What Chekov’s Dog Taught Me About Purposeful Creativity
“Kashtanka” — Anton Chekov’s short story about a dog with two masters — is a fable about the conundrum of the creative life.
No dedicated student of literature can ignore the Russian writer Anton Chekov. His novels, short stories, and plays have insightfully explored everything from love and regret, to family, politics, education and reform, and his genius as a fiction writer is seldom refuted. I recently read his well-known short story “Kashtanka”, about a dog who experiences life with two very different masters before deciding which one she prefers. The story, published in Russian in 1887, is now a well-known children’s book, and was even made into a Russian TV movie in 1975.
For those unfamiliar with the story, here’s a summary:
A little female dog named Kashtanka is being taken for a walk by her master –a drunken carpenter. The carpenter, and we learn later his young son too, rough handle Kashtanka, kick her around a lot and give her barely enough food to survive. One day, in the midst of a military parade, Kashtanka is separated from the carpenter. Without an owner, she roams the streets of wintertime Russia freezing, starving and close to death. She is then found by a tubby circus clown who gives her plenty of kindness and things to eat. In the clown’s home are a garrulous, people-pleasing…
