A. P. Chekhov, known as the master of the short story, owns the work "Ionych". It has an uncomplicated plot and tells about a person who lives life in an essentially meaningless way.
Who is Doctor Startsev
In the 1880s. in the work of Chekhov there was a turning point, which gave rise to a new stage and new works. The stories are becoming more philosophical, although they still coexist with the funny and the sad. Only the sad becomes sadder than in the earlier stories. A psychological background appears. Now Chekhov already wants to show the psychological processes taking place inside the person himself.
In general, in the era of "timelessness" - the end of the 19th century - the theme of the impoverishment of the individual, the impoverishment of the inner world becomes the leading theme in the prose of Russian authors. Chekhov also explores the influence of the dark forces inside a person on his entire life. As in many of his stories, Chekhov showed a doctor in Ionych. The reader is presented with Dmitry Ionych Startsev, a zemstvo doctor, and the story of his failed marriage. This is the top layer of the piece. In a deep understanding, Chekhov showed the degradation of the doctor.
The origin of the image of Ionych
For the first time, the image of the hero Startsev appears in the imagination of the writer in 1897. This is evidenced by the entries he made in his diaries. Even then, Anton Pavlovich decides to show the universal boredom of life and its aimlessness. After all, Startsev, or simply Ionych, as everyone calls him, stopped developing at 20 years old. Further - degradation as a person. In favor of this is evidenced by the refrain sounding phrase: "You shouldn't get fat." But nevertheless, it continues to grow fat, so that the springs of the traveling stroller already bend under it. And the stroller itself is becoming more and more massive from year to year. The last entry in Chekhov's diaries: “Ionych. Obese. In the evenings he dines at the club at a large table … ".
Finally, Chekhov completed his notes in the story "Ionych" in May-June 1898 at the Melikhovo estate. In September of the same year, the work was published in the Monthly Literary Supplements to the Niva magazine.
Most likely, the pictures of the provincial town from the story "Ionych" go back to the life of the native city of the writer Taganrog. The writer also learned a lot from the Moscow doctors, with whom Anton Pavlovich communicated due to the nature of his main medical activity. This is the life of the Turkins family. Initially, in Chekhov's notes, they bear the name of the Filimonovs. Chekhov notes that the Filimonovs are a talented family in all respects. He jokes, she writes liberal stories, her daughter is also talented - she plays the piano. Such a family really seems interesting and unusual in the conditions of a county town. But nothing more. Three years later, Ionych understood all the wretchedness of the Filimonovs, who became Turkins in the process of working on their images.
The story "Ionych" should be read, pondering over every little thing, because Chekhov's little things are elevated to the absolute, acquire timeless significance and universal proportions. This is how literary critics spoke about "Ionych", who well received the story and highly appreciated it.
