An Artist's Story

An Artist's Story by Anton Chekhov

The narrator, a landscape painter, spends a summer as a guest of the landowner Byelokurov, a lethargic man who lives with an older, possessive mistress, Liubov Ivanovna, and constantly complains that no one sympathizes with him. Wandering aimlessly one evening, the painter stumbles onto the Voltchaninov estate, Shelkovka, and glimpses two sisters at the gate. Soon after, the elder sister, Lida, arrives at Byelokurov's to collect subscriptions for peasants whose homes burned in the village of Siyanovo, and invites the two men to visit. At Shelkovka the painter meets the whole family: the gentle, ailing mother Ekaterina Pavlovna; Lida, serious, principled, devoted to Zemstvo work, teaching school for a salary, and organizing medical and educational relief; and the younger sister Genya, nicknamed "Misuce," idle, bookish, and still treated as a child. The painter becomes a regular visitor, drawn into the family's routines of croquet, tennis, tea, and long evening talk. Lida openly disdains him as an artist indifferent to peasant suffering; he in turn argues that schools and clinics only tighten the peasants' bondage rather than freeing them, and that true progress requires freeing people from physical toil so they can pursue spiritual and intellectual life. Genya, by contrast, is fascinated by him, questions him about God and immortality, and accepts his answers on faith. Their closeness deepens over a long, idle Sunday spent gathering mushrooms and talking. Byelokurov, meanwhile, laments his own dull, unloved existence, though he insists he loves Liubov Ivanovna. One evening after a sharp argument with Lida over the uselessness of dispensaries and libraries versus his ideal of spiritual liberation through reduced labor, the painter walks Genya home; the two confess their feelings and embrace at the gate, agreeing to tell her mother and Lida the next day. The following afternoon, the painter finds the house empty except for Lida, who is giving a lesson indoors and coldly informs him that Ekaterina Pavlovna and Genya have left suddenly for their aunt's in the province of Penza, with plans to go abroad for winter. Leaving, he receives a note from Genya explaining that Lida made her end things, that she could not disobey her sister, and asking his forgiveness. The painter departs for Petersburg that same evening and never sees the Voltchaninovs again. Years later, meeting Byelokurov by chance on a train, the narrator learns only that Lida still lives at Shelkovka, still teaches, and has built a political following strong enough to unseat the local official Balagin; of Genya, Byelokurov knows only that she no longer lives at home and her whereabouts are unknown. The narrator closes reflecting that he is gradually forgetting the house, though at odd, lonely moments he still recalls the lit window and imagines Genya thinking of him and waiting, ending with the address: "Misuce, where are you?"

By Anton Chekhov · First published 1883 · Genre: Literary Fiction, Realism, Drama · 4 chapters · 8,602 words

First lines

It was six or seven years ago when I was living in one of the districts of the province of T -- -- , on the estate of a young landowner called Byelokurov, who used to get up very early, wear a peasant tunic, drink beer in the evenings, and continually complain to me that he never met with sympathy from anyone. He lived in the lodge in the garden, and I in the old seigniorial house, in a big room with columns, where there was no furniture except a wide sofa on which I used to sleep, and a table on which I used to lay out patience. There was always, even in still weather, a droning noise in the old Amos stoves, and in thunderstorms the whole house shook and seemed to be cracking into pieces; and it was rather terrifying, especially at night, when all the ten big windows were suddenly lit up by lightning.

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Realism · Literary Fiction · Russian Literature · Short Story Collection · Psychological Insight · Character Study · Social Commentary · Marriage · Love · Artistic Struggle · Identity Crisis · Mental Health

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