Page:The Kiss and Other Stories by Anton Tchekhoff, 1908.pdf/6



The present volume of short stories by Anton Tchekhoff, chosen from nearly three hundred, is an attempt to bridge a gap in international literary relations, all the more marked because of the rapid growth both at home and in Western Europe of Tchekhoff's fame as short-story writer and playwright. Under the title The Black Monk and Other Stories (Duckworth and Co.) the translator published five years ago the only collection of Tchekhoff's stories that had up to that time appeared in English; and since then Tchekhoff has remained a mere name in England, except to the handful of persons familiar with the Russian language. Tchekhoff's premature death in 1904 caused an outburst of mourning without precedent in Russia's literary annals; and the numberless translations of his writings which have appeared on the Continent — including a complete edition in German — seem good reasons for making more of his work accessible to English readers.