Chekhov's 1893 work Big and Little Volodya "Let go of me, I want to drive myself! I want to sit next to the coachman!" cried Sofya Lvovna. "Wait a minute, driver, I want to sit with you in the driver's seat." She was standing on the sled, and her husband Vladimir Nikitich and her childhood friend Vladimir Mihalitch held her arms so that she would not fall.The three-horse sleigh was running fast. "I said long ago that she shouldn't be given brandy," Vladimir Nikitich whispered vexedly to his traveling companion. "You man, really!" The colonel knew from experience that in a woman like his wife, Sofia Lvovna, such intoxicating, insane pleasure was over, as a rule, hysterical laughter followed by bitter tears.He worried that once they got home, he wouldn't be able to sleep and would have to scramble for compresses and potions.

"Whoa!" cried Sofya Lvovna. "I want to drive." She was really happy and proud.For the last two months, since the wedding day, she had been tormented by the idea that she married Colonel Yagić out of covetousness, and, as they say, par depit; In a restaurant, she finally believed that she was passionately in love with him.Although he was fifty-four years old, he was well-proportioned, quick-witted, quick-witted, quick-witted, and sang to the gypsy girls.Really, the old man is a thousand times more lovely than the young man these days, as if the old man and the young man had switched places.Although the colonel was two years older than her father, and she was only twenty-three years old, in terms of energy and vigor, he was far superior to her, so what did it matter?

"Oh, my dear!" she thought to herself. "What a man! " In that restaurant, she believed, even a shadow of her old feelings had disappeared.For her childhood friend Vladimir Mikhalich, or Volodya for short, she had been madly in love with her just yesterday, and now she was completely indifferent.Throughout this evening, she felt that he was listless, sleepy, unlovable, and useless.As usual in restaurants he avoided paying with the cheek, and this time his attitude made her secretly angry, and it was with difficulty that she refrained from saying to him: "If you have no money, you should sit at home." Both times the colonel paid for it alone.

Perhaps because of the constant flashes of trees, telephone poles, and snowdrifts before her eyes, in short, all kinds of thoughts came to her mind.She remembered that the restaurant bill was one hundred and twenty rubles, and that the gipsy was paid another hundred rubles.Tomorrow she could spend thousands of rubles if she wanted to, but two months ago, before her marriage, she didn't have three rubles herself, and she had to ask her father for every little thing.What a change in life! Her thoughts were all over the place. She remembered that when she was ten years old, her current husband, Colonel Yajiqi, courted her aunt. The whole family said that he had made her suffer. In fact, her aunt came out of the room. It is true that there are often tears on my face when I eat, and I always get into the carriage and go somewhere.People always said of her: The poor creature will never find peace.He was handsome then, and much admired by women; so he was known to all the town, and it was said that he seemed to go every day to the houses of the women who adored him, like a doctor to his sick. .Now, in spite of his gray hair, wrinkles, and spectacles, his thin face, especially when viewed from the side, is sometimes quite handsome.

Sofya Lvovna's father was a military medical officer who had served in the same unit as Yagich.Volodya's father, also a military medical officer, had served in the same unit as Colonel Yagić and her father.Although Volodya often had complicated and troublesome love affairs, he was excellent academically. When he graduated from university, he had excellent grades. Now he has chosen foreign literature as his major and is said to be writing a thesis.He lived in the barracks of his father, an army doctor, and although he was thirty he had no money of his own.Sofya Lvovna lived in the same house with him as a child, although each had its own apartment.He used to come and play with her, learn to dance with her, and learn to speak French with her; but when he grew up and became a well-proportioned and very handsome young man, she was ashamed to see him, and then she secretly went crazy. In love with him until recently marrying Yajiki.He was also very popular with women, and from about the age of fourteen he was good at winning their favor, and the wives who confronted their husband's infidelity for him always used the excuse of Volodya's youth to justify themselves.Someone mentioned him not long ago, saying that when he was a college student, he lived in an apartment near the university. Every time someone went to him and knocked on his door, he would hear his footsteps from inside the door, and then a low voice. He apologized loudly: "Pardon je ne suis pas seul." ③ Yajiqi admired him very much and praised him for his promising future, just like Derchavin ④ treated Pushkin. Obviously, Yajiqi liked him.The two of them often played billiards or "pikai" in silence for hours on end.If Yagich went anywhere in a troika, he always took Volodya with him, and Volodya kept the secret of his thesis to Yagich only.When the Colonel was younger, they were often rivals in love, but they were never jealous of each other.In the social places they frequented together Yagich was always called Big Volodya, and his friend Little Volodya.

On the sleigh, besides Volodya Volodya, Volodya Junior, and Sofya Lvovna, there was another woman, Margalida Alexandrovna, as everyone called Lida.She was Mrs. Yagić's cousin, a girl in her late thirties, very pale, with dark eyebrows, wearing a pince-nez, who smoked cigarettes incessantly, even in the freezing weather.There was always soot on her chest and knees.She spoke in a nasal voice, dragged out every word, was withdrawn, could drink as much mead and brandy as she wanted, and often told ambiguous anecdotes in a lazy and tedious manner.She stayed at home from morning to night, flipping through thick magazines, which were covered with cigarette ashes, or eating frozen apples.

"Sonia, don't go crazy," she said in a singing voice. "Really, it's downright stupid." Near the city gate, the three-horse sleigh ran a little slower, and houses and pedestrians kept flashing past.Sofya Lvovna calmed down, clung to her husband, and concentrated on her thoughts.Little Volodya sat across from her.At this time, besides the light and cheerful thoughts, some gloomy thoughts are added.She thought to herself, the person sitting opposite knew she loved him, so of course he believed that she married the colonel as a par depit.She never confessed her love to him once, and she didn't want him to know, she always concealed her own feelings, but from his face, it could be seen that he knew her very well, which hurt her self-esteem.But what distressed her most in her situation was that, since the wedding, little Volodya had suddenly begun to pay her attentions which had never been done before.He often sat with her in silence for several hours, or chatted with her. Now in the sleigh he did not talk to her, but stepped on her feet slightly and shook her hand.Obviously, he wanted her to marry with all his heart.He clearly despised her, and she interested him only of a certain quality, like that kind of unruly bad woman.When feelings of elation and love for her husband mingled in her heart with feelings of humiliation and wounded self-esteem, she could not help being brave, and wanted only to sit in the driver's seat and shout and whistle. . . . As their carriage passed a convent, the thousand-pood bell rang.Lida crossed herself.

"Our Olya is in this monastery," said Sofya Lvovna, also crossing herself, and trembling. "Why did she go to a convent?" asked the colonel. "Par depit," Lida replied angrily, apparently alluding to the marriage of Sofia Lvovna and Yagich. "This kind of Par depit is very fashionable now. It is challenging the whole world. She was a talkative and coquettish woman who only liked balls and dance partners, but suddenly, she was gone! It made everyone Everyone was surprised!" "That's not true," said little Volodya, letting go of the collar of his fur coat and showing his pretty face. "It has nothing to do with the par depit. I will tell you that it is all due to misfortune. Her brother Dmitri was exiled to hard labor, and his whereabouts are unknown. Her mother died of grief."

He turned up his collar again. "Well done Olya," he went on in a low voice. "She is in the position of an adopted daughter, and besides, she lives with a good person like Sofya Lvovna, and that must be considered!" Sofya Lvovna heard contempt in his tone, and was about to say something against him, but she kept silent.She had the feeling of being brave again.She got up and cried in a tearful tone: "I'm going to my morning prayers! Go back, coachman! I'm going to see Olya!" The sled drove back.The low sound of the monastery bells reminded Sofia Lvovna of Olya and her life.Other churches were ringing bells.As soon as the driver had reined in the three horses, Sofya Lvovna jumped out of the sleigh, and went quickly to the gate, alone and unaccompanied.

"Please, hurry!" her husband called to her. "It's getting late!" She entered the black gate, and walked along the avenue that led from the gate to the cathedral, the snow rustling under her feet, and the bells ringing just above her seemed to shake her whole body. .She came to the church door, went down three flights of steps, and passed through a portico lined with pictures of saints and smelling of juniper and incense.Then there was another door, opened to her by a man in black, who bowed deeply to her. ... In the church, the morning service has not yet begun.A nun was walking around the iconostasis, lighting candles in a candelabra, another nun was lighting a candle in a candelabra.Here and there, near the columns and near the side altars, dark figures stood still. "Perhaps they are standing like this and will not leave until tomorrow morning," thought Sofya Lvovna.

