The Black Monk, and Other Stories

Chekov seems to me the prime example of the writer who writes without tricks... and his stories always come alive and are most original & varied, and impossible to imitate... tho he has influenced many. The Black Monk presents a problem written about by many... but Chekhov does it without using a single word of the condescending diagnostic vocabulary... so that the character, & what enlightens & torments him, transcend the condition from which he can be said to suffer. (Goodreads)