Russian & Eurasian Studies 226 - Philosophical Tales: The Short Fiction of Anton Chekhov

Explore the short fictions of Anton Chekhov as brilliantly crafted exemplars of the Philosophical Tale, stories that use the resources of short narrative fiction to probe life's deepest questions: "what is the meaning of our lives, how do we face our inevitable death, why is there evil and suffering, what does it mean to be human, how should we live?" How do these stories work? What can fictions do that discursive philosophical essays can't? How do they engage the complexity of the world and of life? We'll also read Chekhov's work in larger tradition of Wisdom Literature, with readings drawn from Biblical, Hassidic, Classical, Folk, and Chinese traditions, as well as from other notable practitioners of the genre (Chesterton, Borges, Poe).