Preview
  • The Complete Stories of Anton Chekhov, Vol. 1

  • 1882–1885
  • By: Anton Chekhov
  • Narrated by: Anthony Heald
  • Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (444 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Complete Stories of Anton Chekhov, Vol. 1

By: Anton Chekhov
Narrated by: Anthony Heald
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.22

Buy for $13.22

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A Russian author, playwright, and physician, Anton Chekhov is widely considered one of the best short-story writers of all time. Having influenced such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and James Joyce, Chekhov’s stories are often noted for their stream-of-consciousness style and their vast number. Raymond Carver once said, “It is not only the immense number of stories he wrote—for few, if any, writers have ever done more—it is the awesome frequency with which he produced masterpieces, stories that shrive us as well as delight and move us, that lay bare our emotions in ways only true art can accomplish.”

In The Complete Stories of Anton Chekhov, Volume 1: 1882–1885, Blackstone has compiled forty-one of Chekhov’s delightful short stories: "A Living Chattel", "Joy", "At the Barber’s", "An Enigmatic Nature", "A Classical Student", "The Death of a Government Clerk", "The Trousseau", "A Daughter of Albion", "An Inquiry", "Fat and Thin", "A Tragic Actor", "The Bird Market", "A Slander", "The Swedish Match", "Choristers", "The Album", "Minds in Ferment", "A Chameleon", "In the Graveyard", "Oysters", "The Marshal’s Widow", "Small Fry", "In an Hotel", "Boots", "Nerves", "A Country Cottage", "Malingerers", "The Fish", "Gone Astray", "The Huntsman", "A Malefactor", "The Head of the Family", "A Dead Body", "The Cook’s Wedding", "In a Strange Land", "Overdoing It", "Old Age", "Sorrow", "Oh! The Public!", "Mari d’Elle", and "The Looking-Glass".

Public Domain (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

“It is not only the immense number of stories he wrote…it is the awesome frequency with which he produced masterpieces.” (Raymond Carver)

Featured Article: Essential Russian Authors to Know in Audio


Don’t be daunted by the towering reputations of Russia’s literary giants. Listening is the perfect way to appreciate the masters. Russia is a sprawling country with a rich and complex history, which is reflected in its literature. Whether you’re keen on brushing up on classic Russian literature or you want to find a new author to explore, we’ve rounded up 13 of the best Russian authors, classic and contemporary, whose work you should know.

What listeners say about The Complete Stories of Anton Chekhov, Vol. 1

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    258
  • 4 Stars
    111
  • 3 Stars
    54
  • 2 Stars
    16
  • 1 Stars
    5
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    279
  • 4 Stars
    77
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    247
  • 4 Stars
    78
  • 3 Stars
    51
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Classic Tales

Chekhov's short stories are masterpieces of descriptive literature - little mental paintings of images from another time but with eternal impact.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An entire world tumbles out through these stories

The stories might have been written a long time ago but sometimes it is difficult to remember it because there is nothing old in the way the characters act, in what they feel or tell.
The perfomance helps to give body to the various figures that populate the stories.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Meh

Living chattel is best story, others mostly just strange. Lots of editing errors from the beginning, armitage version definitely best.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A master storyteller

In an effort to master the art of writing short fiction, I've turned to one of the great masters of this medium. Refreshingly, many of these stories are actually quite short, which is often the greater writing challenge.

The content of these stories cover provincial life in pre-revolution Russia. Most are cautionary tales told with economy and sympathy for the characters. The reader is often left to draw her own conclusions.

I can't wait to hear volume 2.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Funny and Entertaining

Anton Chekhov is one of my favorite writers and his short stories are a great read. Funny and thought provoking, this collection was a joy to listen to.

Anthony Heald was so entertaining and lively in his narration. Well done.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding!

This is everything one would want in an audio book.

The author is one of the finest in the history of literature, and his short stories are among his best achievements in his entire oeuvre.

The narrator is superb, among the finest I’ve ever heard. I give lesser lights good ratings, but I believe Heald deserves even better than 5 stars for both his reading and his performance as the many characters we find in these stories.

Finally, these recordings of the two volumes of Chekhov’s short stories are a major accomplishment in the world of audio book recordings. If you are thinking about these, l encourage you to act on your interest. I doubt you’ll be disappointed in any way.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

how much rambling was in the books

I just don't like the stories. I think it was a great way to get through them all but listening to them, and the performance was phenomenal.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful classics about Russia

Pre-revolution Russia. Stories about peasants and small gentry. I love them, but then, I loved reading Tolstoy's short stories in elementary school. English translation, of course.) Reader is good, too. His personification of whining peasantry is wonderfully irritating.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Old Fashioned

These stories of bourgeois life in 19th century Russia are quaint but tedious in quantity. The performance is melodramatic. I was reminded of old fashioned radio dramas.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Obviously a brilliant writer, but not a brilliant collection

The debt owed to Chekhov by modern writers is obvious, but the venality of the characters in this collection is grinding and this is by no means the cream of his oeuvre. This was provided free by audible and was appreciated, but I have a feeling that it is one of his lesser collections.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!