About Love

"About Love" is an 1898 short story by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. The third and final part of the Little Trilogy, started by "The Man in the Case" and continued by "Gooseberries". It was first published in the August 1898 (No. 8) issue of Russkaya Mysl, and later included into Volume XII of the second, 1903 edition of the Collected Works by A.P. Chekhov, published by Adolf Marks. Background There were numerous entries in Chekhov's notebooks related to the story, the earliest of them going back to as far as 1895, long before the story was apparently conceived. He wrote the story in June and July 1898, while staying at his country house in Melikhovo. It was supposed to be sent to Russkaya Mysl for this magazine's August issue along with "Gooseberries", and in the notebooks the two plotlines are often intertwined. The story begins with the love affair between the cook of the house, Nikanor and servant (beautiful woman) Pelageya. Nikanor, who is a drunkard, often verbally abuses and even beats his lover Pelageya when he is drunk. So Pelageya only wants to live with him without getting married. On the other hand, Nikanor doesn’t want to be with her without getting married.