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The Vast Humanity of Anton Chekhov
- lykahb 4y agoThe "vast humanity" of the Russian literature is a part of their imperial myth. The Russians like claiming that they have the greatest culture, literature, or a "unique Russian soul". This myth justifies their military expansion and erasing the culture and language of the conquered nations. That "vast humanity" of their culture has never got in the way of the Russians from committing atrocities. Interestingly, the Russians still claim that they never invaded other states - they only liberate them. They never acknowledged the sins of the past. Chekhov was less of a nationalist than Dostoyevsky or many others. However, giving spotlight to any figure from the Russian culture means giving support to their soft power. It also shifts the attention away from their war crimes. A modern Russian does not read Chekhov. He watches propaganda and cheers for the strikes on the civilian targets in Ukraine.
- jevgeni 4y agoVery well put! Thank you.
- neonate 4y agohttps://archive.ph/wAWZW https://archive.ph/wAWZW http://web.archive.org/web/20230126073138/https://newrepublic.com/article/170133/vast-humanity-anton-chekhov-blaisdell-biography-review http://web.archive.org/web/20230126073138/https://newrepubli...
- dang 4y agoRelated: ‘Chekhov Becomes Chekhov’ Review: The Great Listener - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34056298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34056298 - Dec 2022 (5 comments) No writer understood loneliness better than Chekhov - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24852362 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24852362 - Oct 2020 (33 comments) How Chekhov invented the modern short story - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24380587 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24380587 - Sept 2020 (44 comments) Love in the Time of Numbness; Or, Doctor Chekhov, Writer - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14228231 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14228231 - April 2017 (4 comments) Chekhov: “Cultured people must, in my opinion, satisfy the following conditions” - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13866586 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13866586 - March 2017 (209 comments) The Notebooks of Anton Chekhov - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11226676 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11226676 - March 2016 (1 comment) "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1288463 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1288463 - April 2010 (16 comments) (you can look up the gun separately)
- sophacles 4y agoYour aside better become relevant down-thread.
- everybodyknows 4y ago"The Bet", last above, unfortunately leads to a domain name camper.
- dang 4y agoI've changed the URL to one that still seems to work. Thanks!
- everybodyknows 4y agoAlso: Two Stories: Anton Chekhov and Jo Ann Beard https://marygaitskill.substack.com/p/two-stories https://marygaitskill.substack.com/p/two-stories
- isaacfrond 4y agoWhy does Chekhov make it to HN frontpage so often?
- iso1631 4y agoAnd you never see Sulu!
- azubinski 4y agoConsidering what russia is doing and how propaganda works, it’s not so interesting why there are so many Chekhov and Dostoevsky on a forum for "hackers". It's interesting that there is so little about ballet here :)
- 082349872349872 4y agoХН: первый в космосе; последний в балете )) "HN is the first in space but last at the ballet" [Edit: come to think of it, the ballet claque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claque is an early example of astroturfing; these days it's been automated by the laugh track]
- nindalf 4y agoInsane. Is it possible that Chekhov and Dostoevsky were just really good writers? That maybe we liked them long before Putin started Putin-ing? But no, everyone else apart from you is an easily led sheep and Putin or whoever else is the shepherd.
- jevgeni 4y agoHow many really good writers not from colonialist regimes are there? How often do they make to the front page of HN?
- fancybouncy 4y agowriters not from colonialist regimes don't make it to HN because most of us never heard of them at school, which focuses on western writers. are you aware that most wealthy countries are or have been colonialist regimes? this includes much of Europe, North America, Japan and China.
- jevgeni 4y agoExactly. P.S. Also Russia, which is not really Europe.
- uncletaco 4y agoI'm always a little surprised to see The New Republic chugging along
- myth_drannon 4y ago[flagged]
- kombine 4y ago[flagged]
- myth_drannon 4y agoBut that's his persona. He never really goes full on, always tries to maintain neutrality. In his interview with that rapper who was saying vile things he just kept talking about love.
- kombine 4y agoExactly, and maintaining neutrality in the face of absolute evil is immoral. Such neutrality justifies an equivalence between the aggressor and the victim and provides the evil with an advantage, because, suddenly, instead of punishment it will have to be dealt with in a civilised manner.
- somethingreen 4y agoAt the start of the big war Fridman went on podcasts as an expert on the conflict and all he did was re-translate russian talking points. He's way worse than hypocrite. To be fair, he's not alone, a good half of IDW - group supposedly too intelligent and principled for mainstream media - turned out to be neither intelligent, nor principled, when those qualities got tested by real world events instead of social network drama.
- kombine 4y agoTbh, I never understood the whole hype about IDW. Sam Harris is the only one worth respecting there, whereas Dave Rubin and Ben Shapiro are both absolutely disgusting.
- 4y ago
- lordleft 4y agoI will never stop marveling at the way Chekhov can turn an inner life inside out in one to three pages. One of the jewels of Russian literature. One of the most surprising things about Chekhov is how his writing is some ways beyond ideology, politics or convictions —- he tries to present people as they are, and he implies that people behave according to incentives and drives instead of their purported beliefs.