The Story as Corset

• In Event: Chekhov's "The Name Day Party"

Abstract

The Name Day Party revolves around an open secret – a pregnancy that is constantly revealed and then repressed. The heroine’s condition appears to be an exceptional moment in Chekhov’s work, yet in many respects the story’s themes and structures are exaggerated, hypertrophied versions of the author’s depiction of normal psychological states. This story, so concerned with the primacy of the body, poses the question of whether pregnancy for Chekhov might not be most useful as figure for something else.

Author

• Eric Naiman, UC Berkeley