THE HELPMATE is part of the second audio book in the series of Chekhov's Short Stories featuring 5 new stories: Talent, Anyuta, The Helpmate, Ivan Matveyitch, Polinka. Read by Max Bollinger in English (unabridged). Several stories in this new audio production are accompanied by occasional piano music based on original compositions by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, a distinguished Russian composer of Romantic era. Europe's Age of Enlightenment is presented here through both literary and musical treasures of 19th century

About The Author

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov 1860 – 1904, one of Russia's most cherished storyteller, playwright and one of the greatest dramatists of all time. Chekhov himself described his plays as comic satire: "All I wanted was to say honestly to people: 'Have a look at yourselves and see how bad and dreary your lives are!' The important thing is that people should realize that, for when they do, they will most certainly create another and better life for themselves. I will not live to see it, but I know that it will be quite different, quite unlike our present life.”

About The Composer

Pyotr Ilyich Chaikovskiy 1840 – 1893, Russian composer of the Romantic era. Chaikovskiy achieved worldwide recognition during his lifetime, was awarded an honorary doctorate at Cambridge University. In 1891 the Carnegie Hall program booklet proclaimed him to be one of the greatest living musicians. Music critics praised him as "a modern music lord". In Russia Chaikovskiy was considered a national treasure, and his music admired and adored by all. He wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his Piano Concertos, his Symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin.

About The Translator

Constance Clara Garnett 1861 — 1946, English translator of nineteenth century Russian Literature. Following her visit to Russia in 1893 where she met Leo Tolstoy, Constance started translating Russian literature, which became her life's passion and resulted in English language versions of dozens of volumes by Tolstoy,  Pushkin, Turgenev, Chekhov and other prominent Russian writers. Russian anarchist Sergei Stepniak assisted in preparation of her early works.

Reviews 

Anton Chekhov was one of the early masters of the short story as well as a great playwright. As is typical of Chekhov’s stories, the five tracks here are carefully constructed slices of life, rich in portrait and moral ambiguity rather than dramatic experiences. Some listeners will find them a less familiar side of the author of UNCLE VANYA and THE CHERRY ORCHARD. Max Bollinger brings the authentic voice and soul of Russia to these classic Constance Garnett translations. While many of the issues in these stories are timeless, listeners will also get to visit, for a while, the old Russia of the czars.

D.M.H. AudioFile Magazine, Portland (USA)

This is an audio book, and the narrator has a light Russian accent that lends creditability to the stories. Each of the stories -there are 5 on this second disc of "Short Stories by Anton Chekhov" is a picture for me. In fact, I liken each of them to a Monet painting in which you can see the individual strokes of the brush if you stand too close, but stepping back you see the whole picture at once and not the bits that created the whole. Masterpieces!

Frayda Glass (MA, USA) 

The tracks are superbly interspersed with snatches of music by Tchaikovsky, which set the mood perfectly. It would be exceedingly simple to overdo the 'Russian-ness' of this disc but, the editor has judged the mood perfectly. I have now listened to it a few times and will certainly do so again (hopefully, many times).

Enough about the style of the disc, what about the content? My youth coincided with the cold war and so, Russia has always seemed to be a mysterious place where the people are somehow different. These tales of nineteenth century Russia should therefore be totally alien. They are not, of course: Chekhov describes the human condition, it is inherently the same in Russia as in England, or where, and when, ever one happens to live. I suspect that if we do, eventually, find sentient life upon another planet, then they too would read, or listen to, these fables and nod their understanding.

Ken Petersen (UK) 

I listened to these short stories in the car while driving to and from errands and to work. The stories were short, but poignant, and I was worried at first that the narrator's accent might distract me, but after a few sentences, it was not an issue.

At the conclusion of each short story, I was anxious to start the next, but also felt compelled to think about the one I had just completed- and then to contemplate my own past, my own choices, my own story. 

I love when literature sticks with me like this audio recording did. I am looking forward to listening to it again very soon.

Meg Downing (MA, USA) 

This was my first experience with an audio book, at least for many years. I found the stories themselves captivating and now wish to read them in "regular" form. And only 5 stories is just a sample of Anton Chekhov's works. But I would listen to another collection of his stories again. His stories are about people, with real problems. There are no trite solutions for their problems, sometimes just an understanding of the characters' flaws. Each story offers a portrait of a person, a situation, and through simple dialogue we learn more about them than they know themselves. It is a wonderful experience to hear these stories.

Joseph Belliveau (Canada) 

This was an enjoyable experience for me. Its not often that I listen to audiobooks. The readers lightly accented voice wasn't too fast, too slow or too annoying (which can happen with audiobooks and ruins them.) The little vignettes themselves were great. My favorite was the one about the 'little foot.' Hilarious.

Renee (MI, USA) 

This very solid instalment in Max Bollinger's series includes Chekhov's 'Talent', 'Anyunta', 'The Helpmate', 'Ivan Matveyitch', and 'Polinka'. The stories are each in the range of ten minutes in length (some a bit longer as in the postlude of Tchaikovky's piano music at the end of 'The Talent'), but the variety of tales and the variations in the voices Bollinger uses makes the just over an hour of a CD pass like a breeze. It would be difficult to imagine a more verismo atmosphere to these great stories than that Max Bollinger offers the listener. This is echt Russian and a brilliant homage to Chekhov's artistry. Highly Recommended.

Grady Harp (CA, USA)