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Plays (Penguin Classics) by Anton Chekhov
Mass Market Paperback
Published January 1, 1790
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About the author
Anton Chekhov
5,893 books9,762 followers
Antón Chéjov
(Spanish)
Dramas, such as The Seagull (1896, revised 1898), and including "A Dreary Story" (1889) of Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, also Chekov, concern the inability of humans to communicate.
Born ( Антон Павлович Чехов ) in the small southern seaport of Taganrog, the son of a grocer. His grandfather, a serf, bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught to read. A cloth merchant fathered Yevgenia Morozova, his mother.
"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." Tyranny of his father, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, open from five in the morning till midnight, shadowed his early years. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog from 1867 to 1868 and then Taganrog grammar school. Bankruptcy of his father compelled the family to move to Moscow. At the age of 16 years in 1876, independent Chekhov for some time alone in his native town supported through private tutoring.
In 1879, Chekhov left grammar school and entered the university medical school at Moscow. In the school, he began to publish hundreds of short comics to support his mother, sisters and brothers. Nicholas Leikin published him at this period and owned Oskolki (splinters), the journal of Saint Petersburg. His subjected silly social situations, marital problems, and farcical encounters among husbands, wives, mistresses, and lust; even after his marriage, Chekhov, the shy author, knew not much of whims of young women.
Nenunzhaya pobeda , first novel of Chekhov, set in 1882 in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Mór Jókai. People also mocked ideological optimism of Jókai as a politician.
Chekhov graduated in 1884 and practiced medicine. He worked from 1885 in Peterburskaia gazeta.
In 1886, Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him, a regular contributor, to work for Novoe vremya, the daily paper of Saint Petersburg. He gained a wide fame before 1886. He authored The Shooting Party , his second full-length novel, later translated into English. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in later her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . First book of Chekhov in 1886 succeeded, and he gradually committed full time. The refusal of the author to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intelligentsia, who criticized him for dealing with serious social and moral questions but avoiding giving answers. Such leaders as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, however, defended him. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.
The failure of The Wood Demon , play in 1889, and problems with novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, he traveled across Siberia to Sakhalin, remote prison island. He conducted a detailed census of ten thousand convicts and settlers, condemned to live on that harsh island. Chekhov expected to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. Hard conditions on the island probably also weakened his own physical condition. From this journey came his famous travel book.
Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. During these years, Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion." Because he objected that the paper conducted against [a:Alfred Dreyfu
Dramas, such as The Seagull (1896, revised 1898), and including "A Dreary Story" (1889) of Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, also Chekov, concern the inability of humans to communicate.
Born ( Антон Павлович Чехов ) in the small southern seaport of Taganrog, the son of a grocer. His grandfather, a serf, bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught to read. A cloth merchant fathered Yevgenia Morozova, his mother.
"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." Tyranny of his father, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, open from five in the morning till midnight, shadowed his early years. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog from 1867 to 1868 and then Taganrog grammar school. Bankruptcy of his father compelled the family to move to Moscow. At the age of 16 years in 1876, independent Chekhov for some time alone in his native town supported through private tutoring.
In 1879, Chekhov left grammar school and entered the university medical school at Moscow. In the school, he began to publish hundreds of short comics to support his mother, sisters and brothers. Nicholas Leikin published him at this period and owned Oskolki (splinters), the journal of Saint Petersburg. His subjected silly social situations, marital problems, and farcical encounters among husbands, wives, mistresses, and lust; even after his marriage, Chekhov, the shy author, knew not much of whims of young women.
Nenunzhaya pobeda , first novel of Chekhov, set in 1882 in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Mór Jókai. People also mocked ideological optimism of Jókai as a politician.
Chekhov graduated in 1884 and practiced medicine. He worked from 1885 in Peterburskaia gazeta.
In 1886, Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him, a regular contributor, to work for Novoe vremya, the daily paper of Saint Petersburg. He gained a wide fame before 1886. He authored The Shooting Party , his second full-length novel, later translated into English. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in later her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . First book of Chekhov in 1886 succeeded, and he gradually committed full time. The refusal of the author to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intelligentsia, who criticized him for dealing with serious social and moral questions but avoiding giving answers. Such leaders as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, however, defended him. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.
