With amazing insight, Anton Chekhov wrote of the lives of the Russian common man as well as the landowner. He established the style of the modern short story and influenced many great writers, including George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Katherine Mansfield, and Virginia Woolf.

Presented here are eleven of Chekhov's best works. In "The Black Monk", a man blissfully chats with the vision of a wise, mysterious monk, and in "The Kiss", an awkward young soldier is kissed by mistake. The remaining nine stories ("A Misfortune", "An Artist's Story", "Not Wanted", "Expensive Lessons", "The Head of the Family", "Mire", "Anyuta", "The Helpmate", and "The Trousseau") are equally enchanting.