What do you think?
Rate this book
Chekhov: Scenes from a Life
What made Chekhov tick? What served as a source of creative inspiration in his life? In answering these questions, Russian scholar Rosamund Bartlett focuses on the writer’s intimate relationship with the places where he lived and traveled—Taganrog and the southern Russian steppes, Moscow, Petersburg, Siberia, the French Riviera, and Yalta. By looking at his life through the prism of these landscapes, it is possible to gain a far greater insight into one of the most enigmatic writers who ever lived. Scenes from a Life restores the humor and warmth to a man too often seen as merely melancholic, and reminds us why many consider him to be the greatest short-story writer of all time.
395 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
4 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Rosamund Bartlett
35 books32 followersRosamund Bartlett is a cultural historian with expertise in Russian literature, music, and art. She has a particular interest in European Modernism, opera, and the intersection between politics, history and the arts, and has lectured on these subjects at universities and public institutions around the world. Her books include Wagner and Russia and Tolstoy: A Russian Life. She has also written a biography of Chekhov, and published translations of his short stories and letters. Her new translation of Anna Karenina was published in 2014.
She is a Trustee of the Anton Chekhov Foundation, for which is she currently overseeing the Early Chekhov Translation Project and the Anton Chekhov’s Garden project, which was launched with a show garden at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, 2-8 July 2018
She is a Trustee of the Anton Chekhov Foundation, for which is she currently overseeing the Early Chekhov Translation Project and the Anton Chekhov’s Garden project, which was launched with a show garden at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, 2-8 July 2018
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 28, 2016
Bartlett, Rosamumd. Chekhov: Scenes From a Life
This Free Press Edition (published in 2005) was a welcome edition to my library. Having plodded gamely through Bartlett’s authorative book on Tolstoy I found Chekhov: Scenes from a Life an easier read and equally informative. As ever Bartlett’s research is thorough and her style engaging. Those interested in Chekhov the man, as opposed to Chekhov the writer, will find much to enjoy in the book. If I have any reservations about the book, they are not about the stucture, which is basically chronological, but the writer’s dwelling on fine details about, for instance, the nature of Chekhov’s dogs, their names, origins and where they slept in Melikhovo, as well as the plants he grew, the fish he caught (or failed to catch) and suchlike trivia - all this did rather test my patience. Of course with any book about Russia or Russians one has the problem of names, the use of full names, nick-names and patronymics can, and usually does, provide a stumbling block.
Bartlett’s use of secondary materials, such as letters, diaries and other books is somewhat overwhelming to the non-specialist in the Russian language, but that is hardly the author’s fault. I found the ample Notes section amost unreadable, needing much help translating Russian titles. But it too had its interest in that, for example the title of Chekhov’s ‘A Boring Story’ is probably a misleading translation, for the Russian word would be better translated as ‘wearying’ or ‘desolate.’ Incidentally I notice that Bartlett frequently uses the word ‘boring’ herself in relating Chekhov’s attitude to people who pursue him, gossips, and nuisances in general. He comes over as a rather irritable, short-tempered man, which may of course be attributed to his illness, his many pursuits or his disputes with publishers.
On the whole, though, Bartlertt refutes the general assumption that Chekhov was a thorough-going misanthrope. He was merely selective about making close friends, and when he found one in Alexei Suvorin, an older self-made writer and the owner of New Times, Chekhov was overjoyed, despite the commuting distance and the age differences between them. ‘There was no one he found as thought-provoking, no one who seemed so well-read,’ declares Bartlett, which no doubt goes some way to explain why he found others, by contrast, somewhat ‘boring.’
This Free Press Edition (published in 2005) was a welcome edition to my library. Having plodded gamely through Bartlett’s authorative book on Tolstoy I found Chekhov: Scenes from a Life an easier read and equally informative. As ever Bartlett’s research is thorough and her style engaging. Those interested in Chekhov the man, as opposed to Chekhov the writer, will find much to enjoy in the book. If I have any reservations about the book, they are not about the stucture, which is basically chronological, but the writer’s dwelling on fine details about, for instance, the nature of Chekhov’s dogs, their names, origins and where they slept in Melikhovo, as well as the plants he grew, the fish he caught (or failed to catch) and suchlike trivia - all this did rather test my patience. Of course with any book about Russia or Russians one has the problem of names, the use of full names, nick-names and patronymics can, and usually does, provide a stumbling block.
