"A Misfortune", sometimes translated "Misfortune" (), is an 1886 story by

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

. First published in '' Novoye Vremya'', the story concerns Sofya Petrovna, the young wife of a country notary, whose attempts to turn away a suitor only expose her own desire for him and drive her toward an affair. The main theme is sexual enthrallment, a frequent concern in Chekhov's work during this period.

Background and publication history

Chekhov wrote "A Misfortune" for the

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

newspaper '' Novoye Vremya'' (''New Times''), which had invited him to contribute short pieces at the beginning of 1886.Rayfield, Donald (1999)
''Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama''
pp. 32–36. University of Wisconsin Press. . The story was published on 16 August of that year. Chekhov's association with ''Novoye Vremya'' gave him new freedom in his writing, opening him up to new influences and enabling him to increase both his productivity and the quality of his work. Russian literature scholar

Donald Rayfield Patrick Donald Rayfield OBE (born 12 February 1942, Oxford) is an English academic and Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Jos ...

calls 1886 "an ''

annus mirabilis ''Annus mirabilis'' (pl. ''anni mirabiles'') is a Latin phrase that means "marvelous year", "wonderful year", or "miraculous year". This term has been used to refer to several years during which events of major importance are remembered, notably ...

''" in Chekhov's early career. Chekhov included "A Misfortune" into the ''In the Twilight'' (В сумерках) collection, as well as volume 3 of his Collected Works published by

Adolf Marks Adolf Fyodorovich Marx (; 2 February 1838 – ), last name also spelled Marcks and recently Marks, known as A. F. Marx, was an influential 19th-century German publisher in Russia best known for the weekly journal ''Niva (journal), Niva''. He obt ...

in 1899-1901. During its author's lifetime, the story was translated into Danish,

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, Slovak and

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s.Commentaries to Несчастье
// Чехов А. П. Полное собрание сочинений и писем: В 30 т. Сочинения: В 18 т. / АН СССР. Ин-т мировой лит. им. А. М. Горького. — М.: Наука, 1974—1982. / Т. 5. �ассказы, юморески 1886—1886. — М.: Наука, 1976. — С. 247—259.

Plot

Sofya Petrovna, a 25-year-old housewife, is summering in an unnamed town with her husband, Andrey, a notary. Ilyin, a lawyer and old friend of Sofya's, has expressed his love for her. Sofya asks Ilyin to cease his advances and agree to remain friends, as her love for her husband and her respect for the "sanctity of marriage" ensure that nothing will come of his desires. However, Ilyin remains enthralled, and Sofya's attempts to turn him away only expose her own feelings for him. When Sofya finally realizes the depths of her desire for Ilyin, she asks Andrey to take her away from the town, but he says they cannot afford it. At a party for summer residents, Ilyin begs Sofya to give in to their mutual desire. In a final attempt to save her marriage, Sofya reveals everything to Andrey, but he dismisses her feelings as "a fancy". That night, Sofya departs to meet Ilyin.

Themes and analysis

The primary theme in "A Misfortune" is sexual enthrallment, one of the dominant concerns in Chekhov's early stories for ''Novoye Vremya''.Rayfield, Donald (1999)
''Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama''
p. 36. University of Wisconsin Press. .Loehlin, James N. (2010). ''The Cambridge Introduction to Chekhov'', p. 51. Cambridge University Press. . It is thus often compared to other stories written in this period, especially stories revolving around female sexuality. All these stories reflect a change from Chekhov's earlier writings: whereas the early works portrayed women as the passive subjects of male desire, the stories of 1886 depict women with more agency, whose sexuality affects the men around them and drives the plot. Whereas some of the stories cast "desiring women" in a sympathetic or positive light, "A Misfortune" focuses on the destructive and tragic aspect of female sexual power. As such, it relates especially to the contemporary stories "The Witch", "Mire", and "Agafia".Loehlin, James N. (2010). ''The Cambridge Introduction to Chekhov'', pp. 51–52. Cambridge University Press. .Rayfield, Donald (1999)
''Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama''
p. 37. University of Wisconsin Press. . Critics note the influence of

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

on "A Misfortune", especially the novel ''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, Анна Каренина, p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Tolstoy called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial in ...

'', a classic Russian work revolving around adultery.Rayfield, Donald (1999)
''Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama''
pp. 36–37. University of Wisconsin Press. . Rayfield further notes the influence of

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and s ...

, who frequently employed sex as a motivation for characters. "A Misfortune" may be intended as a parody of that work. According to Rayfield, Chekhov's characterization of Sofya and the narrator's condescension toward her "betray a too recent reading of Tolstoy". For Rayfield, though the ending hints at "a catastrophe about to ensue", it comes across as unearned posturing. Comparing "A Misfortune" to the later story "About Love", Rayfield writes that the work shows that Chekhov had not yet moved beyond his influences.

Legacy

James N. Loehlin traces the influence of "A Misfortune" on Chekhov's well known later story " The Grasshopper", another "study of adultery". Rayfield writes that Sofya's "half-teasing, half-reproaching" conversation with her would-be lover prefigure the dialogue between Elena and Vania in Chekhov's play ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...

''. "A Misfortune" may have influenced

Andrei Bely Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev (, ; – 8 January 1934), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely, was a Russian novelist, Symbolist poet, theorist and literary critic. He was a committed anthroposophist and follower of Rudolf Steiner. Hi ...

's modernist novel '' Petersburg'', which also features a character named Sofia Petrovna, who is likewise a married woman pursued by suitors.

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a retiredhttps://variety.com/2024/film/global/ken-loach-retirement-the-old-oak-jonathan-glazer-oscars-speech-1235956589/ English filmmaker. His socially critical directing style and socialist views ar ...

adapted "A Misfortune" for the

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

series ''

Full House ''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about the recently widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend ...

'' in 1973, featuring

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ben Kingsley, various accolades throughout Ben Kingsley on screen and stage, his career spanning fi ...

. A musical adaptation of "A Misfortune" was presented at the Toronto Next Stage Theatre Festival in 2014, and premiered at the Charlottetown Festival in 2017. The music was composed by Scott Christian, with lyrics by Wade Bogert-O'Brien and book and additional lyrics by Kevin Michael Shea.

References

External links

''The Party and Other Stories''
the original Russian text {{DEFAULTSORT:Misfortune 1886 short stories Short stories by Anton Chekhov Works originally published in Russian newspapers