A Country Cottage by Anton Chekhov – the Short Stories of this sublime writer are included on The 100 Greatest Books Ever Made – author of The Shooting Party https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-shooting-party-by-anton-chekhov-we.html - 9 out of 10

 

A Country Cottage by Anton Chekhov – the Short Stories of this sublime writer are included on The 100 Greatest Books Ever Made – author of The Shooting Party https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-shooting-party-by-anton-chekhov-we.html

 

9 out of 10

 

Anton Chekhov is one of the greatest writers in history, his short stories and plays are landmarks, masterpieces that will enchant future generations, if they do not have to live on such a hot planet, that they can hardly breathe

 

You can read A Country Cottage at https://americanliterature.com/author/anton-chekhov/short-story/a-country-cottage/ and in quite a number of other places, including archive.org, the LibriVox, Gutenberg sites and more

‘Two young people who had not long been married were walking up and down the platform of a little country station’ – this is the beginning of what is a flash story, only a couple of pages long, which makes it even more remarkable

 

"How beautiful it is, Sasha, how beautiful!" they are merry, felicitous, but it will not last long, in just a few more lines, they experience a dramatic lowering of their wellbeing, when they have a rather unwanted visit

Sasha’s uncle has arrived, with his whole family, and they have four children, they wish to stay for three or four days, and the thought of enjoying that meal they were just speaking of is now gone, their peace is vanishing too

 

Studies have shown that the happiest people do not have a lot of money – that obviously helps, although there is a limit of about 60 k, maybe now 75k in Alabama, and 120k, or 150 in the terms of the present

These would be the thresholds which ensure a decent, merry life, because we cannot say you could be happy living on the streets, homeless, but on the other hand, when looking at lottery winners, it was proved the jack pot does not equal bliss

 

So, the happiest people I was saying do not have huge wealth, but what they have in common is strong bonds with family and friends, the problem here being that it may not be ‘the extended family’ analyzed in that research

It probably refers to spouse, children, parents, and those ties, and not the uncle that drops and then all hell breaks loose, if he has four small children, with the chaos, the crying, the broken things and the rest of it…

 

I am now watching episodes of Frasier, and enjoying it  https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-frasier-scripts-by-david-angell-and.html and in some of those, Daphne has a brother – and then another, what, nine – coming over

This fellow is a drunkard, thief and parasite, but even without those aggravating circumstances, there is joy in seeing some of those cousins, uncles, but there is the discomfort, differences, sharing genealogy does not mean the same interests

 

According to Mark https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/02/according-to-mark-by-penelope-lively.html is a splendid novel by Penelope Lively with a marvelous point regarding the books one has read, or did not, and how they separate humans

We are divided just as much by the number of books we have read, and what they were, as by wealth, status, and there are relatives that may, do support what we loathe, like Orange Jesus aka Trump in America

 

I remember one of my serious clashes with an uncle -for some time, he drove the Audi I had – in the old days, just after the Revolution I took part in (the link is at the end of this) I saw a jump in my income, to a stratospheric level, for the age

There were clients for tours, and I was the lover of Miss Romania, and the uncle was the chauffer, which meant he got paid for something he wanted to do – having an Audi (if a second hand one) was like owning a yacht today

 

However, this uncle had a buddy I disliked – at one point this mate asked for some excessive profit on some deal, business, whatever, and I said to myself, alright, from now, it is strictly business, no more favors for this loan shark

Besides, he was no Chili Palmer https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/get-shorty-by-elmore-leonard-aka.html as in he lacked the charm of the fellow who says ‘I am the one telling you the way it is’ in Get Shorty

 

So, I gave my uncle the use of the Audi, in his own time, but made it clear that I do not want this loan shark to benefit and what do I find? The tow of them went to Valcele, some place 150 kilometers from here

They took a trip, enjoyed the country side, some other relatives there, and I called uncle Sandu to reproach this ‘misdemeanor’, and what do I hear in reply, but something like ‘he is not the slave of a moron’

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”