4.0 

Ivanov

By Anton Chekhov & Richard Nelson &
Ivanov by Anton Chekhov & Richard Nelson &  digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Nikolai Ivanov, approaching middle-age, has lost all passion for life. No longer in love with his wife, riddled with debt, and in danger of losing his estate, Ivanov finds himself trapped in a stasis he cannot shake—dragging all of those in his orbit down with him. While his family and friends rally around him trying to help, Ivanov only seems to sink further into the darkness that threatens to consume him. A new translation of Chekhov’s character study of a man undone by his own spiritual malaise.

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Ivanov Reviews

4.0
“𝙈𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙖! 𝙉𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙪𝙢! 𝙄𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬! 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙤𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙮. 𝙏𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝙗𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙖𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙚, 𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚'𝙨 𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙮, 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙠 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙫𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙖. Ivanov by Anton Chekhov is a play that delves into themes of existential crisis, depression, mental health, guilt, despair, and the weight of social expectations. Ivanov, our tragic hero is caught in a painful inner turmoil. He is torn between the guilt of failing his dying wife, Anna, and the possibility of starting anew with the youthful and idealistic Sasha. He is quite incapable of choosing between them. He realises how unfair he is to his wife and this guilt never leaves him. 𝘕𝘰, 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺 ... 𝘐 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵. Throughout the book, ivanov struggles with mental health issues and he's often made aware of his failed social potential, he realises he has wasted most of his life, this pushes him further into despair. 𝑨𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒆𝒔, 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑯𝒐𝒘, 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔? Also, like in the rest of Chekhov’s works, we find the theme of suicide here as well: 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅! ... 𝑰 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝑰 𝒂𝒎, 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕. and the ending was really powerful... reminded me of Seagull by chekhov obviously. Quotes i liked: 🔸𝑴𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓, 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒖𝒙𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅: 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅-𝒏𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 ... 🔸 𝑺𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒑𝒊𝒅 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔-𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 🔸𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒉𝒐𝒕-𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒉, 𝒔𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇. 🔸 𝑰'𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒆'𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌. 𝑰'𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅. 🔸𝑰𝒏 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍, 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 🔸𝑭𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒔-𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕? 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕? 🔸𝑫𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈'𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈-𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌 ... 𝑵𝒐, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌!... 🔸𝑭𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒆 🔸 𝑰𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔, 𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏. 𝑵𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆, 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆, 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒚 🔸𝑴𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆. 🔸𝑰 𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒎𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒖𝒍𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒕. 🔸𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚𝒓'𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆! 🔸𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆, 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅”

About Anton Chekhov

Richard Nelson’s many plays include Illyria; The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family (Hungry, What Did You Expect?, and Women of a Certain Age); The Apple Family: Scenes from Life in the Country (That Hopey Changey Thing, Sweet and Sad, and Sorry, Regular Singing); Nikolai and the Others; Goodnight Children Everywhere (Olivier Award for Best Play); Franny’s Way; Some Americans Abroad; Frank’s Home; Two Shakespearean Actors; and James Joyce’s The Dead (with Shaun Davey; Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical). He has also written for film, namely the screenplays for Hyde Park-on-Hudson and Ethan Frome. He is the recipient of the PEN/Laura Pels Master Playwright Award and an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have translated the works of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov, Boris Pasternak, and Mikhail Bulgakov. Their translations of The Brothers Karamazov and Anna Karenina won the PEN Translation Prize in 1991 and 2002, respectively. Pevear, a native of Boston, and Volokhonsky, of St. Petersburg, are married and live in France.

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