Source — "Misery / Toska by Anton Chekhov (Translation)", Mostly About Stories
- Title: "Misery / Toska by Anton Chekhov (Translation)"
- Publication: Mostly About Stories (blog)
- URL: https://mostlyaboutstories.com/misery-toska-by-anton-chekhov-translation/
- Type: secondary (translator/blogger's own commentary on a new translation), neutral-to-credulous about the "untranslatable title" framing.
- Accessed: 2026-09-04
Extract
- Discusses Chekhov's 1886 short story titled in Russian «Тоска» (Toska), and the difficulty of rendering the title in English.
- Two earlier translators' title choices reported: Payne rendered it "Heartache"; Constance Garnett (1921) rendered it "Misery." The blog's own new translation (by a translator referred to as "Angus") also settles on "Misery."
- States the word "toska" is frequently called untranslatable because "not all of its meanings correspond to one specific English word," typically carrying "a hint of wistful boredom... of being stuck at home and not quite knowing what to do."
- Argues this particular story is an exception to that ordinary "wistful boredom" sense: here "the sense of melancholy is overwhelmed by the pain of loss" (the story's plot: a grief-stricken cab driver whose son has just died, seeking anyone willing to listen), which the blog argues makes "Misery" an adequate title rendering for this specific text even if it would not capture the word's fuller everyday range.
- Notes this is a case where a single Russian word's title has been rendered at least three different ways in English translation history (Heartache / Misery / and, per other sources, Anguish — see
nybooks-morson-2023-master-of-toska.md).
Gaps
- Does not give a date for its own new translation or full identity for "Angus" as translator.
- Does not address the Pevear & Volokhonsky "Anguish" rendering directly (found via a separate source).