Publisher's Synopsis
Pasha, the chorus girl of the title, is an aging ingénue who is suddenly confronted by the slim, prim and intimidating wife of one of her legion of gift-bearing admirers. Out of guilt and sentimentality, Pasha accedes to the aggrieved wife's demand to return all of the gifts that her husband has given, although this unfaithful husband among the many has given her only two inexpensive items. Not long after the husband arrives at Pasha's flat to discover that his wife has been there and learned of his infidelity, the chorus girl keenly regrets her actions and the tragic-comedy of her life. The dozen stories in this collection also include "Rothschild's Fiddle," which tells the story of Yakov Ivanov, a village undertaker who realizes too late what an angry, hate-filled life he has led, and whose violin lives on after his death. Translator Constance Garnett was a contemporary of Chekhov's, and while her translations of other nineteenth-century Russian authors have sometimes been faulted, her carefully-chosen translations provide near-contemporary English versions of Chekhov's elegant language and incomparable imagery.
