The Darling: And Other Stories

Chekhov wrote more than 500 short stories, which, in terms of depth and artistry, rival the great novels of other writers. He was the first to focus not on overblown drama, but on everyday life. The characters in his stories often dissolve into routine and circumstances, displaying no aspirations of their own. Contemporaries loved it: these were real people. Chekhov did not judge them, did not denounce them, but rather fixed them with the gaze of a detached observer. Maxim Gorky wrote to Chekhov that no one could equal him when it came to writing about the simple things. "After reading even your most insignificant story, everything else seems crude, written not with a pen, but with a log."