external text
Zatishye (A Quiet Backwater)
"A Quiet Backwater"
also: Затишье
Ivan Turgenev's 1854 novella; Chekhov has his fictional schoolgirl Nadenka N. copy a nature description from it nearly verbatim in her holiday composition, then footnotes her plagiarism directly in the text.
Reading notes
- If You Chase Two Hares, You Won't Catch Either §56 Turgenev's "A Quiet Backwater"
Zatishye (1854), an early Turgenev novella; Chekhov has his fictional schoolgirl copy a purple nature passage from it word-for-word, then footnote her own plagiarism -- the story's punchline aimed at overwrought school compositions.