Reading Chekhov
By Janet Malcolm
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REVIEW BY TEMPLE WEST
Don't let the title of Janet Malcolm's new book throw you. Reading Chekhov: A Critical Journey isn't a heavy tome that you must have a degree in Russian literature to enjoy. Rather, this nonfiction work might fit most comfortably into a slot reserved for the best of travel writing: eminently accessible, it takes us beyond our usual boundaries while inviting us to face our shared humanity with honesty and humor. Malcolm and Chekhov are a well-matched team. Their minds travel along similar paths of seriousness and take occasional side trips into humor. Widely considered the first genius of the modern short story, Chekhov has an ability to reveal his deep understanding of human psychology and still allow his characters to speak for themselves, neither interpreting nor judging them for the reader. Malcolm is a writer who, in previous works such as The Journalist and the Murderer and The Silent Woman, has examined those same tensions between knowledge of what is known and what is revealed. Through interactions with modern day drivers, tour guides and translators, as well as through descriptions of the settings of Chekhov's life and stories -- from St. Petersburg to Moscow and Yalta -- Malcolm successfully evokes the presence of the Russian author. Indeed, you feel as if they are walking side by side, two friends traveling together, sharing their conversation and humor and insights with us. Malcolm introduces us to Chekhov while exposing new layers of his genius and his work. Not only is he the father of the modern story, she asserts, but "the brevity, density, and waywardness of his narratives are qualities characteristic of Bible stories." Skillfully weaving keen observations from her travels with reflections on a Chekhov character or an analysis of his stories, Malcolm reveals her obvious passion for her subject. Her friendship with the author will probably make you want to explore his writing in greater depth. That alone would suffice to make this book enjoyable. But in addition, Malcolm invites anyone struggling to understand what it means to be human into a space of personal meditation and questioning. Escorting her readers into Chekhov's literal and figurative geography, she explains his influence on writers like James Joyce and Katherine Mansfield, who followed his lead, and on readers like ourselves. It's a trip well worth taking. Temple West is a creative nonfiction writer and teacher of creative writing who lives in Norfolk, Virginia.
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