[(Understanding Chekhov)] [Author: Rayfield] published on

by Donald Rayfield

Of all Russian writers, Chekhov is one of the best liked and most easily appreciated. Yet because his work is subtle and understated, we need help to understand him. Chekhov can be (as his friends complained) the most elusive of writers, and one who appears capable of having two opposite views and opposite intentions simultaneously. Donald Rayfield, one of the world's foremost Chekhov scholars, reveals the layers of meaning on which the stories and plays are built. All Chekhov's important works are studied: we see how closely the two genres are connected and gain insight into Chekhov's rapid development over his brief twenty years of creative life, from medical student supplementing his income by writing comic stories, to father of twentieth-century drama and narrative prose.

Genres: Drama

Paperback

First published June 24, 1999

About the author

Donald Rayfield is an emeritus professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He translated Nikolai Gogol’s Dead Souls and Varlam Shalamov’s Kolyma Stories and Sketches of the Criminal World for NYRB Classics.

Reviews

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ah, yes, Chekhov, a minor playwright of whom most Russians have never heard of. So it makes sense for the US tax payer to pay good wages to Rayfield to write one of the few books about this particular author.