First published in Fragments in 1883 with the subtitle "The Incident" and later published in the collection Motley Stories, "The Death of a Government Clerk" is one of Anton Chekhov's most famous and circulated stories. It is often taught as a model short story, as its inciting incident, rising complications, and climax are clear-cut and easy to understand.
The story is primarily concerned with the neurosis of the professional-managerial class that arose in late nineteenth-century Russia. The conflicts inherent to bureaucracy and business are a major theme of Chekhov's, which he dissects expertly here. The story is a prime example of the psychological realism that Chekhov is best known...
