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BEAUTIES
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In her READING CHEKHOV (New York, 2001),Janet Malcolm devotes several pagesto a short story titled "The Beauties,"whose central character is a 16-year old Armenian girlof such dazzling beauty thatthe narrator has a near-death experience.*Writes Chekhov (as quoted by Janet Malcolm):"Whether it was envy of her beauty,or that I was regretting that the girl was not mine,and never would be,or that I was a stranger to her;or whether I vaguely felt that her rare beautywas accidental, unnecessary, and, like everything on earth,of short duration; or whether, perhaps,my sadness was that peculiar feelingwhich is excited in manby the contemplation of real beauty, God only knows."*In his SAVAGE CHIC, Kardash Onnigdescribes a similar experience in the presenceof a 14-year old Armenian girl by the name of Nora:"Her eyelashes moved up and down like butterflies," he writes,"her eyebrows met like Frida Kahlo’sand she had a soft smile and a voicethat could melt even my heart….She stood there in the middle of the roomwith a proud smile…tears filled my eyes [and]through my tears I saw an angel thanking me."*And I can't help thinking thatwhenever a friend of mine returnsafter a visit to the Homeland a born again patrioteager to dedicate his life to the welfare of his peoplehe is moved neither by the landscapenor the deplorable conditions of his fellow countrymenbut by an angelic apparition similar to thoseexperienced by Chekhov and Kardash.
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In her READING CHEKHOV (New York, 2001),Janet Malcolm devotes several pagesto a short story titled "The Beauties,"whose central character is a 16-year old Armenian girlof such dazzling beauty thatthe narrator has a near-death experience.*Writes Chekhov (as quoted by Janet Malcolm):"Whether it was envy of her beauty,or that I was regretting that the girl was not mine,and never would be,or that I was a stranger to her;or whether I vaguely felt that her rare beautywas accidental, unnecessary, and, like everything on earth,of short duration; or whether, perhaps,my sadness was that peculiar feelingwhich is excited in manby the contemplation of real beauty, God only knows."*In his SAVAGE CHIC, Kardash Onnigdescribes a similar experience in the presenceof a 14-year old Armenian girl by the name of Nora:"Her eyelashes moved up and down like butterflies," he writes,"her eyebrows met like Frida Kahlo’sand she had a soft smile and a voicethat could melt even my heart….She stood there in the middle of the roomwith a proud smile…tears filled my eyes [and]through my tears I saw an angel thanking me."*And I can't help thinking thatwhenever a friend of mine returnsafter a visit to the Homeland a born again patrioteager to dedicate his life to the welfare of his peoplehe is moved neither by the landscapenor the deplorable conditions of his fellow countrymenbut by an angelic apparition similar to thoseexperienced by Chekhov and Kardash.
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