The Writer by Anton Chekhov. Short summary

5 seconds

The old man brings the merchant an advertising text about his store. He does not consider the old man’s writing to be real work. The writer is offended.

1 minute

In the tea store sits the owner, merchant Ershakov. He is young, well-dressed, but has a wrinkled appearance, which suggests that the merchant has lived a tumultuous life.

The writer, an old man who has written advertisements for the merchant’s store, comes to see him. His face is frozen with an expression of weakness, as is the case with people who drink little but constantly.

The old man reads him the advertising text and Yershakov likes everything very much. He offers to pay, but not with money, but with goods, because he does not consider the writer’s work to be real labor.

He is offended, because he «suffers with his soul» for his advertising, and when he writes, he feels that he is cheating the whole of Russia. But the merchant does not give money.

The writer agrees to take sugar for his labors, the more he can sell it back to Ershakov’s clerks.

The old man comes out of the shop and grimly says that for the sake of a piece of bread he has to cheat the whole of Russia.