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To Chekhov's Memory
To Chekhov's Memory is a book written by Alexander Kuprin that pays tribute to the great writer Anton Chekhov. The book is a collection of essays, memoirs, and letters that Kuprin wrote about Chekhov, whom he greatly admired and respected. Kuprin's writing is deeply personal and emotional, as he shares his memories of Chekhov and reflects on his impact on Russian literature. The book also includes several of Chekhov's own letters and writings, providing readers with a unique insight into his life and work. Overall, To Chekhov's Memory is a beautiful and heartfelt tribute to one of the greatest writers of all time, and a must-read for anyone interested in Russian literature or literary criticism.""Write, write as much as possible""--he would say to young novelists. ""It does not matter if it does not come off. Later on it will come off. The chief thing is, do not waste your youth and elasticity. It's now the time for working. See, you write superbly, but your vocabulary is small. You must acquire words and turns of speech, and for this you must write every day.""This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
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About the author
Aleksandr Kuprin
888 books154 followersAleksandr Kuprin (Russian: Александр Иванович Куприн; 7 September 1870 in the village of Narovchat in the Penza Oblast - August 25, 1938 in Leningrad) was a Russian writer, pilot, explorer and adventurer who is perhaps best known for his story The Duel (1905). Other well-known works include Moloch (1896), Olesya (1898), Junior Captain Rybnikov (1906), Emerald (1907), and The Garnet Bracelet (1911) (which was made into a 1965 movie). Vladimir Nabokov styled him the Russian Kipling for his stories about pathetic adventure-seekers, who are often "neurotic and vulnerable."
Kuprin was a son of Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin, a minor government official who died of cholera during 1871 at the age of thirty-seven years. His mother, Liubov' Alekseevna Kuprina, Tatar princess (of the Kulunchakovs), like many other nobles in Russia, had lost most of her wealth during the 19th century. Kuprin attended the Razumovsky boarding school during 1876, and during 1880 finished his education in the Second Moscow Military High School (Cadet Corps) and Alexander Military School, spending a total of ten years in these elite military institutions. His first short story, The Last Debut, was published during 1889 in a satirical periodical. "In February 1902, Kuprin and Maria Karlovna Davydova were married, their daughter Lidia born in 1903." Kuprin's mother died during 1910.
Kuprin ended military service during 1894, after which he tried many types of job, including provincial journalism, dental care, land surveying, acting, circus performer, church singer, doctor, hunter, fisher, etc. Reportedly, "all of these were subsequently reflected in his fiction." His first essays were published in Kiev in two collections. Reportedly, "although he lived in an age when writers were carried away by literary experiments, Kuprin did not seek innovation and wrote only about the things he himself had experienced and his heroes are the next generation after Chekhov's pessimists."
Although the 1896 short story Moloch first made his name known as a writer, it was his novel The Duel (1905) which made him famous. "Kuprin was highly praised by fellow writers including Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Leonid Andreyev, Nobel Prize-winning Ivan Bunin" and Leo Tolstoy who acclaimed him a true successor to Chekhov. After publication of The Duel he paid less and less interest to fancy literature and began to spend time in pubs and brothels. His sensationalist novel about the lurid life of prostitutes, The Pit (1915), was accused by Russian critics of excessive Naturalism.
Although not a conservative, he did not agree with Bolshevism. While working for a brief time with Maxim Gorky at the World Literature publishing company, he criticized the Soviet regime. During spring 1919, from Gatchina near Petrograd, Kuprin left the country for France. He lived in Paris for most of the next 17 years, succumbing to alcoholism. He wrote about this in much of his work. He eventually returned to Moscow on May 31, 1937, just a year before his death, at the height of the Great Purge. His return earned publication of his works within the Soviet Union.
Kuprin died during the spring of 1938 in Leningrad and is interred near his fellow writers at the Literaturskiye Mostki in the Volkovo Cemetery (Volkovskoye Memorial Cemetery) in Leningrad. A minor planet 3618 Kuprin, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1979 is named after him.
Reportedly, "even today, Alexander Kuprin remains one of the widest read classics in Russian literature", with many films based on his works, "which are also read over the radio", partly due to "his vivid stories of the lives of ordinary people and unhappy love, his descriptions of the military and brothels, making him a writer for all times and places."
Kuprin was a son of Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin, a minor government official who died of cholera during 1871 at the age of thirty-seven years. His mother, Liubov' Alekseevna Kuprina, Tatar princess (of the Kulunchakovs), like many other nobles in Russia, had lost most of her wealth during the 19th century. Kuprin attended the Razumovsky boarding school during 1876, and during 1880 finished his education in the Second Moscow Military High School (Cadet Corps) and Alexander Military School, spending a total of ten years in these elite military institutions. His first short story, The Last Debut, was published during 1889 in a satirical periodical. "In February 1902, Kuprin and Maria Karlovna Davydova were married, their daughter Lidia born in 1903." Kuprin's mother died during 1910.
