A junior doctor goes to visit the daughter of a wealthy factory owner. (The professor was too busy to go.) The daughter had been ill for a long time and had just suffered “heart palpitations” the previous night. At first the doctor finds nothing wrong with her heart and says that her “nerves must have been playing pranks” on her.
The patient’s family presses the doctor to stay for the night. During the evening, he reflects on the oppression of the dreary factory town and relates the sense of loneliness and confinement (“like a prison”) to his patient’s condition. Later, in conversing with the young woman, he actually listens to her empathically, rather than just focusing on her symptoms or the function of her heart. He is then able to respond empathically to the young woman’s plight.
The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories
Anton Chekhov
Publisher Ecco
Edition 1984
Place Published New York
Alternate Source Chekhov’s Doctors
Alternate Publisher Kent State Univ. Press
Alternate Edition 2003
Alternate Editors Jack Coulehan
Place Published Kent, Ohio & London
Miscellaneous First published: 1898. Translated by Constance Garnett.
A previous version of this review was published in the NYU Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database (Litmed).
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