10 JANUARY 1976, Page 18

The

Spectator January 10,19 called, most indecorously; Chuckle with Chekhov, an outrage Which inspires nightmares involving titters with Turgenev, guffaws with ,Gogol and laffs with Lermontov. However, the book is a most unusual one, a collection of nineteen pieces written when Chekhov was a young writer of comic squibs for weekly papers and magazines. The tale which John Cleese was referring to is called `Pitsikatoff's Last Romance', and though the jocosity of the nomenclature is enough to chill the soul, the story itself is really quite well plotted and charmingly composed. For the moment, though, I rest content with the Oxford Univeristy Press translations, whose paperback editions are neat and easy on the eye.