An Anonymous Story

‘An Anonymous Story’ follows an anonymous assassin, sent to infiltrate the home of Orlov, the wealthy son of a judge. Disguised as a servant, the revolutionary perfectly blends into the household and observes them from within. However, his soul is soon disturbed by the womanising Orlov’s attitude towards his wife, and the assassin’s mission takes a dramatic turn. ‘An Anonymous Story’ is a fast-paced novella that starts as a political thriller, before becoming a household drama teeming with intrigue and infatuation. Chekhov’s comic social commentary is present as he criticizes the deceptive façade of the upper classes and the divergence between men and women’s ability to express their true emotions. It is also a story of internal struggle as the anonymous assassin is torn between revolution and romance which displays Chekhov’s command of irony and tragedy at its finest. This tale of romance and deception is recommended for fans of Dostoevsky or ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’.

A prolific writer of seven plays, a novel and hundreds of short stories, Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) is considered one of the best practitioners of the short story genre in literature. True to life and painfully morbid with his miserable and realistic depictions of Russian everyday life, Chekhov’s characters drift between humour, melancholy, artistic ambition, and death. Some of his best-known works include the plays 'Uncle Vanya', 'The Seagull', and 'The Cherry Orchard', where Chekhov dramatizes and portrays social and existential problems. His short stories unearth the mysterious beneath the ordinary situations, the failure and horror present in everyday life.