For many readers, Chekhov's defining works of fiction are extensively-developed, multi-section stories such as "The Steppe," "Gusev," "The Lady with the Little Dog," and "A Boring Story." Published in 1886, "Vanka" appeared before all of these stories, and still bears signs of an earlier phase of Chekhov's literary career. Starting around 1879, Chekhov began publishing short, humorous stories in Moscow magazines in order to support his family and fund his medical studies in Moscow itself. The content of "Vanka," of course, is often far from humorous. Yet this story is significant as one of many linked examples of how Chekhov began to use the extremely short short story as something more than the source of a passing laugh or a freelance paycheck: in "Vanka" and in other concise fictions of the 1880s, the young author addressed themes of social and psychological importance, and did so using narrative structures that are aggressively streamlined and characters who emerge into full life with a few choice words.
One of Chekhov's most pointed statements on the misery that city life can inflict on children is "Oysters" (1884), a short story that involves a hunger-stricken young boy and his proud, pitiful, unemployed father. Though it uses first-person narration, this story delves into a child's perspective in much the same manner that "Vanka" does: in this case, Chekhov captures the wildly imaginative musings of a child as he wonders, in his innocence, what exactly "oysters" are. But Chekhov is also adept here at bringing secondary characters to life. Much as he brings out the supporting personalities in "Vanka"—the ireful Alyakhin, the jesting Konstantin Makarich, the devious Eel—with fine-tuned descriptions, in "Oysters" he brings out the characters around the narrator—jovial yet callous wealthy pedestrians, the antic and hopelessly dignified father—in a story that covers little more than four pages and twenty-four hours. However, Chekhov's consideration of urban misery is not confined to the young. The story "Misery" (1886) focuses on an elderly cab driver who has lost his son and is unable to find a sympathetic or even remotely interested listener. As in "Vanka," the city becomes a place of alienation, of indifference to the most basic human plight; once again, Chekhov uses the extremely short story to address a combination of social, psychological, and existential themes that could become unwieldy in the hands of a less resourceful author.
The story with the greatest similarities to "Vanka," however, is "Sleepy" (1888); in fact, the parallels between these two short narratives of childhood misery are unmistakable. "Sleepy" depicts the life of thirteen-year-old Varka, a peasant girl who works as a nursemaid in the household of a city shoemaker. Already a sort of female counterpart for Vanka in name and position, Varka bears yet more similarities to Chekhov's male protagonist. She, too, has lost both of her parents—her father to a wracking illness and her mother to circumstances that are not fully explained. She is also desperate to escape, though not into a former life or a more welcoming community. Instead, and in line with Chekhov's title, Varka craves the sleep that her nonstop duties—rocking a baby, cleaning the shoemaker's premises, getting food for the household—transform into a distant prospect. Varka's situation may be even more dire than Vanka's (and her ultimate fate, without giving too much of the story away, is certainly more gruesome), but her story is yet another example of Chekhov's ability to achieve depth and lucidity in a small space. The cruelty of Varka's masters, the bleakness of Varka's past, the movements of Varka's mind from present torment to exhausted musing and back again—all are captured and woven together in a story that, in English translation, barely takes up five pages.
"Oysters," "Misery," and "Sleepy" can all be found in Anton Chekhov's Short Stories (Norton Critical Edition, 1979), which also features the version of "Vanka" that is quoted throughout this ClassicNote.