Kuprin ended military service during 1894, after which he tried many types of job, including provincial journalism, dental care, land surveying, acting, circus performer, church singer, doctor, hunter, fisher, etc. Reportedly, "all of these were subsequently reflected in his fiction." His first essays were published in Kiev in two collections. Reportedly, "although he lived in an age when writers were carried away by literary experiments, Kuprin did not seek innovation and wrote only about the things he himself had experienced and his heroes are the next generation after Chekhov's pessimists."
Although the 1896 short story Moloch first made his name known as a writer, it was his novel The Duel (1905) which made him famous. "Kuprin was highly praised by fellow writers including Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Leonid Andreyev, Nobel Prize-winning Ivan Bunin" and Leo Tolstoy who acclaimed him a true successor to Chekhov. After publication of The Duel he paid less and less interest to fancy literature and began to spend time in pubs and brothels. His sensationalist novel about the lurid life of prostitutes, The Pit (1915), was accused by Russian critics of excessive Naturalism.
Although not a conservative, he did not agree with Bolshevism. While working for a brief time with Maxim Gorky at the World Literature publishing company, he criticized the Soviet regime. During spring 1919, from Gatchina near Petrograd, Kuprin left the country for France. He lived in Paris for most of the next 17 years, succumbing to alcoholism. He wrote about this in much of his work. He eventually returned to Moscow on May 31, 1937, just a year before his death, at the height of the Great Purge. His return earned publication of his works within the Soviet Union.
Kuprin died during the spring of 1938 in Leningrad and is interred near his fellow writers at the Literaturskiye Mostki in the Volkovo Cemetery (Volkovskoye Memorial Cemetery) in Leningrad. A minor planet 3618 Kuprin, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1979 is named after him.
Reportedly, "even today, Alexander Kuprin remains one of the widest read classics in Russian literature", with many films based on his works, "which are also read over the radio", partly due to "his vivid stories of the lives of ordinary people and unhappy love, his descriptions of the military and brothels, making him a writer for all times and places."
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 8, 2016
things I want to remember:
Chekhov not being able to choose which pants to wear to see Tolstoy
Chekhov wanting mousetraps as a present so he could catch mice and set them free
Chekhov's watch saying 'the lonely person sees a desert everywhere'
Chekhov changing the conversation from his writing to herrings & his use of field glasses
Bunin's rage at Gippius, Gorky etc for their misrepresentations of Chekhov
Bunin basically being like, MY BEST FRIEND CHEKHOV.
Chekhov not being able to choose which pants to wear to see Tolstoy
Chekhov wanting mousetraps as a present so he could catch mice and set them free
Chekhov's watch saying 'the lonely person sees a desert everywhere'
Chekhov changing the conversation from his writing to herrings & his use of field glasses
Bunin's rage at Gippius, Gorky etc for their misrepresentations of Chekhov
Bunin basically being like, MY BEST FRIEND CHEKHOV.
December 5, 2021
Il libro è incompiuto, è una serie di appunti, a volte ripetitivi, che Bunin stava sistemando in vista di una pubblicazione. Abbastanza interessante per capire la personalità di Cechov.
January 30, 2018
Very detailed....Marullo excels again.
March 6, 2014
"To Chekhov's Memory" by Alexander Kuprin.
To mark the 150th anniversary of Anton Chekhov's birth, a unique, first-hand portrait of Anton Chekhov final years in Yalta.
Read by Ben Whishaw.
Broadcast on:
BBC Radio 3, 7:45pm Friday 22nd January 2010
Categories:
Factual, Arts, Culture & the Media, History, Music, Classical
Produced by Sasha Yevtushenko.
-----------
About the author (wiki sourced):
Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin
Born August 26 [O.S. September 7:] 1870
Narovchat, Penza Oblast
Died August 25, 1938 (aged 68)
Leningrad
Occupation writer, pilot, explorer, and adventurer
Genres short stories
Literary movement Naturalism
Notable work(s) Junior Captain Rybnikov
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2019
Un giovane fortunato, anche se ha solo 13 anni in meno frequenta il piu grande geniodel tatro russo fnio allasuamorte, e scopre in vecchiaia di essere ststo il suo più stimato amico...
Rende l'omaggio scrivendo questo libro di ricordi invero un po legnoso....
molto interessante la seconda parte sull'amore di Cechov per un scrittrice ricambiato, in maniera molto elegante ed eterno, con un verso del "Gabbiano"
Rende l'omaggio scrivendo questo libro di ricordi invero un po legnoso....
molto interessante la seconda parte sull'amore di Cechov per un scrittrice ricambiato, in maniera molto elegante ed eterno, con un verso del "Gabbiano"
February 8, 2016
Chekhov was wonderful etc. Some sweet anecdotes, nothing terribly interesting. I have learned however, that he hated cats. Also, that Kuprin is a terrible writer. Anyway, I remember reading before that Bunin wrote an entire book on Chekhov? I wonder if that's worth looking into.
