Whitebrow

Last updated
"Whitebrow"

Chekhov's Whitebrow by Kardovsky, 1909.jpg

1909 illustration by Dmitry Kardovsky
Author Anton Chekhov
Original title "Белолобый"
Country Russia
Language Russian
Published inChildren's Reading (1895)
Publisher Adolf Marks (1901)
Publication date 9 May 1892

"Whitebrow" (Russian : Белолобый, translit.  Belolobyi) is an 1895 short story by Anton Chekhov published by Children's Reading (Detskoye Chteniye) magazine.

Russian language East Slavic language

Russian is an East Slavic language, which is official in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution on 25 December 1991. Although nearly three decades have passed since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian is used in official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet nation-states, as well as in Israel and Mongolia.

Romanization of Russian Romanization of the Russian alphabet

Romanization of Russian is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic script into the Latin script.

Anton Chekhov Russian dramatist, author and physician

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress."

Contents

Publication

Chekhov sent "Whitebrow" to the editor Dmitry Tikhomirov in April 1895, but it was published only in the November 1895 issue of Detskoye Chteniye (Children's Reading), with the illustrations by B.I. Andreyev.

In 1899 it appeared in an anthology called "Russian Writers' Tales of Life and Nature", compiled by M. Vasilyev and the same year came out as a separate edition, published in Moscow by M.V. Klyukin, the publisher who acted initially on Vasilyev's behalf and, apparently, hadn't received the author's permission. "Tell Klyukin that I agreed for Whitebrow to be included into the compilation, but not for it to come out then as a brochure," Anton Chekhov wrote his brother Ivan on 18 January 1899. [1] After some minor revision the story was included by Chekhov into Volume 3 of his Collected Works published by Adolf Marks in 1899–1901. [1]

Adolf Marks Russian-German publisher

Adolf Fyodorovich Marx, last name also spelled Marcks and recently Marks, known as A. F. Marx, was an influential 19th-century German publisher in Russia best known for the weekly journal Niva. He obtained Russian citizenship.

Sending who of his stories ("Kashtanka" and "Whitebrow") to G.I. Rossolimo for his Library for Children project, Chekhov made the following comment in a 21 January 1900 letter: "What I do have for the young readership, is just two fairytales from doggies' lives, and that is all... Writing specifically for children is something that I haven't learnt, and I do not like the idea of 'children's literature' as such. What's good for the adults to read, should be good for children, too. Andersen, Frigate "Pallada" , Gogol are equally admired by children and adults. Rather than write for children specially, we'd rather learn to pick up for them stuff that's already been written for adults: choose the cure and then administer the dose, – this would be more sensible and more honest than try and invent some special reatment for a child only becous he is a child, if I may be excused for this medical analogy." [1]

Kashtanka short story by Anton Chekhov

"Kashtanka" is an 1887 short story by Anton Chekhov.

Grigory Ivanovich Rossolimo Russian physician

Grigory Ivanovich Rossolimo was a Russian neurologist who was a native of Odessa. He specialized in the field of child neuropsychology.

Hans Christian Andersen Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales. Andersen's popularity is not limited to children: his stories express themes that transcend age and nationality.

Background

"In my brother's yard there lived three black dogs, and among them, Whitebrow, a mid-size one, whom my brother immortalizes in his short story [of the same name]," Alexander Pavlovich Chekhov wrote in his 1911 memoirs. [2]

Plot

An old and hungry she-wolf raids a cattle-stall by a winter-hut, which a keeper named Ignat takes care of. She catches what she hopes would be a ewe, but on her way back, recognizes for a pup.

Whitebrow (that's how he's called for a white patch on his head) follows the wolf to her place, to play with her three cubs and spend the next day with them. As the night approaches, the hungry Whitebrow returns home. Here he meets the she-wolf again, who's up there on the stall's roof, ready to jump in. Happy to see her, he barks, jumps on the roof, awakens the dog Agapka, and inadvertently saves an ewe for the second time.

Old man Ignat, who is convinced that it is the pup who for the second night in a row plays havok with the stall's roof, having chosen it as a way of entering the place, expresses a very, very low view on Whitebrow's level of intelligence. Next morning he calls Whitebrow up, smacks him about the ears, and whips him with a twig, repeating: "Go in at the door! Go in at the door!"

