{"id":114694,"date":"2017-08-30T13:01:12","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T17:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=114694"},"modified":"2017-08-30T17:09:33","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T21:09:33","slug":"some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Thoughts About the Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>

A textile design by Varvara Stepanova, 1924.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the opinion of well-read governesses and educated governors\u2019 wives, the soul is an indeterminable entity of psychological substance. I have no reason to disagree with this.<\/p>\n

One scholar writes: \u201cTo discover the soul, take a man just given a dressing-down by management and tie off his foot with a belt. Make an incision in the heel and you\u2019ll find what\u2019s sought.\u201d<\/p>\n

I believe in the transmigration of souls \u2026 I\u2019ve come to this belief through experience. My own soul, in all the time of my earthly suffering, has traversed many animals and plants, and endured all the stages and realms spoken of by the Buddha \u2026<\/p>\n

I was a pup when I was born, and a goose when I entered public life. Starting in government service, I became small potatoes. My boss dubbed me a brick, friends\u2014a jackass, freethinkers\u2014a sheep. Traveling along the railroads, I was a rabbit; living in a village among peasants, I felt myself a leech. After one instance of embezzlement I was for some time a scapegoat. Marrying, I became horned cattle. Embarking, finally, on the one true path, I acquired a belly and became a triumphant swine.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

\n

1. A reference to \u201cThe Triumphant Swine, or The Swine\u2019s Conversation with the Truth,\u201d an 1881 dramatic scene by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, in which the truth chats with a pig, and by the end gets eaten.<\/p>\n

Translated from the Russian by Elina\u00a0Alter.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Alter is a writer and translator in New York. Look for her translations of Chekhov sketches each day this week on the<\/i>\u00a0Daily.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the opinion of well-read governesses and educated governors\u2019 wives, the soul is an indeterminable entity of psychological substance. I have no reason to disagree with this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[1051,4738,30355,30352,30354,30353],"class_list":["post-114694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-animals","tag-anton-chekhov","tag-small-potatoes","tag-the-soul","tag-transmigration-of-souls","tag-well-read-governesses"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChekhov On: The Soul<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chekhov agrees with the opinions of well-read governesses and educated governors\u2019 wives on the state of the soul.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some Thoughts About the Soul by Anton Chekhov\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 30, 2017 \u2013 In the opinion of well-read governesses and educated governors\u2019 wives, the soul is an indeterminable entity of psychological substance. I have no reason to disagree with this.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-30T17:01:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-30T21:09:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stepanova3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"779\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"562\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anton Chekhov\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anton Chekhov\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anton Chekhov\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dcd69444c1c20e7764fd8dc62820bf7a\"},\"headline\":\"Some Thoughts About the Soul\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-30T17:01:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-30T21:09:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":279,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stepanova3.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"animals\",\"Anton Chekhov\",\"small potatoes\",\"The soul\",\"transmigration of souls\",\"well-read governesses\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts & Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/\",\"name\":\"Chekhov On: The Soul\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stepanova3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-30T17:01:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-30T21:09:33+00:00\",\"description\":\"Chekhov agrees with the opinions of well-read governesses and educated governors\u2019 wives on the state of the soul.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stepanova3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stepanova3.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Some Thoughts About the Soul\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dcd69444c1c20e7764fd8dc62820bf7a\",\"name\":\"Anton Chekhov\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8432a082430a79779a6b9f2e00219e35a4d4a6a8429bb359547d199a464745e4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8432a082430a79779a6b9f2e00219e35a4d4a6a8429bb359547d199a464745e4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Anton Chekhov\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/achekhov\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chekhov On: The Soul","description":"Chekhov agrees with the opinions of well-read governesses and educated governors\u2019 wives on the state of the soul.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Some Thoughts About the Soul by Anton Chekhov","og_description":"August 30, 2017 \u2013 In the opinion of well-read governesses and educated governors\u2019 wives, the soul is an indeterminable entity of psychological substance. I have no reason to disagree with this.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2017-08-30T17:01:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-08-30T21:09:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":779,"height":562,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stepanova3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anton Chekhov","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anton Chekhov","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Anton Chekhov","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dcd69444c1c20e7764fd8dc62820bf7a"},"headline":"Some Thoughts About the Soul","datePublished":"2017-08-30T17:01:12+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-30T21:09:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/"},"wordCount":279,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stepanova3.jpg","keywords":["animals","Anton Chekhov","small potatoes","The soul","transmigration of souls","well-read governesses"],"articleSection":["Arts & Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/","name":"Chekhov On: The Soul","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stepanova3.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-30T17:01:12+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-30T21:09:33+00:00","description":"Chekhov agrees with the opinions of well-read governesses and educated governors\u2019 wives on the state of the soul.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stepanova3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stepanova3.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/some-thoughts-about-the-soul-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Some Thoughts About the Soul"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dcd69444c1c20e7764fd8dc62820bf7a","name":"Anton Chekhov","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8432a082430a79779a6b9f2e00219e35a4d4a6a8429bb359547d199a464745e4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8432a082430a79779a6b9f2e00219e35a4d4a6a8429bb359547d199a464745e4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Anton Chekhov"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/achekhov\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114694"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114838,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114694\/revisions\/114838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}