Scholarly record

BRIEF PSYCHOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON FAT AND THIN: LONELINESS AND ALIENATION IN CHEKHOV’S WORK

Rosella Tomassoni, Francesco Spilabotte, Valentina Coccarelli

Abstract

The aim of this study is to offer some psychological reflections on the work of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, physician and renowned writer, one of the leading figures in European theatre at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Our work will, which draws on the Fusco method, focus in particular on the short story Fat and Thin, first published in 1883 and followed by a second version published in 1886, analysing how the themes of loneliness and alienation, recurrent throughout Chekhov’s work, reflect the human and social condition of contemporary man. The title itself, Fat and Thin, does not merely outline the characters, but anticipates a difference that goes beyond physical appearance, revealing their personalities and, at the same time, their hierarchical status, a crucial element in the evolution and conclusion of the short story. Through a careful and peculiar discursive analysis of the two protagonists, the writer, with the precision and attention of a caricaturist, captures their flaws and, at the same time, their most disturbing aspects. The narrative culminates in the defeat of authentic human values, showing how their relationship is corrupted by a petty, opportunistic society corrupted by power. Chekhov frighteningly portrays contemporary society in its distortions and limitations.

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