Max Bollinger

Checkhov says truth and falsehood both play an important role in personal happiness of men. Could this also be the cause of both passionate romance and failed relationship between an impoverished Russian prince and a rich landowner? This story examines the very essence of human psychology providing valuable insight into complexities of such concepts as happiness, deception, romance and depression.

The charming Vanda, or, as she was described in her passport, the "Honourable Citizen Nastasya Kanavkin," found herself, on leaving the hospital, in a position she had never been in before: without a home to go to or a farthing in her pocket. What was she to do?

The cabman Iona's son recently died. He desperately and unsuccessfully tries to have a talk with the people he meets and tell them of how shattered he is. He ends up talking to his horse.

Yegor could not imagine his future works but he could see distinctly how the papers would talk of him, how the shops would sell his photographs, with what envy his friends would look after him.

The importance of women and their influence can never be underestimated. This story vividly shows how in 19th century Russia women pull strings behind scenes to influence even the most principled and seemingly unbreakable of decision makers. And only Chekhov knows how to express such delicate matters in the most enjoyable and humorous way.

Tickets please... A phrase familiar to every train passenger. And every now and then there's one without a ticket with a good excuse ready. When Podtyagin, a seasoned ticket collector on a train, decides to give up drinking and work honestly at his job it sounds like a good resolution. And this very day he comes across an 'unreasonable' passenger who finds the very word 'tickets' cruel and absurd.

It was past midnight. Nikolay Yevgrafitch knew his wife would not be home very soon, not till five o'clock at least. He did not trust her, and when she was long away he could not sleep, was worried, and at the same time he despised his wife, and her bed, and her looking-glass, and her boxes of sweets, and the hyacinths, and the lilies of the valley which were sent her every day by someone or other, and which diffused the sickly fragrance of a florist's...

Strizhin, who normally leads a sober and regular life, comes home from a christening party where he had permitted himself to drink four glasses of vodka and a glass of wine, the taste of which suggested something midway between vinegar and castor oil. And of course spirituous liquors being like sea-water and glory: the more you imbibe of them the greater your thirst, Strizhin felt an overwhelming craving for another drink. He accidentally downed a...

Big raindrops were pattering on the dark windows. It was one of those disgusting summer holiday rains which, when they have begun, last a long time-for weeks, till the frozen holiday maker grows used to it, and sinks into complete apathy. It was cold; there was a feeling of raw, unpleasant dampness. The mother-in-law of a lawyer, called Kvashin, and his wife, Nadyezhda Filippovna, dressed in waterproofs and shawls, were sitting over the dinner table...

Natalya just returned from Yalta, Crimea and is telling her husband over dinner of all the charms of the Crimea. Her husband, delighted, gazed tenderly at her enthusiastic face, listened, and from time to time put in a question. Natalya's never-ceasing babble gets her into serious trouble however. She is eager to expose her friend Yulia of some indiscretion with a local guide and this leads to revelations of Natalya's own 'gay' times with one of...