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 Alfred Dreyfus, his friendship with Suvorin ended
Tsjechow schrijft korte verhaaltjes zoals ik ze graag zie; kort, maar met een duidelijk kop, een staart en een bonkend hart. Fijn aan Tsjechow is dat hij eens – anders dan andere Russische zwaargewichten als Dostojewski en Tolstoj – niet uitsluitend over de adel schrijft. Bij Tsjechow vinden we vooral tafereeltjes van échte huishoudens van de koude steppes. Een rebelse student uit een arm gezien die ruziet met zijn vader, omdat de één te trots is om geld te vragen en de ander om te geven, terwijl ze allebei de studie van de zoon even belangrijk vinden. Een morrende oude molenaar, die het hele verhaal alles en iedereen afzeikt, totdat zijn mamoesjka verschijnt en zijn knieën week krijgt. De toon is gevarieerd en wisselt van verhaal tot verhaal. Het ene verhaal is licht, vertederend en komisch van toon; andere verhalen zijn weer koortsachtig en dramatisch. Hoogtepunt was wat mij betreft het verhaal van een kindermeisje die zó door haar werknemers wordt afgebeuld dat ze uiteindelijk in een vlaag van waanzin het kindje waar ze op moet passen in de wieg smoort, zodat ze eindelijk eens een nachtje goed kan slapen. Dat zo een verhaal dan weer gelijk word gevolgd door de gelukkige manie van een jong tienermeisje die niet kan kiezen tussen twee minnaars, is typisch voor de bundel als geheel, waarin het zoete en het bittere elkaar voortdurend afwisselt.
Ideaal voor op het nachtkastje; ik las steeds voor het slapengaan één verhaaltje en dat was precies genoeg.