Three Years: Anton Chekhov

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I finished reading most of this book in my office while the technical administrator was reformatting my pc. Some blessed error had come and turned its insides topsy turvy due to, which he had to spend around an hour or so tuning it. And since he had told me the day before that he would do this the next day I had happily got Anton Chekhov’s “Three Years” to read. Chekhov is generally known as the master of short stories and I wasn’t aware of many of his novellas. Three Years is the story of hasty love, a marriage and the two lives involved.

The story is refreshing in its approach to marriage and love. Laptev falls in love at first sight and in excitement he professes his love to Yulia who agrees to marry him. But even before marriage the relationship begins to show chinks of vulnerabilities. Laptev starts thinking again about his decision and it’s clear that the love is not mutual. So why did Yulia marry him? No spoilers here, but Chekhov brilliantly brings out the folly of things done on the spur of a moment only for it to be regretted later. He also shows the futility of wagering on something that might happen in the future and taking a decision based on that expectation.

Yulia wonders about the banality of a marriage, “Was married life not possible without love? After all, it was said that love soon passed and habit alone remained, and that the very objective of family life was found not in love, not in happiness, but in duties, for example, in the raising of children, in the cares of housekeeping and so on.”

And so does Laptev, “From time to time he looked at her over the top of his book and thought: whether you marry for passionate love or entirely without love – isn’t it all the same?”

And I thought, “Isn’t that what a lot of marriages are eventually about? Love becomes like the creamy foam on top of a cup of coffee, which is soon gone. Very few mix the foam into the coffee and savor it slowly.” Tacky image perhaps but that’s what came to my mind.

Three Years reminded me of TS Eliot’s play The Cocktail Party in its theme and the way it has been presented. In Eliot’s play Reilly, the third person, resolves the conflicts in the marriage but Chekhov gives that power to the two characters themselves. Do they come to terms with their marriage? Well, read the book, it’s brilliant.

Those inclined to read e-books can do so from this online version. Its just 91 pages.

Verdict: Short read but big thoughts

Rating: 4/5

Words learnt: Kamelaukion