Peasant Wives
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Constance Garnett (1918)
| "Peasant Wives" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Anton Chekhov | |
 Peasant Wives | |
| Original title | Бабы |
| Translator | Robert E.D. Long (1908) Constance Garnett (1918) |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Novoye Vremya |
| Publisher | Adolf Marks |
| Publication date | 25 June (old style) 1891 |
| Published in English | 1908 |
"Peasant Wives" (Russian: Бабы, romanized: Babi) is an 1891 short story by Anton Chekhov.
The story was first published in the 25 June (old style) 1891, No. 5502 issue of Novoye Vremya. After minor cuts it was included into the Ward No. 6 collection (St. Petersburg, 1893) to feature unchanged in its 2–7 (1893–1899) editions.
In July 1891 Ivan Gorbunov-Posadov approached Chekhov with the request: to publish as a separate edition "...this brilliant tale of a local Tartuffe, a vile, debauched, God-fearing hypocrite", and Chekhov gave him his permission. The story came out in 1894 via the Posrednik Publishers, but with the Varvara and Sofya's nightly dialogue cut out, the scene which is crucial for the understanding of the whole story. After some stylistic revision Chekhov included it into Volume 6 of his Collected Works published by Adolf Marks in 1889–1901.[1]
After its release, the story was banned from both the school and public libraries. Dmitry Averkiyev, then a member of the Scientific committee of the Ministry of education provided the following verdict on "Peasant Wives": "The story is well written, but its moral foundations are too shaky for it to be considered fit for public libraries."[1]
Lev Tolstoy included "Peasant Wife" into his personal list of Chekhov's best stories.
