Wife (story)

A.P. Chekhov's story “The Wife” was written in 1892, first published in 1892 in the journal “Northern Herald” No. 1 with the signature Anton Chekhov. In 1893 it was published in the series “For Intelligent Readers,” and was included in the publication of A.F. Marx. For the collected works, the story was revised.

The story "Wife" is connected with the events of the hungry 1891. This year, due to crop failure, the central and Volga provinces of Russia were seized by famine. Chekhov’s social activities were also aimed at helping the starving. The writer took part in organizing the collection “Helping the Starving”, helped in collecting donations, buying livestock, and visited starving provinces.

During Chekhov’s life, the story “Wife” was translated into Bulgarian, German, Serbo-Croatian and Swedish.

So far, positive reviews of modern readers have reached. Chertkov wrote in a letter to Gorbunov-Posadov that he received “from different angles the feedback that of all the stories in our first series, many“ Wives ”like the most”.

Criticism generally rated the story negatively. Yu. Nikolaev referred the story to the group of “artsy, invented, lifeless” Chekhov’s things written after the “Steppe” ^[1] . A critic of Russkiye Vedomosti noted that “the author herself didn’t succeed for the first time in a wonderful goal” and that: “But this is only the beginning: it, in spite of failure, inseparable from any beginning, deserves all greetings” ^[2] .

The depicted county society, which, together with Natalya Gavrilovna, collects funds for the starving, was criticized negatively. According to Yu. Nikolaev, the “intelligentsia” portrayed by Chekhov is no different from the society described by Gogol in Dead Souls. This opinion was also shared by critics of M. Protopopov and M. Yuzhny.

• Pavel Andreevich, 46 years old, secretly in love with his wife.
• Natalya Gavrilovna, 27 years old, Paul’s wife.
• Ivan Bragin, a longtime friend of the family of Pavel Andreevich.
• Sable is a zemstvo doctor.

The story is written in the first person, has seven parts.

The hero of the story, Pavel Andreevich, lives in his country house with his second wife, Natalya Gavrilovna. Recently, Pavel Andreevich resigned. Currently going to write a book on the history of Russian railways. Pavel Andreevich is at odds with his wife, who lives on the ground floor of the house. Spouses are sometimes found in the lobby. Natalia Gavrilovna and her relatives live off Pavel Andreevich.

The time described in the story is 1892. In Russia, crop failures, peasants, weakened from hunger, get sick and die. Natalia organizes assistance to the starving. The question is discussed how to better organize the distribution of assistance to those in need.

Pavel Andreevich quarrels with his wife and decides to leave. However, a short trip does not greatly affect him; he returns, speaks with his wife and begins to write a book.

• 1971 - My wife / Ma femme (TV) (France), directed by

• 1977 - Wife (TV) (USSR), director Yuri Malyatsky . Cast: Natalya Tenyakova - Natalya Gavrilovna ; Efim Kamenetsky - Pavel Andreevich ; Pavel Pankov - Ivan Ivanovich Bragin ; Vladimir Osobik - Dr. Sobol

• Based on the story and tale by I. S. Turgenev, “ First Love ”, the Anglo-American film First Love (2001) was shot

• The film "Winter Hibernation" was shot based on this story. Director - Nuri Bilge Ceylan .

• Chekhov A.P. Wife // Chekhov A.P. Complete Works and Letters: In 30 vols. Works: In 18 vol. / Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Institute of World Lite. them. A. M. Gorky. - M .: Nauka, 1974-1982.
• Voir Dictionnaire Tchekhov, page 87, Françoise Darnal-Lesné, Édition L'Harmattan, 2010, ISBN 978 2 296 11343 5 .
• Ma femme, traduit par Edouard Parayre, Édition Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la pléiade, 1970, ISBN 2-07-010550-4 .

• Chekhov A.P. Wife . Original Russian text