The Party by Anton Chekhov (1887)

Name: The Party
Author: Anton Chekhov

The story revolves around a group of people who gather at a country estate for a party. The guests are all acquaintances of the host, and they engage in conversations that reveal their true characters and relationships with each other. As the evening progresses, the guests' facades begin to crumble, exposing their insecurities, desires, and flaws. The host's wife is shown to be unhappy in her marriage, while a young woman is revealed to be struggling with her own identity. The party becomes a catalyst for the characters' inner conflicts, and the story ultimately reveals the emptiness and superficiality of their social interactions.

By Anton Chekhov · First published 1887 · Genre: Drama, Comedy, Social Commentary · 5 chapters · 15,326 words

First lines

After the festive dinner with its eight courses and its endless conversation, Olga Mihalovna, whose husband's name-day was being celebrated, went out into the garden. The duty of smiling and talking incessantly, the clatter of the crockery, the stupidity of the servants, the long intervals between the courses, and the stays she had put on to conceal her condition from the visitors, wearied her to exhaustion. She longed to get away from the house, to sit in the shade and rest her heart with thoughts of the baby which was to be born to her in another two months. She was used to these thoughts coming to her as she turned to the left out of the big avenue into the narrow path. Here in the thick shade of the plums and cherry trees the dry branches used to scratch her neck and shoulders; a spider's web would settle on her face, and there would rise up in her mind the image of a little creature of undetermined sex and undefined features, and it began to seem as though it were not the spider's web that tickled her face and neck caressingly, but that little creature. When, at the end of the path, a thin wicker hurdle came into sight, and behind it podgy beehives with tiled roofs; when in the motionless, stagnant air there came a smell of hay and honey, and a soft buzzing of bees was audible, then the little creature would take complete possession of Olga Mihalovna. She used to sit down on a bench near the shanty woven of branches, and fall to thinking.

What this Textopian page supports

The Party is listed on Textopian as a novel by Anton Chekhov, dated 1887 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Work type: Novel
Author: Anton Chekhov
Date: 1887 CE
Language: English
Genres: Drama, Comedy, Social Commentary, Short Story, Realism
Length: 15,326 words
Structure: 5 chapters, 276 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Similar titles

Genres

Drama — The narrative focuses on interpersonal relationships and social dynamics, typical of dramatic literature.
Comedy — The work employs humor and satire to critique social norms and behaviors.
Social Commentary — It reflects on societal issues and human behavior, providing insight into the social context of the time.
Short Story — The piece is concise and structured as a brief narrative, characteristic of the short story format.