The Black Monk

By Anton Chekhov

Book Overview

The Black Monk is a novella written by Anton Chekhov, one of the most celebrated Russian writers of the late 19th century. The story follows the life of a young man named Andrey Vasil'ich Kovrin, who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0146000366
• ISBN13: 9780146000362
• Release Date: September 1995
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.12 lbs.

Customer Reviews

How our beloved one destroys us!

The Black Monk is a very difficult short story with different interpretations. However, the result is always the same, that is, he will die either on his own way to obtain the professorship or die in a way told in this story. Perhaps, the first way of dying is better than the second one, because he would die happily, while the second way left much pain not only to himself, but also to his beloved ones, who in fact made him die in the second way.

To be or not to be insane

"'The Black Monk" is a great existentialist story. The main character must choose between the rigid bourgeois conventions of his fiancee and to-be father-in-law in their ordered country gardens or he must choose a path of intellectual and spiritual freedom that the apparition of the Black Monk reveals to him. In choosing the latter, he comes into direct conflict with society's expectations and norms of behavior although he finds his greatest spiritual happiness and release in his new and emerging understanding and experiences. He is branded as mentally unstable and struggles to find his way back to his own true sense of being. As for "Peasants," this is a brilliant piece showing the tragic conditions of a poor, rural community and disproves the adage that "ignorance is bliss." Ulttimately, a great duo of thoughtful and moving stories.

A Powerful and Moving Story

This story has all the mystery of a parable, all the breadth of high Russian literature and the richness of a dream. A ghost-like figure haunts a rather Romantic protagonist, arriving in the form of a column of darkness that resolves into a hooded monk and begins to communicate with the hero about the nature of humanity in the world. As a picture of insanity, and yet a terrible descent into understanding, Chekhov's story is a powerful tribute to Russian and Catholic folklore as well as a portrait of the lone intellectual becoming immersed in asceticism. Highly recommended.