"Small Fry" () is a short 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 ...

originally published in '' Oskolki'' magazine (No. 12 issue), on 25 and signed A. Chekhonte (А. Чехонте). It featured in all the 14 editions of Chekhov's collection ''Motley Stories'' (Пёстрые рассказы) first published in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 1886, and was included by Chekhov in 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. Shub, E. M. Commentaries to Мелюзга. The Works by A.P. Chekhov in 12 volumes.

Khudozhestvennaya Literatura Khudozhestvennaya Literatura () is a publishing house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The name means "fiction literature" in Russian. It specializes in the publishing of Russian and foreign works of literary fiction in Russia. History It was founde ...

. Moscow, 1960. Vol. 3, p. 492

Synopsis

The petty clerk Nevyrazimov, sitting in his office on the Easter Eve in the company of a cockroach scurrying the table, muses upon what he might do to make it in the world (steal big money or perhaps report on somebody to the secret police) but comes to the conclusion that such deeds would be beyond his abilities. Disgusted with the feeling of his own unworthiness he takes it out on the cockroach and "feels better".

References

External links

Мелюзга
Original Russian text * Small Fry,

Constance Garnett Constance Clara Garnett (; 19 December 1861 – 17 December 1946) was an English translator of nineteenth-century Russian literature. She was the first English translator to render numerous volumes of Anton Chekhov's work into English and the ...

's 1918 translation. ''The Schoolmistress and Other Stories''. Short stories by Anton Chekhov 1885 short stories Works originally published in Russian magazines {{1880s-story-stub