A Bad Business by Anton Chekhov
I was delighted to bring the mystical, chilling work of renowned Russian playwright and author, Anton Chekhov. “A Bad Business” is an eerie short story about a gravedigger that gets distracted by a mysterious man who claims to have risen from the dead. Chekhov hints at the end of the story that this man is a robber trying to deter suspicious observers from his accomplices’ crime. Subtly he mentions that there was a robbery that occurred in the church next door, but he never really relates it back to the mysterious man from the graveyard. We don’t really know whether or not he really was a spirit from the dead, or just a clever robber.
Apart from our members’ reaction to the plot, we had a discussion on characteristics of Russian literature. Carla compared the style of Latin American authors to that of Russian authors, explaining that while many Latin American authors use magic realism in their work, Russian authors often allude to mysticism, and extreme fantasy. In both styles, there is a sense of exaggerating a character’s experience or situation with intense emotions and sensations in an overly fictitious world. Giving a heightened sense of reality creates an appeal to all types of readers. Children and academic scholars alike are fascinated by the mystical worlds because they too want to be transported to their favorite character’s life.
Another characteristic of Russian literature (made famous by Chekhov as well as Dostoyevsky) is presenting complex analyses of the characters’ minds. Rather than focus on poetic details about setting or scenery, Russian authors obsess over their characters’ emotions and thoughts. This may be the reason for the vast amount of dialogue in Chekhov’s story. Many reader were surprised at this because most of our other stories have a lot more description of the characters’ environment.
Overall, I think that “A Bad Business” was a haunting but overall successful adventure added to our repertoire!
This post by Carly Cozad.
