Anton Chekhov's The Black Monk and Other Stories, translated by R. E. C. Long, brings together twelve remarkable works of Russian literature, including "The Black Monk," "On the Way," "A Family Council," "In Exile," "Rothschild's Fiddle," "A Father," "Two Tragedies," "Sleepyhead," "At the Manor," "An Event," and "Ward No. 6." Across these stories, Chekhov explores ambition, isolation, family, poverty, illness, mortality, human suffering, and the elusive nature of happiness. From A...

This is a story about psychological and spiritual health, about true happiness, about loneliness and about genius. The main character finds complete spiritual harmony and happiness only in a state of mental illness, when he sees hallucinations in the form of a mysterious Black Monk, with whom you can talk for hours about the eternal, true, truly valuable. This is definitely one of the best works of Anton Pavlovich on the topic of madness and, at the same time, quite a calm, emotional and t...