A.P. Chekhov: Selected stories (1905): the first collection of Anton Chekhov's novellas and stories in Croatian

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze the reception of the first collection of stories and short stories by A.P. Chekhov, translated into Croatian and published in 1905. The preface of this edition, written by journalist and translator Martin Lovrenčević, holds particular importance. In his endeavor to provide a more detailed biography of the Russian writer, Lovrenčević compiles scattered information that had been regularly published in essays and articles by well-known and anonymous critics in Russian and Croatian periodicals between 1886 and 1904. Lovrenčević also relies on data published in the Russian press in 1904-1905, recollections of Chekhov's friends and relatives, and introduces Croatian readers to previously unknown facts of his personal life. The analysis showed that the biography compiled by Lovrenčević, along with his translations of novellas and stories featured in the collection, as well as his consideration of Anton Chekhov's prose and drama, represents a continuation of the efforts made by the first creative intermediaries, who since the mid-1880s introduced Croatian readers to the Russian writer and his works.