Anton Chekhov is known as a storyteller and playwright.
XIX. Iker Sancho Insausti has chosen and translated 31 of the hundreds of stories from the 20th century Russian classic into Basque. They have collected them in the ’31 book ‘published by Elkar
Out of the hundreds of stories written by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904), they have been selected and translated by Iker Sancho Insausti, a translator and professor at the University of the Basque Country. Platonov, Dovlatov, and Svetlana Aleksievich, translated from Russian into Basque, are also the foreword and notes, as he has a deep knowledge not only of the Russian language but also of Russian literature.
Unlike the majority, he said in a presentation of Elkar’s ’31 story ‘that there is a “mismatch between their reputation in Russia and their reputation outside Russia” in the case of Russian writers. The knowledge of the general public is said to be limited to the most famous works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and there are writers in our country who are great classics in Russia, who, according to Iker Sancho Insausti, do not resonate enough.
Chekhov is a storyteller and playwright. As a storyteller in particular, he has had a great influence on many Basque writers, but the public is not very well known. One of the aims of the translation is, therefore, “to make a contribution in this regard so that as many people as possible can read it in order to spread its knowledge.”
The editors and translators discussed whether the moment of the growing tendency to eradicate and punish Russian creators of all time “within the collective hysteria” of the attack on Ukraine was the best time to bring in the work of a Russian creator. And the latter concluded that “if there is a good time to read Chekhov,” this is “because of the impact it still has.”
Quality and friendly
Leaving aside the literature, for some the nineteenth century. the mere existence of the century will reduce the writer’s attractiveness and interest. This suspicion was completely refuted by the editor and the writer, as Sancho himself put it in his preface, in writing Chekhov “if it is to be considered a classic of literature, because its literature remains topical.”
It is undeniable that “he did not know many things, but 100 years later, for better or worse, the nature at the heart of Russian man and man in general has not changed.” Chekhov, in his time, made a “crude x-ray of the so-called Russian soul.” He portrayed the human soul like few others, with a “sad humor” that “immerses the reader in a sweet sadness,” and with the “great capacity for empathy” necessary for that day.
Although the context has changed, the themes of these stories, which have been written from 1880 to 1900 throughout his life, are still relevant today. They continue to be highly recommended, therefore, because of their high literary quality and also because they are “light and pleasant” to read.