Related Research Articles

<i>Wolf: The Journey Home</i> young fiction novel

Wolf: The Journey Home, originally titled Hungry for Home: A Wolf Odyssey, is a 1997 American young adult novel written by 'Asta Bowen. Originally published by Simon & Schuster with line drawings by Jane Hart Meyer, it was retitled and reprinted without illustrations in 2006 by Bloomsbury Publishing. Based on true accounts of the Pleasant Valley, Montana, wolf pack, the novel traces the life of a female alpha wolf named Marta after the forced relocation of her pack in 1989 to an unfamiliar territory. Terrified, Marta abandons her pack and begins a journey in search of her home; she eventually arrives in Ninemile Valley, where she finds a new mate with whom she starts a new pack.

Misery (short story) short story by Anton Chekhov

"Misery" is an 1886 short story by Anton Chekhov.

"Ivan Matveyich" is an 1886 short story by Anton Chekhov.

"The Siren" is an 1887 short story by Anton Chekhov.

In the Ravine novella by Anton Chekhov

"In the Ravine" is a 1900 story by Anton Chekhov first published in the No.1, January issue of Zhizn magazine.

Children (short story) short story by Anton Chekhov

"Children" is an 1886 short story by Anton Chekhov.

About Love (short story) short story by Anton Chekhov

"About Love" is 1898 a short story by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. The third and final part of the Little Trilogy, started by "The Man in the Case" and continued by "Gooseberries". It was first published in the August 1898 issue of Russkaya Mysl, and later included into Volume XII of the second, 1903 edition of the Collected Works by A.P. Chekhov, published by Adolf Marks.

"Ariadne" is an 1895 short story by Anton Chekhov.

The House with the Mezzanine short story by Anton Chekhov

"The House with the Mezzanine" is an 1896 short story by Anton Chekhov, subtitled "An Artist's Story".

Peasants (short story) short story by Anton Chekhov

"Peasants" is an 1897 novella by Anton Chekhov. Upon its publication it became a literary sensation of the year, caused controversy but in retrospect is regarded as one of Chekhov's masterpieces.

In the Cart short story by Anton Chekhov

"In the Cart" is an 1897 short story by Anton Chekhov, also translated as "The Schoolmistress".

A Doctors Visit short story by Anton Chekhov

"A Doctor's Visit" is an 1898 short story by Anton Chekhov, also translated as "A Case History".

The Bishop (short story) short story by Anton Chekhov

"The Bishop" is a 1902 short story by Anton Chekhov, first published in the April 1902 issue of Zhurnal Dlya Vsekh. The story, telling about the last days of a terminally ill priest, in many ways reflects the psychological state of the author, who was at the time full of premonitions of his own inevitable demise, and in that respect is considered to be partly autobiographical.

Betrothed (short story) short story by Anton Chekhov

"Betrothed", translated also as "The Fiancée", is a 1903 short story by Anton Chekhov, first published in the No.12, December 1903 issue of Zhurnal Dlya Vsekh. Chekhov's last completed story, "Betrothed" features as its heroine Nadya, a young woman who escapes from a loveless betrothal and attends university, and thus asserts her independence. Another important character, Sasha, who prompts her to take this step, in the finale dies at a tuberculosis sanitarium, just as Chekhov himself was to do in 1904.

The Fish (short story)

"The Fish", is an 1885 short story by Anton Chekhov.

The Witch (short story) short story by Anton Chekhov

"The Witch" is an 1886 short story by Anton Chekhov.

Lydia Avilova Russian writer (1864-1943)

Lydia Alexeyevna Avilova was a Russian writer and memoirist, best known for her book A.P. Chekhov in My Life, published posthumously in 1947.

The Runaway (short story) short story by Anton Chekhov

"The Runaway" is an 1887 short story by Anton Chekhov.

The Cattle-Dealers

"The Cattle-Dealers" is an 1887 short story by Anton Chekhov.

First Aid (short story)

"First Aid" is an 1887 short story by Anton Chekhov.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rodionova, V.M. Commentaries to Белолобый. The Works by A.P. Chekhov in 12 volumes. Khudozhestvennaya Literatura. Moscow, 1960. Vol. 8, pp. 506-508
  2. ↑ Ал. Чехов. В Мелихове. (Страничка из жизни Ант. П. Чехова). — «Нива», 1911, № 26, 25 июня, стр. 478. Нива, 1911, № 26, стр. 478
Constance Garnett translator

Constance Clara Garnett was an English translator of nineteenth-century Russian literature. Garnett was one of the first English translators of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Anton Chekhov and introduced them on a wide basis to the English-speaking public.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.