Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Discussion of Anton Chekhov’s short story “The Death of a Clerk.”

In this video, I explore how Chekhov turns a seemingly minor social accident into a story about humiliation, status anxiety, ego, and the fatal logic of embarrassment. I also begin the series with a brief reflection on Walter Benjamin’s distinction between story and information, and why Chekhov’s stories invite interpretation without being reducible to summary.

Watch my other commentaries in this series:
- Small Fry youtu.be/7G1G9xGXVYU
- The Huntsman youtu.be/9Fz0A_xvaIg
- The Malefactor youtu.be/dvHaPdijIMM
- Panikhida youtu.be/d41R7gFOie0

To follow along with the series, get a copy of Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky:
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/26684/selected-stories-of-anton-chekhov-by-anton-chekhov

Also mentioned in the video:
- The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov by Walter Benjamin
- “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant
- Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville
- “Nobody Will Laugh” and Laughable Loves by Milan Kundera
- “The Fall and Rise of Bathbone” and The Devil’s Storybook by Natalie Babbitt

Support this channel and access more videos:
patreon.com/dgozli

Join my reading group:
dgozli.com/reading-group-schedule

#AntonChekhov #RussianLiterature #ShortStories