She found it dark and cold and dreary here, even dreary than the cemetery.She looked at those motionless and stupefied figures with boredom, and suddenly her heart tightened.Somehow she recognized Olga in a small, narrow-shouldered nun wearing a black triangular turban. In fact, Olga was quite fat when she entered the convent, and she seemed to be taller.Sofya Lvovna, feeling very agitated for some reason, went up to the novice hesitantly, looked over her shoulder, saw her face clearly, and it turned out that she was Olya. "Olya!" she said, raising her hands and clapping lightly, too excited to speak, "Olya!" The nun recognized her immediately and raised her eyebrows in surprise.Her freshly washed, clean, pale face was beaming with joy, and even the white kerchief peeping out from under her triangular kerchief seemed to be beaming with joy. "Look, a miracle from the Lord," she said, clapping her thin white hands too. Sofya Lvovna hugged her tightly, kissed her, and at the same time took care not to smell of wine. "We were passing here just now, and thought of you," she said, out of breath, as if she had just run a short distance. "How pale you are, God! I... I couldn't be happier to see you.oh how is it?How about it?do you feel lonely " Sophia Lvovna glanced around at the other nuns, and then said in a low voice: "A lot has changed over there. . . . You know, I married Yadich, Vladimir Nikity Strange. You must remember him. . . . I am happy with him." "Well, thank God. Is your father well?" "Good. He thinks of you often. You, Olya, come and see us on holidays. Did you hear that? " "I'll go," Olya said, smiling. "I'll go tomorrow." Sofya Lvovna, not knowing why herself, began to cry.She wept silently for a while, then wiped her eyes and said: "Lida will be very sorry not to see you. She came out with us. Volodya is here. They're at the gate. If How glad they will be if you can meet them! Let's go to them, the prayers haven't begun anyway." "Then let's go," agreed Olya. She crossed herself three times, and walked with Sofya Lvovna to the door. "So, Sonechka, you say you are happy?" she asked as she came out of the gate. "very happy." "Well, thank God." Volodya Big and Little Volodya jumped down from the sleigh when they saw the nun coming out, and greeted her respectfully.They were evidently moved by the sight of her pale face and black nun's gown; and, moreover, she remembered them and came out to greet them, to their secret delight.Sofya Lvovna feared that she would be cold, so she took a car blanket and draped it over her, and at the same time wrapped her with the front of her fur coat.The tears just now eased her heart and made her soul pure.She was secretly glad that this lively, restless, and actually impure night ended unexpectedly, so purely and gently.In order to ask Olya to stay with her for a while, she suggested: "Let her ride in the sleigh for a while! Olya, sit on it, and we will be back in a while." The two men expected the nun to refuse, for saints don't go for rides in troikas; but to their surprise she agreed, and got into the sleigh.The three-horse sleigh ran towards the city gate, and everyone was silent, but tried to make her sit comfortably and warmly, and everyone wondered what she was like before, and what she is like now.Now her face was lifeless, expressionless, cold and pale, and transparent, as if water rather than blood flowed in her veins. But two or three years ago, she was plump and flushed, and she used to talk about the men who were after her, laughing out loud at the little things. ... Near the city gate, the sled turned around and ran back. After about ten minutes, it stopped in front of the monastery gate, and Olya stepped off the sled.On the bell tower, the bells rang more urgently. "God bless you," said Olga, bowing deeply like a nun. "Then you must come, Olya." "I'll go, I'll go." She walked quickly, and soon disappeared through the black door.After this, the sleigh ran back, and everyone felt very sad for some reason.Everyone was silent.Sofya Lvovna felt weak and depressed.It seemed to her absurd, reckless, and almost disrespectful to force the nun into a sleigh ride in a troika of horses among a party who had been drinking.The drink had passed, and with it the desire to deceive herself, and it had become clear to her that she did not love her husband, could not love him, that the whole thing was nonsense and stupidity.She married him out of desire for wealth, because he was, according to her schoolgirls, "incredibly rich"; because she was afraid of becoming a spinster like Leda; and because she hated her. He is the father of a military doctor, and he wants to piss off little Volodya.If she could have expected that life would be so heavy, terrible, and disgusting before she got married, she would not agree to get married even if all the wealth in the world were given to her.However, it is irreparable now. I have to resign myself to fate. They go home.Sofya Lvovna lay down on the warm, soft bed, covered herself with the quilt, and thought of the dark porch, the smell of divine incense, and the figures by the columns.She could not help being frightened at the thought that