Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends with biographical sketchApril 1.You abuse me for objectivity, calling it indifference to good andevil, lack of ideals and ideas, and so on. You would have me, when Idescribe horse-stealers, say: “Stealing horses is an evil.” But that hasbeen known for ages without my saying so. Let the jury judge them,it’s my job simply to show what sort of people they are. I write: youare dealing with horse-stealers, so let me tell you that they are notbeggars but well-fed people, that they are people of a special cult,and that horse-stealing is not simply theft but a passion. Of courseit would be pleasant to combine art with a sermon, but for me personallyit is extremely difficult and almost impossible, owing to theconditions of technique. You see, to depict horse-stealers in sevenhundred lines I must all the time speak and think in their tone andfeel in their spirit, otherwise, if I introduce subjectivity, the imagebecomes blurred and the story will not be as compact as all shortstories ought to be. When I write I reckon entirely upon the readerto add for himself the subjective elements that are lacking in thestory.134