Chekhov's later works ("Thieves"," Hopalong"," Darling"," Rothschild's Violin"," In the Ravine"," Student", etc.) showed the possibilities of a new type of narrative, which took a leading position in the literature of the XX century. The writer explained its essence to A. S. Suvorin, responding to criticism of the story "Thieves": "You scold me for my objectivity, calling it indifference to good and evil, lack of ideals and ideas, and so on. You want me to portray horse thieves and say that stealing horses is evil. But this has long been known without me. (...) Of course, it would be nice to combine art with preaching, but for me personally it is extremely difficult and almost impossible due to the technical conditions. After all, to portray horse thieves in 700 lines, I must always speak and think in their tone and feel in their spirit (emphasis added). - E. P. ), otherwise, if I add subjectivity, the images will blur and the story will not be as compact as all short stories should be. When I write, I fully count on the reader, believing that he will add the subjective elements that are missing in the story himself" (Chekhov A. P. Sobr. soch.: In 12 vols. M., 1960-1964. Vol. 11. pp. 411-412; further-only volume and pages). Chekhov's reader is free from the" pointing finger " (F. M. Dostoevsky's expression) of the author, the author's sermon, because of which the writer himself did not accept some of Tolstoy's works, is free from subjectivity, which, as Chekhov wrote in a letter to his brother Alexander, is "a terrible thing", since "it gives the poor author away with a lot of money." hands and feet" (11, 14). In Chekhov's manner, there is neither an openly expressed author's position, nor an omniscient narrator, although traces of such can be found. For example, the events described in the story" Steppe "are presented mainly as perceived by Egorushka" here and now", i.e. related to the plot present or accomplished in the past, but reviving in the present. Intellige ... Read more