The Death of a Government Clerk

"The Death of a Government Clerk"
Short story by Anton Chekhov
1955 illustration by Anatoly Bazilevich
Original title	Смерть чиновника
Country	Russia
Language	Russian
Publication
Published in	Oskolki
Publication date	2 July 1883

"The Death of a Government Clerk" (Russian: Смерть чиновника, romanized: Smert chinovnika) is a short story by Anton Chekhov published originally the Oskolki magazine's 2 July, No. 27 issue, subtitled "The Incident" (Случай) and signed A. Chekhonte (А. Чехонте). "Received the "Fragments of Moscow Life" and "The Death of the Government Clerk. Both are delicious", Nikolai Leykin, the Oskolki's editor, informed the author by a 29 June letter. It was included (without the subtitle) into Chekhov's 1886 collection Motley Stories (Пёстрые рассказы) published in Saint Petersburg and featured unchanged in its 2–14 editions (1891–1899).

Plot

Ivan Chervyakov, a petty government official, while in the theatre, sneezes right upon the head of a man sitting in front of him, who happens to be General Brizzhalov, a high-ranking government official. He spends the evening and the next day fawning before his sneeze victim trying to extract forgiveness, but what he succeeds instead is only bringing out a fit of rage in him. Shocked, Chervyakov returns home to lie there and die, due to the sheer stress of having endured such horror.

External links

• Смерть чиновника. Original Russian text
• The Death of a Government Clerk. Translation by Constance Garnett