I'm in a really uncreative mood right now, so I'm going to post part of an article on the story which serves as a much better introduction than whatever I would type. This is by Donald Rayfield:
Quote:
The mystic side of Chekhov—his irrational intuition that there is meaning and beauty in the cosmos, which aligns him more to Leskov than to Tolstoy in the Russian literary tradition—is very nearly suppressed in the Melikhovo phase, preoccupied as it is with the objective and concrete. But there is one work of 1894, “The Student,” which Chekhov insisted to Bunin was his favorite and most optimistic piece. It is the only story of the Melikhovo period which links the lyricism of The Steppe with the late prose of "The Bishop," and almost the only story of Chekhov's which can be read as a parable about art. Lyrical praise of nature brings about fusion of love and reflection. For the first time Chekhov shows that he has discovered what makes art of crucial importance to humanity, and, as always when dealing with poetry or music, he sees it as its purest in an ecclesiastical setting.
That describes perfectly the importance of this story to Chekhov and his other works; but, to make it intelligible to everyone who hasn't read Leskov or who doesn't know what the "Melikhovo" phase is, I have to add a few things. First, the Melikhovo phase is the time in Chekhov's life when he lived in the town of that name (1892-1898). The Leskov-Tolstoy compare and contrast in the first sentence is suppose to indicate that Chekhov believed in nature more than Tolstoy. Finally, the article points out that Chekhov liked to connect poetry with the church. This is true. Everything else should be understandable.
I'll comment more and respond to Janine later on tonight hopefully.
