Ward 6 and Other Stories
The World of Anton Chekov
Feb 22, 2009 Eleanore Whitaker
The World of Anton Chekov
Perhaps, it's that Chekov was a "middle child", the third of six. Or maybe, it was poverty brought on by debt incurred when his father decided to build a house for his six children. In any event, Anton Chekov prevailed in his pursuit of literary creativity. The young Anton was a man of determination who attended University in Moscow,studying medicine.
He wrote humorous sketches and tales for weeklies in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In this way, he helped to support his family. His literary talents hadn't gone unnoticed by D.V. Grigorovich, a prestigious literary figure of the late 1800's. Grigorovich encouraged Anton to develop his writing in a more serious venue. Though he continued his medical practice, it became clearer to him that writing was in his soul.
The Oblique and The Obvious
"Ward 6 and Other Stories" was not Chekov's first attempt at the literary arts, He managed to become more prolific writing stories that gave his characters greatest depth and personal focus. As an example, in "The Cook's Wedding", the oblique description of Grisha's nurse, Aksinya Stepanova, is a woman whose face was grave and at once, beamed with triumph.
Chekov supplies the reader with a brief internal look at this character as he continues to describe the nurse through the eyes of Grisha, a 7 year old child and the nurse's charge. The stories in Ward 6 run the gamut of sublime to the ridiculous insofar as Chekov's view of the people, places and events that shaped his characters and, by association, his country, Mother Russia.
Chekov's "Ward 6" Implementations
Each of the 23 stories in "Ward 6 and Other Stories" is replete with what Chekov knows best: His country, his people and their situations. He introduces Grisha in "The Cook's Wedding", though the child is not the most prominent character. "Ward 6 and Other Stories" incorporates rich and poor, saint and sinner and most anything in between. Chekov weaves all of the stories together so that the reader is never far from proximity to characters. The stories aren't brooding as Solzhenitsyn's "One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich".
Readers of Chekov are prepared in advance of his style from page one of "Ward 6 and Other Stories". Probably, the most fascinating are these plotless stories. No grandiose preparations for plot. Simple, peasant fare in literary elegance is what the stories are all about. Yet, Chekov doesn't forget that his readers need familiarity with the places he helps readers to see in the most vivid descriptions. Men waiting all night for a boat in the cold or the sound of church bells far off in the distance that signifies a special Russian religious holiday or the coarse sound of a woman's voice are all clearly significant.
The chapter entitled, "Ward 6", in particular, leads readers to believe in the nature of Chekov's relationship with his early medical practice. His understanding of mental illness impels readers to greater depths of awareness by the simple act of implementation of scenes and unforgettable characters.
Anton Chekov
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