Headnote
"Joy" ("Радость") appeared in 1883, one of the rapid-fire comic sketches Chekhov produced in his early twenties for the Moscow humor weeklies under the signature Antosha Chekhonte. It is built on a single absurd premise, sustained without a wasted line: a young clerk, Mitya Kuldarov, bursts in on his sleeping family after midnight, incandescent with joy, because his name has appeared in the newspaper — not for any achievement, but as the anonymous drunk in a two-line police-blotter item about a man who fell under a cabman’s horse outside a beer-hall.
The comedy runs entirely on the gap Mitya cannot see: to him, print is fame, and fame is fame regardless of what it reports. He reads out his own humiliation — the intoxication, the tumble under the horse, the blow to the skull — as though it were a citation of honor, interrupting the recitation only to supply the corroborating detail no one asked for ("that’s me, on the shaft, papasha"). The family’s reactions are rendered in the barest strokes Chekhov allows himself at this stage of his career: a father who pales, a mother who crosses herself before an icon, twin schoolboys who arrive in their nightshirts to gawk. No one in the room but Mitya mistakes the story for good news, and the story never says so outright — the comedy is left entirely to the reader to complete.
It is a slighter piece than the mature stories, closer to a comic sketch than a psychological study, but the method that will define Chekhov’s later work is already visible in miniature: the narrator supplies no commentary, the joke is carried by a physical object (the newspaper, the blue-pencilled item) rather than by any explanatory aside, and the piece ends the instant its logic is exhausted — Mitya bolting into the night to spread his shame to still more acquaintances, cockade gleaming, "triumphant, joyful."
Translation Original
1 It was twelve o’clock at night.
Было двенадцать часов ночи.
2 Mitya Kuldarov, agitated, disheveled, flew into his parents’ apartment and went hurrying through all the rooms. His parents were already going to bed. His sister was lying in bed, finishing the last page of a novel. His brothers, the schoolboys, were asleep.
Митя Кулдаров, возбужденный, взъерошенный, влетел в квартиру своих родителей и быстро заходил по всем комнатам. Родители уже ложились спать. Сестра лежала в постели и дочитывала последнюю страничку романа. Братья-гимназисты спали.
3 "Where have you come from?" his parents marveled. "What’s the matter with you?"
– Откуда ты? – удивились родители. – Что с тобой?
4 "Oh, don’t ask! I never expected it! No, I never expected it! It’s... it’s even incredible!"
– Ох, не спрашивайте! Я никак не ожидал! Нет, я никак не ожидал! Это... это даже невероятно!
5 Mitya burst out laughing and dropped into an armchair, unable to stand on his feet from happiness.
Митя захохотал и сел в кресло, будучи не в силах держаться на ногах от счастья.
6 "It’s incredible! You can’t imagine! Just look!"
– Это невероятно! Вы не можете себе представить! Вы поглядите!
7 His sister leapt out of bed and, throwing a blanket over herself, came up to her brother. The schoolboys woke.
Сестра спрыгнула с постели и, накинув на себя одеяло, подошла к брату. Гимназисты проснулись.
8 "What’s the matter with you? You’ve no face left!"
– Что с тобой? На тебе лица нет!
9 "It’s from joy, Mamasha! Why,
the whole of Russia knows me now! The whole of it! Before, only you knew that in this world there existed a
collegiate registrar Dmitry Kuldarov, and now the whole of Russia knows it! Mamasha! Oh, Lord!"
10 Mitya jumped up, ran through all the rooms, and sat down again.
Митя вскочил, побегал по всем комнатам и опять сел.
11 "Well, what happened? Speak sensibly!"
– Да что такое случилось? Говори толком!
12 "You live like wild animals, you don’t read the papers, you pay no attention at all to publicity, and there’s so much remarkable in the papers! If anything happens, it’s known at once, nothing stays hidden! How happy I am! Oh, Lord! Why, it’s only about famous people that they print in the papers, and here they’ve gone and printed about me!"
– Вы живете, как дикие звери, газет не читаете, не обращаете никакого внимания на гласность, а в газетах так много замечательного! Ежели что случится, сейчас всё известно, ничего не укроется! Как я счастлив! О, господи! Ведь только про знаменитых людей в газетах печатают, а тут взяли да про меня напечатали!
