Chekhov's Children: Context and Text in Late Imperial Russia by Nadya L. Peterson (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Chekhov's Children: Context and Text in Late Imperial Russia by Nadya L. Peterson Melissa L. Miller Chekhov's Children: Context and Text in Late Imperial Russia. By Nadya L. Peterson. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 2021. xiii+ 402 pp. can $75. ISBN 978–0–228–00625–1. Nadya L. Peterson's book is a unique and welcome addition to Chekhov scholarship. Firmly anchored in theories of child-rearing and pedagogy which emerged during the nineteenth century, Peterson's study provides the first full-length analysis of Chekhov's child characters. In so doing, she also exposes the nuanced role human development plays in Chekhov's art as a whole. Part i, 'The Child in Chekhov's Time', richly describes the three most important critical lenses through which children were understood in the second half of the nineteenth century, while Part ii, 'The Child in Chekhov', uses these lenses to examine children and their emerging personhood within Chekhov's creative work. The three chapters that comprise Part i, 'The Child Imagined: The Literary Canon', 'The Humanization Project: Pro/Contra', and 'The Child Examined: Pedagogical Psychology', successively offer literary, pedagogical, and psychological approaches to childhood. In many ways, the background presented in Part i exceeds the boundaries of Chekhov studies: it introduces readers not only to the literary models of childhood that [End Page 640] inspired Chekhov, such as memoirs and fiction by Leo Tolstoy, Sergei Aksakov, and I. A. Goncharov, but also to the research of many Russian pedagogues, child development specialists, and psychologists unfamiliar to most Anglophone readers. Alongside the work of more familiar figures, such as Vissarion Belinsky and N. I. Pirogov, Peterson also investigates scholarly contributions from such thinkers as K. D. Ushinsky, N. Kh. Vessel', I. A. Sikorsky, P. F. Kapterev, and perhaps most notably, two ground-breaking women in the field of Russian child studies, Maria Manasseina and E. N. Vodovozova. Part ii contains five chapters charting the evolution of Chekhov's child characters from his emergence as a writer for the penny press through the development of his more mature work. A particular strength of this section is Peterson's robust framework for understanding the ways in which Chekhov's stories for the small press responded to typical genre expectations for pieces that appeared in such publications. Insightful close readings of less commonly studied stories such as 'Naden'ka N.'s Summer Holiday Schoolwork', 'The Big Event', and Chekhov's handwritten and hand-illustrated tale for the children of his friends, entitled 'Soft-Boiled Boots' ('Sapogi vsmiatky', an idiomatic phrase meaning 'nonsense') appear in dialogue with interpretations of more prominent Chekhov stories featuring young protagonists, such as 'Van'ka' and 'Sleepy'. As Chapter 7, 'Farewell to Childhood: The Steppe', eloquently argues, Chekhov's novella about the nine-year-old Egorushka's formative journey across the wild steppe to enroll in school marks the author's most complex exploration of childhood, as well as portraying how the child matures and becomes capable of understanding the world's nuance and ambiguity. One omission from Peterson's study is 'Kashtanka', Chekhov's eponymous story about a dog separated from her owners but finally reunited with her original family through a series of plot twists. First published in 1887 in A. S. Suvorin's journal New Times, the story has remained in print as a separate illustrated children's edition since 1903, and its particular resonance with young readers would have made it appropriate for inclusion. Additionally, the story features a little boy called Fedyushka, one of the dog's owners, whose abusive games with Kashtanka could have been fruitfully interpreted utilizing Peterson's psychologically informed pedagogical approach. Overall, this informative and unique monograph will prove useful not only to Chekhov scholars, but also to social scientists, psychologists, educators, and indeed anyone intrigued by or involved in pedagogy and childhood studies. Melissa L. Miller Colby College Copyright © 2023 Modern Humanities Research Association