Originally published 1896 | ||
 | ||
Classical Studies books Stories of Anton Chekhov, Ward number six and other, The story of a nobody, A Russian Affair, The witch - and other stories | ||
My Life (Russian: Моя жизнь, Moya zhizn) is an 1896 novella by Anton Chekhov, set in a provincial southern Russian city not unlike Chekhov's own hometown of Taganrog.
Contents
Publication history
The novella first appeared in the October-December, Nos. 10-12, 1896 issues of the Monthly Literary Supplement to Niva magazine. Revised by the author, it was included into the Suvorin-published collection Stories. Muzhiki. My Life, to be reproduced, unchanged, in all of its 7 editions (1897-1899). With some additional changes edits Chekhov included in into Volume 9 of his Collected Works, published in 1899-1901 by Adolf Marks.
Background
Chekhov started working upon the novella in February 1896 and finished it in the late July of that year. There was some disagreement about the title. Chekhov hated "My Life" (in particular, the 'my' bit of it) and suggested that it should be called "In the Nineties" (В 90-х годах) instead. The Niva's editor Alexey Tikhonov-Lugovoy thought that was "too retro-sounding, as if it were some kind of memmoirs", so the author decided against further arguing.