13 "What do you mean? Where?"
– Что ты? Где?
15 "Yes, indeed! They’ve printed about me! Now the whole of Russia knows about me! Mamasha, you keep this copy as a memento! We’ll read it now and then. Just look!"
– Да-с! Про меня напечатали! Теперь обо мне вся Россия знает! Вы, мамаша, спрячьте этот нумер на память! Будем читать иногда. Поглядите!
16 Mitya pulled a copy of the newspaper out of his pocket, handed it to his father, and jabbed his finger at a spot circled in blue pencil.
Митя вытащил из кармана нумер газеты, подал отцу и ткнул пальцем в место, обведенное синим карандашом.
18 His father put on his spectacles.
Отец надел очки.
19 "Read it, then!"
– Читайте же!
20 Mamasha glanced at the icon and crossed herself. Papasha cleared his throat and began to read:
Мамаша взглянула на образ и перекрестилась. Папаша кашлянул и начал читать:
21 "’On the 29th of December, at eleven o’clock in the evening, the collegiate registrar Dmitry Kuldarov...’"
"29-го декабря, в одиннадцать часов вечера, коллежский регистратор Дмитрий Кулдаров...
22 "You see, you see? Go on!"
– Видите, видите? Дальше!
23 "’...the collegiate registrar Dmitry Kuldarov, coming out of a beer-hall on
Malaya Bronnaya, in Kozikhin’s house, and being in a state of intoxication...’"
...коллежский регистратор Дмитрий Кулдаров, выходя из портерной, что на
Малой Бронной, в доме Козихина, и находясь в нетрезвом состоянии...
24 "That’s me, with
Semyon Petrovich... Every last detail’s set down! Go on! Further! Listen!"
– Это я с Семеном Петровичем... Всё до тонкостей описано! Продолжайте! Дальше! Слушайте!
25 "’...and being in a state of intoxication, slipped and fell under the horse of a
cabman standing there,
a peasant of the village of Durykino, Yukhnovsky district, one Ivan Drotov. The frightened horse, stepping over Kuldarov and dragging over him the sledge, in which sat
a second-guild Moscow merchant,
Stepan Lukov, bolted down the street and was caught by the yard-keepers. Kuldarov, being at first in a state of insensibility, was taken to the police station and examined by a doctor. The blow he received on the back of the head...’"
...и находясь в нетрезвом состоянии, поскользнулся и упал под лошадь стоявшего здесь
извозчика,
крестьянина дер. Дурыкиной, Юхновского уезда, Ивана Дротова. Испуганная лошадь, перешагнув через Кулдарова и протащив через него сани с находившимся в них
второй гильдии московским купцом Степаном Луковым, помчалась по улице и была задержана дворниками. Кулдаров, вначале находясь в бесчувственном состоянии, был отведен в полицейский участок и освидетельствован врачом. Удар, который он получил по затылку...
26 "That’s me, on the shaft, papasha. Go on! Read further, do!"
– Это я об оглоблю, папаша. Дальше! Вы дальше читайте!
27 "’...the blow he received on the back of the head is classed as light. A report of the incident has been drawn up. The injured party was given medical assistance.’"
...который он получил по затылку, отнесен к легким. О случившемся составлен протокол. Потерпевшему подана медицинская помощь"...
28 "They told me to bathe the back of my head with cold water. Have you read it now? Well? There you are! Now it’s gone through the whole of Russia! Give it here!"
– Велели затылок холодной водой примачивать. Читали теперь? А? То-то вот! Теперь по всей России пошло! Дайте сюда!
29 Mitya snatched the newspaper, folded it, and thrust it into his pocket.
Митя схватил газету, сложил ее и сунул в карман.
30 "I’ll run to the Makarovs, show them... I still have to show the Ivanitskys,
Natalya Ivanovna,
Anisim Vasilyich... I’ll run! Farewell!"
– Побегу к Макаровым, им покажу... Надо еще Иваницким показать, Наталии Ивановне, Анисиму Васильичу... Побегу! Прощайте!
31 Mitya put on his cap with the
cockade and, triumphant, joyful, ran out into the street.
Митя надел фуражку с кокардой и, торжествующий, радостный, выбежал на улицу.