Bartlett’s use of secondary materials, such as letters, diaries and other books is somewhat overwhelming to the non-specialist in the Russian language, but that is hardly the author’s fault. I found the ample Notes section amost unreadable, needing much help translating Russian titles. But it too had its interest in that, for example the title of Chekhov’s ‘A Boring Story’ is probably a misleading translation, for the Russian word would be better translated as ‘wearying’ or ‘desolate.’ Incidentally I notice that Bartlett frequently uses the word ‘boring’ herself in relating Chekhov’s attitude to people who pursue him, gossips, and nuisances in general. He comes over as a rather irritable, short-tempered man, which may of course be attributed to his illness, his many pursuits or his disputes with publishers.
On the whole, though, Bartlertt refutes the general assumption that Chekhov was a thorough-going misanthrope. He was merely selective about making close friends, and when he found one in Alexei Suvorin, an older self-made writer and the owner of New Times, Chekhov was overjoyed, despite the commuting distance and the age differences between them. ‘There was no one he found as thought-provoking, no one who seemed so well-read,’ declares Bartlett, which no doubt goes some way to explain why he found others, by contrast, somewhat ‘boring.’
June 23, 2015
A remarkable work of scholarship and a novel approach to biography. Richly rewarding.
March 8, 2020
"Según su hermano Iván, éste era para Chéjov su relato más pulido (y es también una parábola sobre el poder del arte). Se sabe también que era su preferido, y su final demuestra definitivamente, en su opinión, que no era el hombre de sangre fría, pesimista y triste que sus críticos habían hecho de él. El último párrafo es una frase de exaltación deliberadamente larga:
Y mientras cruzaba el río en el transbordador, y ascendía después por la montaña, mirando hacia su pueblo en el oeste, donde había una estrecha franja de crepúsculo carmesí, se dio cuenta de que la verdad y la belleza, que habían guiado la vida humana en aquel lugar, en el paraíso y en los dominios del Sumo Pontífice, habían seguido haciéndolo sin interrupción hasta el presente, y era evidente que siempre habían sido los elementos más importantes de la vida humana y de la tierra en general. Tenía sólo veintidós años, y una sensación de juventud, salud y fuerza, una expectativa inexplicablemente dulce de felicidad, de insondable y misteriosa felicidad, se fue apoderando poco a poco de él, y la vida se tornó a sus ojos fascinante y milagrosa, y llena de un significado sublime." RB
Y mientras cruzaba el río en el transbordador, y ascendía después por la montaña, mirando hacia su pueblo en el oeste, donde había una estrecha franja de crepúsculo carmesí, se dio cuenta de que la verdad y la belleza, que habían guiado la vida humana en aquel lugar, en el paraíso y en los dominios del Sumo Pontífice, habían seguido haciéndolo sin interrupción hasta el presente, y era evidente que siempre habían sido los elementos más importantes de la vida humana y de la tierra en general. Tenía sólo veintidós años, y una sensación de juventud, salud y fuerza, una expectativa inexplicablemente dulce de felicidad, de insondable y misteriosa felicidad, se fue apoderando poco a poco de él, y la vida se tornó a sus ojos fascinante y milagrosa, y llena de un significado sublime." RB
October 2, 2019
I've been a big fan of Anton Chekhov, the man and the writer, for some time. This excellent book brought me even closer to knowing and appreciating him. Rosamund Bartlett, who has translated his stories and copious letters, in this volume has taken us on a physical/literary journey through his life. From the outset, she stresses how restless a man Checkhov was, a seeker of exotic climes and cultures and eager for new challenges and experiences. With his brilliant mind and deep humanity, he easily becomes bored when stuck in an uninteresting locale. And it is location, location, location, that this biography of Chekhov centers on.
Bartlett begins with his birthplace, Taganrog and the Azov Sea. Her historical background to the region in Southern Russia was fascinating, as was his early family life. Anton was the third son of 7 children of a merchant family; his father is deeply religious and runs a goods shop. Their social position was between the rural peasant masses and the educated elite noble class. Chekhov's paternal grandfather in 1841 had bought his family's freedom out of serfdom and moved them to the southern steppe. His mother's family, from a rural background, had also freed his family, but earlier, in 1817.