January 25, 2010
Ben Whishaw reads Alexander Kuprin's first-hand portrait of Anton Chekhov's life.
May 21, 2017
Excellent memoir about a very interesting man. Chekhov is one of my favorite authors, and this was an intriguing read.
April 24, 2025
Un vivido ritratto della personalità peculiarissima di Anton Čechov, dove la realtà dell’uomo di lettere russo fa da allegro e leggero sfondo, permettendoci di respirare l’aria di Jalta e Mosca, fra i giganti dell’epoca, le dinamiche dell’editoria e le critiche. In questo libro Ivan Bunin, primo russo ad essere insignito del premio Nobel per la letteratura, si propone di raccontare il vero Čechov — e non quello millantato da personaggi come Zinaida Gippius — attraverso esperienze vissute in prima persona e lettere ufficiali. Sfortunatamente ci troviamo di fronte ad un opera abbozzata del quale ci rimangono compiuti pochi capitoli.
Tra i capitoli più riusciti spicca il sesto, che per la prima volta attribuisce grande importanza al ruolo giocato dalla poco nota Lydia Avilova nella vita di Čechov — un aspetto a lungo ignorato, ma considerato fondamentale da Bunin. Do 5 stelle nonostante l’incompiutezza per il forte interesse che mi suscita e ha sempre suscitato la letteratura russa e Čechov specialmente.
Tra i capitoli più riusciti spicca il sesto, che per la prima volta attribuisce grande importanza al ruolo giocato dalla poco nota Lydia Avilova nella vita di Čechov — un aspetto a lungo ignorato, ma considerato fondamentale da Bunin. Do 5 stelle nonostante l’incompiutezza per il forte interesse che mi suscita e ha sempre suscitato la letteratura russa e Čechov specialmente.
September 5, 2024
Bunin scrisse, anzi dettò, questo libro a metà '900 quando già era molto malato, poco prima di morire.
Questi ricordi dell'amicizia con Cechov, risalente a mezzo secolo prima, si presentano coi caratteri del frammento, dando l'impressione di una non risistemazione, lavoro che probabilmente l'autore avrebbe compiuto.
A ravvivare il ricordo dell'antica amicizia contribuì la pubblicazione postuma delle memorie di L. Avilova, scrittrice che Bunin stesso conosceva, in cui emerge l'amore impossibile e gelosamente custodito tra lei e Cechov.
Dalle rimembranze di Bunin, la figura di Cechov si delinea ben nitida: un uomo con "la voce severa e il sorriso infantile", "sempre amichevole, per non dire affettuoso" ma nel contempo con un riserbo nobilissimo, aristocratico; "non sopportava i parolai" e aveva "avversione per l'artificio e la maniera": "le artificiose bizzarrie che fioriscono nella letteratura moderna lo ferivano".
Questi ricordi dell'amicizia con Cechov, risalente a mezzo secolo prima, si presentano coi caratteri del frammento, dando l'impressione di una non risistemazione, lavoro che probabilmente l'autore avrebbe compiuto.
A ravvivare il ricordo dell'antica amicizia contribuì la pubblicazione postuma delle memorie di L. Avilova, scrittrice che Bunin stesso conosceva, in cui emerge l'amore impossibile e gelosamente custodito tra lei e Cechov.
Dalle rimembranze di Bunin, la figura di Cechov si delinea ben nitida: un uomo con "la voce severa e il sorriso infantile", "sempre amichevole, per non dire affettuoso" ma nel contempo con un riserbo nobilissimo, aristocratico; "non sopportava i parolai" e aveva "avversione per l'artificio e la maniera": "le artificiose bizzarrie che fioriscono nella letteratura moderna lo ferivano".
December 30, 2024
«Io non posso fare altro che testimoniare con tutto il cuore che si trattava di un uomo di eccezionale levatura morale, la cui educazione ed eleganza erano da intendersi nell’accezione più alta dei termini, un uomo straordinariamente semplice e franco, e nel contempo dolce e gentile, un uomo sensibile e affettuoso, e di grande onestà intellettuale.»
March 23, 2013
Очень живо, интересно и с юмором написано. Жаль, что Бунин не успел закончить эту книгу. Была приятно удивлена тем, что Бунину тоже не нравились пьесы Чехова, а нравились его рассказы. Эта книга вызвала во мне желание читать и перечитывать рассказы Чехова. Рекомендую.
April 10, 2019
Several authors here, not just Gorky or just Kuprin or just...
Will add actual review when actually done (I should probably not be writing this much now, since last time I wrote a partial review while I was reading, Kindle wouldn't let me add to it when I was _done_ reading..)
Will add actual review when actually done (I should probably not be writing this much now, since last time I wrote a partial review while I was reading, Kindle wouldn't let me add to it when I was _done_ reading..)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews