Early stories of A.P. Chekhov: features of composition and humorous techniques

The work of an outstanding classic of Russian literature dates back to the 1880s, when Chekhov, then a medical student, actively collaborated with popular comic books, which in many ways predetermined the style and theme of his work. The purpose of this article is to review Chekhov's early humorous stories by analyzing the nature of their comic.

Many of the early stories of A.P. Chekhov is very funny. But humor is not the main goal of the writer, he is not formal, it is not just a play on words or the construction of unexpected funny positions. The writer uses techniques funny for sharpening the attention of a sensitive and attentive reader in ordinary life situations. Its purpose is to show real life, and not to shine before the public with a comic device, however fresh and witty it may be.

Early stories of A.P. Chekhov - it's playing in a humorous way the natural circumstances of daily life: various everyday events, characters, traits peculiar to the lifestyle of people of a certain type. The gift of one of the most famous Russian classics in the world is of a realistic nature, its comicism conditioned, devoid of meaningless surprises.

The young writer invented a lot of subjects related to the same theme - philistine life. A feature of the composition of his short stories (the conditions of humorous publications - not more than 100 lines) is a dynamic, rapid deployment of a story having an unexpected start, immediately without entry, designed to enter into the essence of the presentation, and a final contrast to the beginning of the work.

For example, Lieutenant Dubov, the hero of "Dear Dog," a story from 1885, which is included in the 30-volume complete works of Chekhov, at the beginning of the narrative offers a friend to buy his thoroughbred dog Milk. Describing her excellent qualities, the lieutenant calls the dog a thoroughbred English setter. At the end of the story, it turns out that the "vile," "disgusting" Milka ate all the host's meat. Dubov wants to get rid of it and even take him to the buckler. Now the lieutenant calls the poor dog a hybrid of a pooch and a pig.

In the story about the frailty of life, the author used such techniques as the contrast of the composition and the conciseness of the image. It depicts only its silhouette, surrounded by expressive details. The author, with the help of a colorful and long description of the dinner table and the emotions of the dullly labeled hero, Semyon Petrovich Podtykin, tells how he coveted and tastefully prepares to eat pancakes, but this long-awaited event still does not happen, because the hero with food In the hand dies.

If you analyze the stories of A.P. Chekhov, it can be found that often to create a funny image and its speech characteristics are used comic conversions of spoken language, including in live dialogues.

For example, in the "Mask" the hero calls on Mr. Belobukhin to "go to the pigs of the dogs", he also uses such unsympathetic expressions as "hamov's offspring", "snout" and so on.

The author does not refuse from the sharply thickened colors, using for this purpose such devices as exaggeration and hyperbole, giving characters a parody, ridiculous names.

For example, in "Dear dog" Dubov so wanted to sell Milk, that he even tried to extradite her for a dog. And the famous Chekhov speaking names! In one "Mask" they are several: Belobukhin, Gradusov, Derevyashkin, Kalyakin and so on.

In a short article, you can only mention some of the techniques used by the writer in his early works. On this subject, hundreds of theses have been written. Perhaps more will be written, too, as time goes on, and researchers come up with new approaches to the study of this vast and profound material called "The Stories of AP Chekhov."