ENG104 Weekly Reading and Writing #3
Anton chekhov
“The Lady with the Little Dog,” Chekhov (headnote 222 & p 232)
“Technique in Writing the Short Story,” p 1427
“Why We Like Chekhov,” by Richard Ford, p 1447
“A Reading of Chekhov’s The Lady with the Little Dog, p 1512
Sherwood Anderson
Anderson headnote page 37
“Death in the Woods,” handout or http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400491h.html
“Form, Not Plot, in the Short Story,” p 1405 by Sherwood Anderson
WRITING Choose two questions from the following. Please write about two different stories.
For each question, develop your response in a focused paragraph. Use details, specifics,
examples, and quotes from the story to develop your response. Please word-process, singlespace, and follow the general guideline of about ½ page for each response.
“The Lady wit h the Lit tle Dog”
“As we read these little stories about nothing at all, the horizon widens; the soul gains an
astonishing sense of freedom.”
Virginia Woolf
 There are two widely separated scenes in which Gurov sits beside Anna while she
suffers. Compare his reactions in the two scenes and account for the differences.
 Identify and describe the point-of-view. Please be specific. How does this point-of-view
affect the story’s meanings? Why not first person with Gurov as the narrator? Why not
first person with Anna as the narrator? How would these choices change the story?
 Build on your thoughts in the previous question by choosing a particular scene (identify
which section) and rewrite it from Anna’s point-of-view.
 Which are conventionally assumed to be more real, the feelings we have on holiday or
those in our everyday lives? How is this convention related to our expectations about the
outcome of the story? To the meaning of the story?
“death in t he woods”
“ A thing so complete has its own beauty.”
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The narrator of this story tells us about the “real story” he is trying to tell. What
is the narrator’s “real story”? What is his conflict? What does he learn?
Re-read Anderson’s essay, “Form, Not Plot, in the Short Story.” As you do,
consider Richard Wright’s comment about Anderson: Anderson’s stories made
him think that through the powers of fiction, “America could be shaped nearer to
the hearts of those who lived in it.” Do you agree? If so, in what ways? As you
respond to this claim, you might compare Anderson’s “Death” with Poe’s “Cask.
Anderson writes about the creative origins of story (“Form”) in this way:
“Something was growing inside me. At night when I lay in my bed I could feel
the heels of the tale kicking against the walls of my body. Often as I lay thus
every word of the tale came to me quite clearly but when I got out of bed to write
it down the words would not come.” What are the lasting images for you in this
story? Use that image to create the contours (a paragraph will do) of a “real
story” of your own.