Club Chekhov, in the original
This page is for listeners of Club Chekhov — All Subtext, No Action, the podcast reading through Chekhov's works with Lev Lesokhin and Prof. Alexander Burry. If an episode left you wanting the story itself — not a translation of it — this reading room holds Chekhov in his own Russian, with every word answering on a tap: dictionary form, meaning, stress. You do not need to know Russian to begin; the page carries you.
Start tonight
Seven Chekhov stories are free to read — «Ванька», «Смерть чиновника» and «Толстый и тонкий» among them, the early sketches where his whole method is already present. The first seven instalments ask nothing of you at all — no account, no address — which is about two stories read end to end. Open the reading room, or see which one to read first.
The episodes, against the shelf
Every story the club has taken on air, and where each stands here. The club reads a story first and holds its discussion after — both are linked where they exist, straight into the show.
«Человек в футляре» — The Man in a Case
Not yet set in this room. The podcast is walking through the complete works, and the shelf follows it.
«Крыжовник» — Gooseberries
Not yet set in this room. The podcast is walking through the complete works, and the shelf follows it.
«О любви» — About Love
Not yet set in this room. The podcast is walking through the complete works, and the shelf follows it.
«Дама с собачкой» — The Lady with the Dog
Дама с собачкой stands on the shelf — 5109 words, 1899, part of the library.
«Анна на шее» — Anna on the Neck
Not yet set in this room. The podcast is walking through the complete works, and the shelf follows it.
«Душечка» — The Darling
Not yet set in this room. The podcast is walking through the complete works, and the shelf follows it.
«Палата № 6» — Ward No. 6
Not yet set in this room. The podcast is walking through the complete works, and the shelf follows it.
«Дом с мезонином» — The House with the Mezzanine
Not yet set in this room. The podcast is walking through the complete works, and the shelf follows it.
«Скрипка Ротшильда» — Rothschild's Violin
Скрипка Ротшильда stands on the shelf — 3017 words, 1894, part of the library.
What reading here is like
Nothing is levelled or rewritten — the texts are Chekhov's own, in the editions he was printed in. What changes is the cost of not knowing a word: touch it, and it answers. When you can read a sentence whole, nothing is in your way.
More than the shelf
Reading is the destination, not the whole room. A structured course starts from zero and climbs toward the books themselves, lesson by lesson, built from the stories' own scenes; every word you meet is remembered and returns for practice until it holds; a grammar shelf answers the questions the texts raise; audio reads the lines to you. All of it — the books, the course, the practice — is one library.
Listen to the club
New to the show? Club Chekhov — All Subtext, No Action is walking through the complete works, a reading and then a discussion at a time, roughly twice a month. Start from the introduction, or pick the story you have just read here and hear what a Chekhov scholar and a lifelong reader make of it.