When the family business collapsed, Anton's Father and family flee to Moscow in 1876. Anton is left behind to finish school and begins writing short pieces to supplement his scanty financial resources. He moves to Moscow three years later, after thoroughly enjoying free time exploring the steppe and, since he returns to this setting for much of his fiction, we can conclude he loved it very much. In Moscow, Anton enters Moscow University in medicine and continues writing, publishing his first story in a St. Petersburg comic journal in 1880.
Before long, Anton's family becomes economically dependent on him and relocates to different rented flats around Moscow many times. He graduates in 1884 and his first TB symptoms appear. His beloved brother Nikolai dies of TB in 1889 which really shakes him up. In his Moscow period, Chekhov practices medicine, writes for St. Pete journals, and enjoys theater and many friends.
n the hot summer months, the family escapes their crowded Moscow quarters for the countryside and rent dachas in various locales in Ukraine and Russia. Here we discover how much Chekhov loves fishing and revels in nature, and begins gathering Russian intelligensia figures around him. The most significant were the wealthy artist Nikolai Leikin and publisher/mentor Alexi Suvorin in St. Petersburg. He spent little time in the northern city, mostly because the weather there worsened his health.
Once his writing career was up and running and his family somewhat secure, Anton Chekhov was able to unleash his wanderlust, combining it with a mission of mercy to the Far Eastern penal colony of Sakhalin on the Pacific. On April 21, 1890 he set out from Moscow for a trying three-month overland journey by rail, horse-drawn tarantas and boat to reach the remote island in order to make a study and take a census. This challenging trek brought him into contact with many ordinary Siberians and exiles and completely new terrain and flora. He went, partly out of escape from the smothering literary and social scene in the West, partly as an escape following a failure of his first play, "Uncle Vanya", and partly to achieve something extraordinary with his life before it was too late. I read his book, "The Island of Sakhalin" and James McConkey's "To a Distant Island" which tell in greater detail the amazing feat this journey and accomplishment was.
Chekhov returned to Moscow at the end of the summer via a more comfortable sea route, with his mind broadened, his social awareness heightened and his faith in Russian governance badly shaken.
He buys a small, rundown estate 50 miles south of Moscow in Melikhovo and relocates there with his family to write, garden, doctor and improve the education of rural children. This is the first real home of his own and, with his schoolteacher sister Masha playing hostess to their many guests, his mother and later father join them. Melikhovo proves to be a productive 5-year period of his life. When I was living in Moscow, I was able to go on a day trip to Melikhovo and was very impressed, especially, with the school he opened there for peasant children.
As his strength declines, Chekhov seeks out warmer winters in France and Yalta, and then is forced to relocate to Yalta year-round. He's begun a love relationship with the Moscow Art Theater actress Olga Knipper, so their separations are painful for him. Chekhov buys two Yalta-area homes: one at Aurka in a Tatar village ("the White Dacha") and the other for more privacy from family and visitors, in Gurazuf, also in a Tatar village. In this period he writes some of his best fiction and is inspired to craft his most famous plays, while enjoying a number of pet dogs and landscaping with trees and flowers.
Finally, Checkhov's declining health allows him one brief visit back to Moscow to see friends, then he and Olga (now his wife) take the train to a spa town, Badenweiler in Germany for his final three weeks of life in 1904. His body is returned in reverence to Russia and he was buried in Novodevichy Convent Cemetery amidst great ceremony and adoration.
Barlett fleshes out the history and details in this book through newspapers, Chekhov's stories and plays but most of all, his personal letters. She offers notes as well as an extensive bibliography. In many ways, I think Chekhov would have despaired for his country and countrymen if he'd lived to witness the February and October Revolutions. He was certainly a great writer and human who gave world-class literature to us all and provided a living example of a fine human being.
I highly recommend this book.
Bartlett begins with his birthplace, Taganrog and the Azov Sea. Her historical background to the region in Southern Russia was fascinating, as was his early family life. Anton was the third son of 7 children of a merchant family; his father is deeply religious and runs a goods shop. Their social position was between the rural peasant masses and the educated elite noble class. Chekhov's paternal grandfather in 1841 had bought his family's freedom out of serfdom and moved them to the southern steppe. His mother's family, from a rural background, had also freed his family, but earlier, in 1817.
