Anton Chekhov: 2 books

My Life is an 1896 novella by Anton Chekhov, set in a provincial southern Russian city not unlike Chekhov's own hometown of Taganrog. “My Life”is a story about a rebellious young man so disgusted with bourgeois society that he drops out to live amongst the working classes, only to find himself confronted by the morally and mentally deadening effects of provincialism.

A HOSPITAL assistant, called Yergunov, an empty-headed fellow, known throughout the district as a great braggart and drunkard, was returning one evening in Christmas week from the hamlet of Ryepino, where he had been to make some purchases for the hospital. That he might get home in good time and...