Unique collection of Chekhov’s stories, some of them never translated before into English. Universally acclaimed as the master of the short-story form, Anton Chekhov began his literary career as the author of brief tales and vignettes of Russian life when he was still a young medical student. Later rejected by the writer in the same self-effacing way in which he repudiated some of his most celebrated works, the stories in this collection not only testify to the early promise of his genius, but deserve to be appreciated for their lapidary vividness and their intrinsic stylistic quality. Mostly dealing with the lives of downtrodden “little” men and low-ranking civil servants as they navigate the corruption and malpractice of Russian officialdom, this volume – here presented in Stephen Pimenoff’s lively new translation – bristles with wit and humour, and is tinged by that understated note of melancholy and lyricism that is a trademark of Chekhov’s writing. Contents: Incident with a Classicist, The Inquiry, Surgery, Sorrow, The Lion and the Sun, Triumph of the Victor, The Lost Cause, The Chemist’s Wife, The Album, The Country Dwellers, The Intelligent Watchman, At Christmas Time, The Decoration, The Comedy Sketch, The Civil Service Exam, Truth Will Out, Ladies, Small Fry, Zakuska, The Mesmeric Seance, At the Council Meeting, The Zealot, The Discovery, Longing For Sleep, The Idler and the Young Lady, Up the Staircase, The Holiday Obligation, A Somebody, I Fell Into It, A Tale Hard to Entitle, The Delegate, Without Work, Conversation of a Man with a Dog, Two in One, Joy, The Naive Wood-Goblin, The Wicked Boy, The Chameleon, The Tutor, Sergeant Prishibyeev, Vanka, Diary of an Assistant Bookkeeper, Vint, The Cat, Reading, She Left Him, The Absolute Truth, The Rebel, Women’s Privileges, New Year’s Great Martyrs