they would stand still after she fell asleep.There is a long morning prayer, then the chanting, then the Mass, the prayers. ... "But you know, there is a God, there must be, and I will die, which means that sooner or later I have to think about the soul, about eternal life, just like Olya. Olya is saved now Yes, she solved all the problems for herself... But what if there is no God? Then her life is wasted. But how could it be wasted? Why was it wasted?" After a while, some thoughts lingered in her mind: "God exists, and death must come, and one should think of the soul. If Olya knew at this moment that she would die soon, she would not be afraid. She was going to Well. The main thing is that she has solved the problems of life for herself. There is a God, . Just ruin lives. ..." Sofya Lvovna was a little frightened.She buried her head under the pillow. "Shouldn't be thinking about that," she whispered. "Shouldn't. . . . " Yagić was pacing up and down the carpet in the next room, his spurs crackling softly, thinking.It occurred to Sofia Lvovna that this man was dear and lovable to her only in one way: his name was also Vladimir.She sat up on the bed and called softly: "Volodya!" "What's the matter?" her husband responded. "nothing." She lay down again.The bell rang, perhaps it was the bell of the monastery. She couldn't help thinking of the porch and the dark figures again.Thoughts of God and inevitable death swirled in her mind, and she pulled the quilt over her head so that she would not hear the bells.She thought to herself that there was a long, long time to live before old age and inevitable death came, and she had to endure every day the closeness of this man she didn't love, who was coming into the bedroom to sleep at this moment, she had to live. To extinguish in her heart a hopeless love for another young and attractive man, and in her opinion an extraordinary man.She glanced at her husband and wanted to say good night to him, but she didn't say it, but suddenly burst into tears.She hated herself. "Okay, here's the music!" Yagić said, emphasizing the word "music." She cried for a long time and didn't calm down until after nine o'clock in the morning.She stopped crying, and her whole body stopped shaking, but her headache was splitting.Yagić hurried to evening mass, complaining in the next room about the orderly who helped him dress.He went to fetch his things from the bedroom, his spurs creaking slightly, then came in again, this time with tasseled epaulets and medals.He was a little lame in both legs from rheumatism.For some reason or another it seemed to Sofya Lvovna that he looked and walked like a beast. She heard Yajic on the phone. "Take care, please take Vasilyev to the barracks!" he said.After a while he said: "Vasilyev's barracks? Excuse me, Dr. Salimovich on the phone..." After a while: "Who is it? Is it you, Volodya Delighted. Please, my dear, your father come to our house at once, because my wife was not feeling very well when she came back yesterday. You mean he is not at home? Oh. . . . Thank you. Very nice,  … Thank you very much. . . . Merci⑧.” Yagić came into the bedroom for the third time, bent down close to his wife, made the sign of the cross on her breast, and held out his hand for her to kiss (every woman who loved him kissed his hand, he had grown into the habit) , said he would be back by lunch time.He left after speaking. At eleven o'clock the maid announced that Vladimir Mihalitch had arrived. Sofya Lvovna, reeling from fatigue and a headache, quickly put on her new and handsome lavender house-dress trimmed with fur, and hurriedly combed her hair.She felt an indescribable tenderness in her soul, and trembled with joy, lest he should go away.All she wanted was to see him. Young Volodya was dressed for this visit, in a tuxedo and a white tie.Sofya Lvovna came into the drawing-room, and he kissed her hand, sincerely sorry for her unwell.When they sat down later, he complimented her on the civilian dress. "After meeting Olya yesterday, I was very confused," she said. "At first I was frightened, but now I envy her. She is like an unbreakable rock, no one can move it. But, Volodya, is there no other way out for her? Could it be that burying oneself alive is the solution to life's problems?You know, that's death, not life. " At the mention of Olya, little Volodya's face was moved. "You, Volodya, are a wise man," said Sophia Lvovna, "please teach me how to behave like her. Of course, I'm not a believer, I don't know how to go to a monastery, But I can do something of a similar nature. I don't have an easy life," she went on, after a pause. "Suggest me. . . . Tell me a way of convincing me. Just say a word." "One word? Well: bang!" "Volodya, why do you despise me?" she asked sadly. "You talk to me, pardon me, always in the peculiar tone of a dandy, not to a friend, to a decent woman. You are accomplished, you like science, but why do you Never talk about science to me? Why? Am I unworthy?" Little Volodya frowned vexedly and said: "Why do you suddenly need science? Perhaps you also need a constitution? Or need steurgeon meat with horseradish? " "Oh well, I'm a good-for-nothing, petty, immoral, shallow, stupid woman.  … I've done a lot of wrong things, I'm psychopathic, I'm morally corrupt, and I deserve to be despised. But words must After all, you, Volodya, are ten years older than I am, and my husband is thirty years older. I was brought up before your eyes, and you can make me whatever you like if you like. Even if you are a human being, it is not impossible to make an angel. But you..." Her voice trembled, "treat me so horribly. Yajiqi married me when he was old, and you..." "Ah Come, come, come," said Volodya, sitting closer, and kissing her hands. "Let Schopenhauer Go talk about philosophy, go prove what he wants to prove, and let us kiss those two little hands. " "You despise me, if only you knew how sorry I am for that attitude!" she said hesitantly, knowing in advance that he would not believe her. "I wish you knew how I longed to be changed, and to start a new life! I'm so excited just thinking about it," she said, and she was truly moved to tears. "I want to be an honest and pure good person, not fake, and have purpose in life." "All right, all right, all right, please don't put on airs! I don't like that!" said Volodya, with a look of displeasure on his face. "Honestly, it's almost like acting. We'd better be ordinary people." She was afraid that he would go away in anger, so she hurriedly defended herself, and made a forced smile to please him, and then she talked about Olya, how she wanted to solve her life problems, and began to be an upright person. "Bang... a... bang..." he sang in a low voice. "Bang... a sound..." Suddenly, he put his arms around her waist.Not knowing what she was doing herself, she put her hands on his shoulders and gazed for a moment, as if in a mist, at his clever ironic face, forehead, eyes, beautiful beard. ... "You yourself knew that I loved you," she admitted to him, blushing with pain, and even felt her lips twitch with shame. "I love you. But why are you torturing me?" She closed her eyes and kissed him passionately on the lips for about a minute.Although she knew it was unseemly, that even he would accuse her, and that a maid might come in, she couldn't end the kiss no matter what. ... "Oh, how you torture me!" she repeated. Half an hour later, when he had got everything he needed, he sat down in the dining-room to eat.She knelt before him, looking greedily at his face.He told her she was like a little dog waiting to be thrown a piece of ham.Then he made her sit on his lap, rocked her like a baby, and sang, "Bang... bang... bang!" When he was about to leave, she asked him enthusiastically, "When? Today? Where?" She stretched out both hands to his mouth, as if she wanted to grab his answer with her hands. "I'm afraid it's inconvenient today," he said after a while. "Maybe tomorrow." They broke up.Before lunch Sofya Lvovna got into the sleigh and went to the monastery to look for Olya, but there she was told that Olya had gone out to read hymns for the dead.She came out of the monastery, got into the sleigh again to find her father, did not meet him at his house, and then changed to another sled, wandered aimlessly through streets and alleys, and rode like this until evening. .For some reason, she kept thinking of her aunt, who was fidgeting with tears on her face. In the evening, they took a three-horse sleigh and went to a restaurant on the outskirts of the city to listen to the gypsy people singing.When they passed the monastery again, Sophia Lvovna couldn't help thinking of Olya, and her heart skipped a beat, because she thought that for the girls and women in her circle, there was nothing but a carriage with three sets of horses. There is no other way out than wandering around, telling lies, or simply going to a monastery to kill life. ... The next day Sofya Lvovna went to a tryst, and then ran all over town alone in a street sleigh, thinking of her aunt. A week later little Volodya abandoned her.After that life went on as it was, just as uninteresting, boring, and sometimes painful.The colonel and little Volodya played long games of billiards and "opening," Lida idly and tediously told anecdotes, and Sofia Lvovna was always going about the streets in a sleigh, or asking her husband to take She went for a ride in a three-horse sleigh. She went to the monastery almost every day, which bored Olya.She told Olya her unbearable suffering, wept, and at the same time felt that when she entered the convent, she brought with her something unclean, wretched, stale.As for Olya, she always said to her in the tone of endorsement without emotion: It doesn't matter, everything will pass, and God will forgive her. "Notes" ① Volodya is Vladimir's nickname. ②French: Because of anger. ③French: Sorry, I'm not alone in the room. ④ Derchavin (1743-1816), Russian poet.On January 8, 1815, the young Pushkin recited his poems in public when he was taking an exam at the Tsarskoye School, which was appreciated by Derchavin. ⑤ A card game. ⑥Sonia and Sonechka below are nicknames for Sophia. ⑦ Russian unit of weight, 1 pood is equal to 16.38 kilograms. ⑧French: Thank you. ⑨ Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German idealist philosopher, voluntarist.