Uncle Vanya: Scenes from Country Life in Four Acts
()
About this ebook
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre.
Read more from Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Contemporary One-Act Plays Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Schoolmistress Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBEST RUSSIAN SHORT STORIES Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Collected Works of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: The Complete Works PergamonMedia Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Uncle Vanya Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Best Russian Short Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Uncle Vanya Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNote-Book of Anton Chekhov Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Sea-Gull: Bestsellers and famous Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bishop and Other Stories Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Love and Other Stories Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Ivanoff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Schoolmistress and Other Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Plays by Anton Chekhov Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Horse-Stealers and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSwan Song Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lock and Key Library The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations: North Europe — Russian — Swedish — Danish — Hungarian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chorus Girl and Other Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cook's Wedding and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bishop and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Party and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe House with the Mezzanine and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Seagull Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Steppe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Horse-Stealers and Other Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Uncle Vanya
Related ebooks
Uncle Vanya Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUncle Vanya: A Play Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncle Vanya Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUncle Vanya: Scenes from Country Life in Four Acts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUncle Vanya: Scenes from Country Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUncle Vanya: Scenes from country life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEast of the West: A Country in Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another Brooklyn: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road of Excess Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncle Vanya (NHB Classic Plays) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Against Her Will Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe strange White Lady: appearances 2002-2016 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSleeping Alone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwo Tales Without a Head Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Old House and Other Short Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Artist's Story: Short Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Recollections from a Crawlway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fullness of Everything Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Erou Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Three Sisters: If you are afraid of loneliness, do not marry. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Dreary Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnna Karenina: One of the Greatest Love Stories in World Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUncanny Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSynapse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEast Wind: West Wind: The Saga of a Chinese Family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Runaway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Performing Arts For You
The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Women's Monologues from New Plays, 2020 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hamlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count Of Monte Cristo (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Trial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diamond Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lucky Dog Lessons: From Renowned Expert Dog Trainer and Host of Lucky Dog: Reunions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The World Turned Upside Down: Finding the Gospel in Stranger Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Comedy Bible: From Stand-up to Sitcom--The Comedy Writer's Ultimate "How To" Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Slave Play Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How I Learned to Drive (Stand-Alone TCG Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mash: A Novel About Three Army Doctors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sisters Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is This Anything? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Woman Is No Man: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Uncle Vanya
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Uncle Vanya - Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Uncle Vanya
Scenes from Country Life in Four Acts
Warsaw 2019
Contents
CHARACTERS
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
CHARACTERS
ALEXANDER SEREBRAKOFF, a retired professor
HELENA, his wife, twenty-seven years old
SONIA, his daughter by a former marriage
MME. VOITSKAYA, widow of a privy councilor, and mother of Serebrakoff’s first wife
IVAN (VANYA) VOITSKI, her son
MICHAEL ASTROFF, a doctor
ILIA (WAFFLES) TELEGIN, an impoverished landowner
MARINA, an old nurse
A WORKMAN
The scene is laid on SEREBRAKOFF’S country place
ACT I
A country house on a terrace. In front of it a garden. In an avenue of trees, under an old poplar, stands a table set for tea, with a samovar, etc. Some benches and chairs stand near the table. On one of them is lying a guitar. A hammock is swung near the table. It is three o’clock in the afternoon of a cloudy day.
MARINA, a quiet, grey-haired, little old woman, is sitting at the table knitting a stocking.
ASTROFF is walking up and down near her.
MARINA. [Pouring some tea into a glass] Take a little tea, my son.
ASTROFF. [Takes the glass from her unwillingly] Somehow, I don’t seem to want any.
MARINA. Then will you have a little vodka instead?
ASTROFF. No, I don’t drink vodka every day, and besides, it is too hot now. [A pause] Tell me, nurse, how long have we known each other?
MARINA. [Thoughtfully] Let me see, how long is it? Lord–help me to remember. You first came here, into our parts–let me think–when was it? Sonia’s mother was still alive–it was two winters before she died; that was eleven years ago–[thoughtfully] perhaps more.
ASTROFF. Have I changed much since then?
MARINA. Oh, yes. You were handsome and young then, and now you are an old man and not handsome any more. You drink, too.
ASTROFF. Yes, ten years have made me another man. And why? Because I am overworked. Nurse, I am on my feet from dawn till dusk. I know no rest; at night I tremble under my blankets for fear of being dragged out to visit some one who is sick; I have toiled without repose or a day’s freedom since I have known you; could I help growing old? And then, existence is tedious, anyway; it is a senseless, dirty business, this life, and goes heavily. Every one about here is silly, and after living with them for two or three years one grows silly oneself. It is inevitable. [Twisting his moustache] See what a long moustache I have grown. A foolish, long moustache. Yes, I am as silly as the rest, nurse, but not as stupid; no, I have not grown stupid. Thank God, my brain is not addled yet, though my feelings have grown numb. I ask nothing, I need nothing, I love no one, unless it is yourself alone. [He kisses her head] I had a nurse just like you when I was a child.
MARINA. Don’t you want a bite of something to eat?
ASTROFF. No. During the third week of Lent I went to the epidemic at Malitskoi. It was eruptive typhoid. The peasants were all lying side by side in their huts, and the calves and pigs were running about the floor among the sick. Such dirt there was, and smoke! Unspeakable! I slaved among those people all day, not a crumb passed my lips, but when I got home there was still no rest for me; a switchman was carried in from the railroad; I laid him on the operating table and he went and died in my arms under chloroform, and then my feelings that should have been deadened awoke again, my conscience tortured me as if I had killed the man. I sat down and closed my eyes–like this–and thought: will our descendants two hundred years from now, for whom we are breaking the road, remember to give us a kind word? No, nurse, they will forget.
MARINA. Man is forgetful, but God remembers.
ASTROFF. Thank you for that. You have spoken the truth.
Enter VOITSKI from the house. He has been asleep after dinner and looks rather dishevelled. He sits down on the bench and straightens his collar.
VOITSKI. H’m. Yes. [A pause] Yes.
ASTROFF. Have you been asleep?
VOITSKI. Yes, very much so. [He yawns] Ever since the Professor and his wife have come, our daily life seems to have jumped the track. I sleep at the wrong time, drink wine, and eat all sorts of messes for luncheon and dinner. It isn’t wholesome. Sonia and I used to work together and never had an idle moment, but now Sonia works alone and I only eat and drink and sleep. Something is wrong.
MARINA. [Shaking her head] Such a confusion in the house! The Professor gets up at twelve,