Chekhov

by Ed Sanders

When poet Edward Sanders, founder of New York's famous Peace Eye Book Store as well as of the 60's folk-rock group The Fugs, undertook to write a drama based on the life of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, he started with a poem. Hoping that a poem would engender dialogue and chorus refrains, Sanders' finished product was. . . a poem. Delving into the life of the classic Russian author, Sanders was so taken with his subject that he realized "a verse biography of Chekhov could extend to five or ten thousand pages" and his poem (really a series of short poems about the short life and revolutionary times of the author of "The Seagull") grew and grew.While Chekhov is slightly shorter than those five to ten thousand pages, it does contain "surprisingly detailed information about the social, political, and intellectual phenomena of Chekhov's Russia" (Booklist) and is written in verse that would do Pushkin proud. A must for any student of Chekhov, Russia or, for that matter, literature.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Ed Sanders is an American poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, author and publisher. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and Hippie generations.

Sanders was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He dropped out of Missouri University in 1958 and hitchhiked to New York City’s Greenwich Village. He wrote his first major poem, "Poem from Jail," on toilet paper in his cell after being jailed for protesting against nuclear proliferation in 1961.

In 1962, he founded the avant-garde journal, Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts. Sanders opened the Peace Eye Bookstore (147 Avenue A in what was then the Lower East Side), which became a gathering place for bohemians and radicals.

Sanders graduated from New York University in 1964, with a degree in Classics. In 1965, he founded The Fugs with Tuli Kupferberg. The band broke up in 1969 and reformed in 1984.

In 1971, Sanders wrote The Family, a profile of the events leading up to the Tate-LaBianca murders. He obtained access to the Manson Family by posing as a "Satanic guru-maniac and dope-trapped psychopath."

As of 2006, Sanders lives in Woodstock, New York where he publishes the Woodstock Journal with his wife of over 36 years, the writer and painter Miriam R. Sanders. He also invents musical instruments including the Talking Tie, the microtonal Microlyre and the Lisa Lyre, a musical contraption involving light-activated switches and a reproduction of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Reviews

[Phil Overeem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will read any history/biography in verse Mr. Sanders wants to write. A Missouri product, by the way.

[JJS. · Rating 2 out of 5]

An unconventional biography (it's in verse form, not prose) of Anton Chekhov. In terms of style, it is evidently meant to light and basic content-wise. As far as being a biography goes, it's pretty basic. It has a few moments in the writing that are actually funny. As far as a biography goes, I can't recommend it, because its description of Chekhov, his life, his associations and his relationships, is all minimal.