The failure of The Wood Demon , play in 1889, and problems with novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, he traveled across Siberia to Sakhalin, remote prison island. He conducted a detailed census of ten thousand convicts and settlers, condemned to live on that harsh island. Chekhov expected to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. Hard conditions on the island probably also weakened his own physical condition. From this journey came his famous travel book.
Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. During these years, Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion." Because he objected that the paper conducted against [a:Alfred Dreyfu
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 25, 2024
“The poetic power of Chekhov’s plays does not manifest itself at the first reading. After having read them, you say to yourself: This is good…but it’s nothing special, nothing to stun you with admiration. Everything is as it should be. Familiar…truthful…nothing new…
‘Not infrequently, the first reading of his plays is even disappointing…
Yet as you recollect some phrases and scenes, you feel you want to think about them more, think about them longer…You want to re-read it—and then you realize the depths hidden under the surface.…”
- Elisaveta Fen, Introduction, quoting Stanislavsky’s My Life in Art.
“The plays…reflect (a) mood of spiritual discouragement, a helplessness before overwhelming, impersonal forces of circumstance; an awareness of personal insignificance. The characters in these plays behave and talk as if they have lost their way, lost faith in themselves and in their own future, but are trying to persuade themselves that, in some indirect and general sense, they still matter, and that at least their children, or grandchildren, will somehow profit by their suffering and sacrifices, will achieve happiness in their lifetime.” - E. Fen
I got this Penguin Classic edition specifically to read the Introduction {and was not disappointed- see above}(and the play - checking out the translation) in connection with going to see a performance in NYC of Uncle Vanya. (And have since found there is a 2002 Revised Penguin Classics edition so I’m seeking that as well).
I wondered if Fen’s Introduction would have a Cold Warian slant to it, having been written at the height of the Cold War; but it doesn’t - though she does address Russian puzzlement as to why the West would like Chekhov, as “his art (is) infused with the undying poetry of Russian life. But she draws parallels between the “disappointment and depression” of the period from 1919-39 followed by the “hope aroused by the ‘successful conclusion’ of the ‘war to end all wars” with “ a similar mood (as) a result of the failure of Alexander II’s reforms to make a deep enough impression on the great, inert mass of the Russian population and its officialdom.”
“Nevertheless, in Chekhov’s own opinion he had not quite managed to do without the old ‘tricks of the trade’ in The Seagull, for there is…an attempt at suicide by _ , followed by his successful suicide. There is thus the famous ‘revolver shot’ which represented to Chekhov a compromise with tradition, and with which, on his own admission, he found so difficult to dispense.”
‘Not infrequently, the first reading of his plays is even disappointing…
Yet as you recollect some phrases and scenes, you feel you want to think about them more, think about them longer…You want to re-read it—and then you realize the depths hidden under the surface.…”
- Elisaveta Fen, Introduction, quoting Stanislavsky’s My Life in Art.
“The plays…reflect (a) mood of spiritual discouragement, a helplessness before overwhelming, impersonal forces of circumstance; an awareness of personal insignificance. The characters in these plays behave and talk as if they have lost their way, lost faith in themselves and in their own future, but are trying to persuade themselves that, in some indirect and general sense, they still matter, and that at least their children, or grandchildren, will somehow profit by their suffering and sacrifices, will achieve happiness in their lifetime.” - E. Fen
I got this Penguin Classic edition specifically to read the Introduction {and was not disappointed- see above}(and the play - checking out the translation) in connection with going to see a performance in NYC of Uncle Vanya. (And have since found there is a 2002 Revised Penguin Classics edition so I’m seeking that as well).
I wondered if Fen’s Introduction would have a Cold Warian slant to it, having been written at the height of the Cold War; but it doesn’t - though she does address Russian puzzlement as to why the West would like Chekhov, as “his art (is) infused with the undying poetry of Russian life. But she draws parallels between the “disappointment and depression” of the period from 1919-39 followed by the “hope aroused by the ‘successful conclusion’ of the ‘war to end all wars” with “ a similar mood (as) a result of the failure of Alexander II’s reforms to make a deep enough impression on the great, inert mass of the Russian population and its officialdom.”
“Nevertheless, in Chekhov’s own opinion he had not quite managed to do without the old ‘tricks of the trade’ in The Seagull, for there is…an attempt at suicide by _ , followed by his successful suicide. There is thus the famous ‘revolver shot’ which represented to Chekhov a compromise with tradition, and with which, on his own admission, he found so difficult to dispense.”
Displaying 1 of 1 review