Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study Of Chekhov's Prose And Drama

by Donald Rayfield

Of all Russian writers, Chekhov is one of the best liked and most easily appreciated. Yet he is also one of the most elusive. Here Donald Rayfield reveals the layers of meaning on which the great dramatist's stories and plays are built. He examines his brief twenty-year creative life, from medical student supplementing his income by writing comic stories to his rapid rise as the father of twentieth-century drama and narrative prose. Understanding Chekhov is enriched by revelations from previously unexplored archival material, which deepen our understanding of Chekhov's sources, preoccupations, philosophy, and his relations with theater, with fellow writers, and with contemporary ideas.

Genres: Drama

295 pages, 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.