Read this when
Ward No. 6
POV: you've told yourself 'suffering is just a mindset' for years… then you end up on the other side of the locked door. Chekhov, 1892. Still hits.
Who it's for
The novella starts on the comfortable side of the door with Dr Ragin, who has let his hospital decay and consoles himself with the idea that suffering is only a matter of attitude.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Anton Chekhov's 1892 novella centres on Dr. Andrei Yefimych Ragin, chief physician at a provincial hospital, who neglects the squalid conditions of its psychiatric ward, believing suffering cannot be remedied. Starved of intelligent conversation, he begins talking at length with Ivan Gromov, a patient in Ward No. 6, who challenges his philosophy.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US in its 1892 original and older translations (Constance Garnett's), which circulate free online. Modern translations in Chekhov story collections in print and via libraries (Lib.
Before you start
Heads up: Abuse of psychiatric patients.
Age: Ages 16+
Our life is frittered away by detail.Henry David Thoreau, Walden, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”
