stories in your own words
- Use key terms such as рассказ (rasskáz) — short story accurately
- Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
- Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic
This lesson focuses on Chekhov's Short Stories: explore subtext and the famous gun in stories like 'The Lady with the Dog'.
Explore subtext and the famous gun in stories like 'The Lady with the Dog'.
Key ideas
Chekhov and the subtext
Chekhov's characters rarely say what they mean: the real drama happens in the подтекст (podtékst — subtext), in pauses and trivial remarks. In 'The Lady with the Dog' — Дама с собачкой (Dáma s sobáchkoy) — love is confessed sideways, through talk of the weather. Chekhov's gun — the rule that every detail must matter — means you should analyse objects, not just dialogue.
The Onegin stanza
Eugene Onegin is written in a unique 14-line stanza rhyming ABABCCDD EFFEGG, which Pushkin uses for everything from landscape to irony to direct addresses to the reader. The stanza's conversational ease lets Pushkin slip between narrator and character — a technique to name in essays as authorial intrusion.
Key term — рассказ (rasskáz) — short story: Chekhov's chosen form. A рассказ compresses a whole life into a few pages through detail and omission rather than plot.
What is подтекст in Chekhov?
Подтекст (podtékst) — subtext: the real meaning carried by pauses, trivial remarks and omissions.
Answer: Подтекст (podtékst) — subtext: the real meaning carried by pauses, trivial remarks and omissions.
- Summarising Chekhov's plots instead of analysing Examiners want the подтекст (podtékst — subtext): what is not said. Writing only what happens in 'The Lady with the Dog' earns description marks, not analysis marks.
- Calling Onegin a romantic hero Onegin is the original лишний человек (líshniy chelovék — superfluous man): bored, clever and useless. Admiring him uncritically misses Pushkin's irony.
Practice
Every detail introduced must matter — if a gun hangs on the wall early on, it must fire later; analyse objects, not just dialogue.
ABABCCDD EFFEGG.
Лишний человек (líshniy chelovék) — 'the superfluous man': a clever, bored aristocrat unable to act meaningfully.
Eisenstein builds meaning through rapid montage (montázh) collisions of images; Tarkovsky reveals truth through long, contemplative takes.
Quick check
Which of these best defines "рассказ (rasskáz) — short story"?
Name two great Russian романы and their authors.
- Chekhov's Short Stories: explore subtext and the famous gun in stories like 'The Lady with the Dog'.
- Chekhov and the subtext: Chekhov's characters rarely say what they mean: the real drama happens in the подтекст (podtékst — subtext), in pauses and trivial remarks.
- роман (román) — novel: The long prose form.
- Watch out for: summarising Chekhov's plots instead of analysing