This episode briefly studies Chekhov's five best stories, and I just want to talk about Tolstoy's favorite story "Baby" in this preface. Critics found descriptions of Sage and Echo in ancient Greek mythology in Baby. These allusions exist, but the core of Chekhov's wonderful story is not here. Tolstoy pointed out this core meaning most appropriately. He said that this baby named Olinka has a "beautiful and sacred" soul. The meaning of Olanka's life is to think of others. Her love is so perfect that caring for others is her whole life.
Although you can think that Olinka is like a child or a mommy, from Tolstoy's point of view, it seems that it is best for her to have a holy soul.
When recalling Chekhov, Maxim Gorky once said a famous saying: "When he and Chekhov are together, everyone will unconsciously feel a desire to be simpler, more authentic and more id", and this effect can also be enjoyed by Chekhov readers. This is not to say that the skeptical and omniscient Chekhov is Tolstoy's holy soul (although Tolstoy thinks so to some extent), but that Chekhov, like his master Shakespeare, will undoubtedly convince you that with him you can see things that you may never see. So what can we see from babies? How do we read this story and why?
Is there anyone as dedicated as Olenka in reality? However, "wholeheartedly" is misleading, at least because if no one loves her, poor Olinka will become an empty shell. Her situation has become so extreme that all Chekhov's skills are needed to teach us how to implicitly and resolutely avoid vulgar speculation about her career. She has no opinion of her own, but she is a "gentle, soft-hearted and compassionate girl". She lacks self-awareness and can only feel her existence when she loves others. It is absurd to regard her as a female victim of a patriarchal society: what can you do to improve her consciousness? There used to be people like her at any time, maybe many, men and women. Although many of Tolstoy's religious thoughts are his own, we can understand the special meaning that this baby or "little soul" is sacred. John keats said that he didn't believe in anything, only the sacredness of mind and emotion. William blake showed people that all living things are sacred. This is the sacredness of Olenka. Keats added that he still believed in the truth of imagination, but it was inconceivable that Olenka had no spiritual and emotional guidance.
Chekhov, like Shakespeare, did not solve any problems or make any decisions for us. He explored all the truths of human beings in the sense that Shakespeare created human beings. Olenka, although undoubtedly completely Russian, is also universal. Chekhov's sarcastic gesture towards her is exactly Shakespeare's style: the wheel of fate turned once and here we are again. Life took away three men around Olinka and left her with an adopted son, for whom she could continue to live. As a playwright, Shakespeare can't reproduce mediocrity because even he can't attract the audience's interest with the misfortune of ordinary people. Chekhov is a Shakespeare writer in essence. He uses his own stories to show what even his own plays can't do: he explains ordinary life without praising or distorting it. Chekhov's most famous drama "Three Sisters" probably doesn't have such a character as Olinka, even if she is allowed to play a small role. Babies are literary miracles. Chekhov can concentrate and fully express Olinka, a person who can only survive by loving others completely.