When the family business collapsed, Anton's Father and family flee to Moscow in 1876. Anton is left behind to finish school and begins writing short pieces to supplement his scanty financial resources. He moves to Moscow three years later, after thoroughly enjoying free time exploring the steppe and, since he returns to this setting for much of his fiction, we can conclude he loved it very much. In Moscow, Anton enters Moscow University in medicine and continues writing, publishing his first story in a St. Petersburg comic journal in 1880.
Before long, Anton's family becomes economically dependent on him and relocates to different rented flats around Moscow many times. He graduates in 1884 and his first TB symptoms appear. His beloved brother Nikolai dies of TB in 1889 which really shakes him up. In his Moscow period, Chekhov practices medicine, writes for St. Pete journals, and enjoys theater and many friends.
n the hot summer months, the family escapes their crowded Moscow quarters for the countryside and rent dachas in various locales in Ukraine and Russia. Here we discover how much Chekhov loves fishing and revels in nature, and begins gathering Russian intelligensia figures around him. The most significant were the wealthy artist Nikolai Leikin and publisher/mentor Alexi Suvorin in St. Petersburg. He spent little time in the northern city, mostly because the weather there worsened his health.
Once his writing career was up and running and his family somewhat secure, Anton Chekhov was able to unleash his wanderlust, combining it with a mission of mercy to the Far Eastern penal colony of Sakhalin on the Pacific. On April 21, 1890 he set out from Moscow for a trying three-month overland journey by rail, horse-drawn tarantas and boat to reach the remote island in order to make a study and take a census. This challenging trek brought him into contact with many ordinary Siberians and exiles and completely new terrain and flora. He went, partly out of escape from the smothering literary and social scene in the West, partly as an escape following a failure of his first play, "Uncle Vanya", and partly to achieve something extraordinary with his life before it was too late. I read his book, "The Island of Sakhalin" and James McConkey's "To a Distant Island" which tell in greater detail the amazing feat this journey and accomplishment was.
Chekhov returned to Moscow at the end of the summer via a more comfortable sea route, with his mind broadened, his social awareness heightened and his faith in Russian governance badly shaken.
He buys a small, rundown estate 50 miles south of Moscow in Melikhovo and relocates there with his family to write, garden, doctor and improve the education of rural children. This is the first real home of his own and, with his schoolteacher sister Masha playing hostess to their many guests, his mother and later father join them. Melikhovo proves to be a productive 5-year period of his life. When I was living in Moscow, I was able to go on a day trip to Melikhovo and was very impressed, especially, with the school he opened there for peasant children.
As his strength declines, Chekhov seeks out warmer winters in France and Yalta, and then is forced to relocate to Yalta year-round. He's begun a love relationship with the Moscow Art Theater actress Olga Knipper, so their separations are painful for him. Chekhov buys two Yalta-area homes: one at Aurka in a Tatar village ("the White Dacha") and the other for more privacy from family and visitors, in Gurazuf, also in a Tatar village. In this period he writes some of his best fiction and is inspired to craft his most famous plays, while enjoying a number of pet dogs and landscaping with trees and flowers.
Finally, Checkhov's declining health allows him one brief visit back to Moscow to see friends, then he and Olga (now his wife) take the train to a spa town, Badenweiler in Germany for his final three weeks of life in 1904. His body is returned in reverence to Russia and he was buried in Novodevichy Convent Cemetery amidst great ceremony and adoration.
Barlett fleshes out the history and details in this book through newspapers, Chekhov's stories and plays but most of all, his personal letters. She offers notes as well as an extensive bibliography. In many ways, I think Chekhov would have despaired for his country and countrymen if he'd lived to witness the February and October Revolutions. He was certainly a great writer and human who gave world-class literature to us all and provided a living example of a fine human being.
I highly recommend this book.
February 11, 2012
a sort of psychogeography-light trot through the places Chekhov lived and by which he was inspired in his rhapsodies of landscape. more pleasantly diverting than insightful/inspiring.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews