A Malefactor

"A Malefactor" (Russian: Злоумышленник, romanized: Zloumyshlennik) is an 1885 short story by Anton Chekhov.[1]

"A Malefactor"
The 1941 illustration by Kukryniksy
AuthorAnton Chekhov
Original title"Злоумышленник"
TranslatorConstance Garnett
CountryRussia
LanguageRussian
Published inPeterburgskaya Gazeta
Publication date7 August 1885
Published in English1919

Publication

"A Malefactor" was first published in the 7 August (o.s. 24 July) 1885 (No. 200) issue of Peterburgskaya Gazeta, in its Fleeting Notes section, subtitled "A Little Scene" (Сценка) and signed A. Chekhonte (А. Чехонте). The story was included into the 1886 collection Motley Stories (Пёстрые рассказы), to be reproduced unchanged in all of its 14 editions, and later into Volume 3 of the original edition of the Collected Works by A.P. Chekhov, published by Adolf Marks in 1899–1901.[1]

Background

Vladimir Gilyarovsky maintained that the prototype for the character of Denis Grigoryev was a peasant named Nikita Pantyukhin, from the village Kraskovo in Moscow Governorate.[2] "Anton Pavlovich was trying to put it to him that one was not supposed to unscrew nuts off railroad tracks, which could cause train crash, but Nikita seemed to be unable to understand him... 'Sure I know what's allowed, what's not. Sure, it's not everywhere that I unscrew them: one here, another there,' he was repeating," Gilyarovsky wrote. According to him, Chekhov had written down some words and expressions used by the real life 'malefactor' and then reproduced then in his story.[2]

Lev Tolstoy included "A Malefactor" into his personal list of Chekhov' best stories.[1] In Chekhov's lifetime the story was translated into Bulgarian, Hungarian, German, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak and Czech languages.[3]

Synopsis

A local investigating magistrate unsuccessfully tries to explain that it is wrong to take nuts off the railroad track to a peasant, Grigoryev, who simply cannot see why he's to be deprived of his right to use an iron nut as a weight for his fishing line.

gollark: Possibly Java.
gollark: Worst practical, you say…
gollark: How about "I wish for the concept of killing me to be substituted for the concept of giving me £100000 within the minds of all genies or other entities capable of effectively granting wishes".
gollark: You never specified that. No changey ruley.
gollark: Immortality for everyone (subject to the usual fixes to issues the genie might add, I can probably pull those from the open source wish project).

References
  1. Shub, E. M. Commentaries to Егерь. The Works by A.P. Chekhov in 12 volumes. Khudozhestvennaya Literatura. Moscow, 1960. Vol. 3, p. 508-509
  2. V. Gilyarovsky. Moscow and Moskovites. 1959, p. 354 / Гиляровский. Москва и москвичи
  3. Commentaries to Злоумышленник. The Works by A.P.Chekhov in 30 volumes. Vol. 4]
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