388: Five short stories by Anton Checkov

In another episode of "shortcut to the classics," P&C plus special guest Longinus review a few short stories by Anton Checkov (starting at 3:25). After a quick review of his life, they review and discuss five short stories. The Black Monk is a story about Andrei Kovrin, an intellectual who experiences a mental breakdown that leads to hallucinations of a black monk. In The House with the Mezzanine a young painter becomes enamored of two temperamentally different sisters during his stay at a country house. The Peasants explores the harsh reality of peasant life in Russia, following Nikolai Chikildeev who, as a result of sickness, has to leave his Moscow job to live with his poor family. Gooseberries is a strange story about a man who is so consumed with achieving his dream that he is indifferent to the sufferings of others. In The Lady with the Toy Dog recounts a love affair by a player -- Dmitri Gurov -- who "fooled around and fell in love" with Anna Sergeyevna, a married woman he met on vacation in Yalta. The affair seems to have come to an end, but Dmitri pursues Anna to the city.