Ивайло Пеев (Ivaylo Peev)
Abstract: The text explores Chekhov’s short stories where the central motif is the relationship between man and woman in a world in which traditional social standings based on gender recognition have been undermined in crisis or outright deconstructed. The writer’s chosen stance of maximum objectivity in the presentation of a character who reveals himself through his actions and reactions, allows the reader to form his own opinion and to build up a picture of the character, the setting, the life, the time of events and the issues of the moment, which have even still not lost their relevance. The contemporary sound of debates around social standings marked by the gender signs in their complicated reference poses the big question of the reality of human progress, looking at the world of human relations in an existence with seemingly established rules and norms governing the (delusory) slow rhythm of existence with no major tremors and crises.
Keywords: literary images, social standings, oppositions, transpositions, gender roles, 19th-century
