‘The Man in a Case’ [‘Chelovek v futlyare’]: mazes of interlinks and a tapestry of words

Abstract

The article discusses A. Chekhov’s mission-stating short story ‘The Man in a Case’ [‘Chelovek v futlyare’]. According to the scholar, while copious literature has been written on ‘The Man in a Case,’ it mostly examines the story’s ideological content, which limits the appreciation of the work’s true value. Zholkovsky analyzes the story’s constituents, considering various intertextual, contextual, and causative elements and leitmotifs. He notes, for example, that Chekhov’s short story has endowed Russian vocabulary with at least four firstclass memes unhindered by verbal exoticism: ‘a man in a case,’ ‘I hope it won't lead to anything,’ ‘marriage is a serious step,’ and ‘to bury people like that [Belikov] is a great pleasure.’ These, argues the scholar, introduce the principal leitmotifs of the short story and owe their longevity in the reader’s memory not only to their direct meaning (cited in the order of appearance, they summarize the plot), but also to the fact that the carefully chosen language incorporates them into a holistic narrative. It is with this holistic tapestry of words that Zholkovsky’s study is ultimately concerned.