A word about chekhov

Anton Chekhov
Chekhov in 1889
Born	Anton Pavlovich Chekhov 29 January 1860[1] Taganrog, Ekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	15 July 1904 (aged 44)[2] Badenweiler, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire
Resting place	Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow
Occupation	Physician, short story writer, playwright
Language	Russian
Nationality	Russian[3]
Alma mater	First Moscow State Medical University
Notable awards	Pushkin Prize
Spouse	Olga Knipper ​ (m. 1901)​
Relatives	Alexander Chekhov (brother) Maria Chekhova (sister) Nikolai Chekhov (brother) Michael Chekhov (nephew) Lev Knipper (nephew) Olga Chekhova (niece) Ada Tschechowa (great-niece) Marina Ried (great-niece) Vera Tschechowa (great-great niece)
Signature

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Russian: Антон Павлович Чехов^{[note 1]}, IPA: [ɐnˈton ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ ˈtɕexəf]; 29 January 1860^{[note 2]} – 15 July 1904^{[note 3]}) was a Russian^[3] playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.^[4][5] Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre.^[6] Chekhov was a physician by profession. «Medicine is my lawful wife», he once said, «and literature is my mistress.»^[7]

Chekhov renounced the theatre after the reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavski’s Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble^[8] as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a «theatre of mood» and a «submerged life in the text».^[9] The plays that Chekhov wrote were not complex, but easy to follow, and created a somewhat haunting atmosphere for the audience.^[3]

Chekhov at first wrote stories to earn money, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations that influenced the evolution of the modern short story.^[10] He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them.^[11]

Biography[edit]

Childhood[edit]

Anton Chekhov was born into a Russian family on the feast day of St. Anthony the Great (17 January Old Style) 29 January 1860 in Taganrog, a port on the Sea of Azov – on Politseyskaya (Police) street, later renamed Chekhova street – in southern Russia. He was the third of six surviving children. His father, Pavel Yegorovich Chekhov, the son of a former serf and his wife,^[12] was from the village Olkhovatka (Voronezh Governorate) and ran a grocery store. A director of the parish choir, devout Orthodox Christian, and physically abusive father, Pavel Chekhov has been seen by some historians as the model for his son’s many portraits of hypocrisy.^[13] Chekhov’s mother, Yevgeniya (Morozova), was an excellent storyteller who entertained the children with tales of her travels with her cloth-merchant father all over Russia.^[14][15][16] «Our talents we got from our father,» Chekhov remembered, «but our soul from our mother.»^[17]

In adulthood, Chekhov criticised his brother Alexander’s treatment of his wife and children by reminding him of Pavel’s tyranny: «Let me ask you to recall that it was despotism and lying that ruined your mother’s youth. Despotism and lying so mutilated our childhood that it’s sickening and frightening to think about it. Remember the horror and disgust we felt in those times when Father threw a tantrum at dinner over too much salt in the soup and called Mother a fool.»^[18][19]

Chekhov attended the Greek School in Taganrog and the Taganrog Gymnasium (since renamed the Chekhov Gymnasium), where he was held back for a year at fifteen for failing an examination in Ancient Greek.^[20] He sang at the Greek Orthodox monastery in Taganrog and in his father’s choirs. In a letter of 1892, he used the word «suffering» to describe his childhood and recalled:

When my brothers and I used to stand in the middle of the church and sing the trio «May my prayer be exalted», or «The Archangel’s Voice», everyone looked at us with emotion and envied our parents, but we at that moment felt like little convicts.^[21]

In 1876, Chekhov’s father was declared bankrupt after overextending his finances building a new house, having been cheated by a contractor named Mironov.^[22] To avoid debtor’s prison he fled to Moscow, where his two eldest sons, Alexander and Nikolai, were attending university. The family lived in poverty in Moscow. Chekhov’s mother was physically and emotionally broken by the experience.^[23]

Chekhov was left behind to sell the family’s possessions and finish his education. He remained in Taganrog for three more years, boarding with a man by the name of Selivanov who, like Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard, had bailed out the family for the price of their house.^[24] Chekhov had to pay for his own education, which he managed by private tutoring, catching and selling goldfinches, and selling short sketches to the newspapers, among other jobs. He sent every ruble he could spare to his family in Moscow, along with humorous letters to cheer them up.^[25]

During this time, he read widely and analytically, including the works of Cervantes, Turgenev, Goncharov, and Schopenhauer,^[26][27] and wrote a full-length comic drama, Fatherless, which his brother Alexander dismissed as «an inexcusable though innocent fabrication».^[28] Chekhov also experienced a series of love affairs, one with the wife of a teacher.^[25] In 1879, Chekhov completed his schooling and joined his family in Moscow, having gained admission to the medical school at I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.^[29]

Early writings[edit]

Chekhov then assumed responsibility for the whole family.^[30] To support them and to pay his tuition fees, he wrote daily short, humorous sketches and vignettes of contemporary Russian life, many under pseudonyms such as «Antosha Chekhonte» (Антоша Чехонте) and «Man Without Spleen» (Человек без селезенки). His prodigious output gradually earned him a reputation as a satirical chronicler of Russian street life, and by 1882 he was writing for Oskolki (Fragments), owned by Nikolai Leykin, one of the leading publishers of the time.^[31] Chekhov’s tone at this stage was harsher than that familiar from his mature fiction.^[32][33]

In 1884, Chekhov qualified as a physician, which he considered his principal profession though he made little money from it and treated the poor free of charge.^[34]

In 1884 and 1885, Chekhov found himself coughing blood, and in 1886 the attacks worsened, but he would not admit his tuberculosis to his family or his friends.^[17] He confessed to Leykin, «I am afraid to submit myself to be sounded by my colleagues.»^[35] He continued writing for weekly periodicals, earning enough money to move the family into progressively better accommodations.

Early in 1886 he was invited to write for one of the most popular papers in St. Petersburg, Novoye Vremya (New Times), owned and edited by the millionaire magnate Alexey Suvorin, who paid a rate per line double Leykin’s and allowed Chekhov three times the space.^[36] Suvorin was to become a lifelong friend, perhaps Chekhov’s closest.^[37][38]

Before long, Chekhov was attracting literary as well as popular attention. The sixty-four-year-old Dmitry Grigorovich, a celebrated Russian writer of the day, wrote to Chekhov after reading his short story «The Huntsman» that^[39] «You have real talent, a talent that places you in the front rank among writers in the new generation.» He went on to advise Chekhov to slow down, write less, and concentrate on literary quality.

Chekhov replied that the letter had struck him «like a thunderbolt» and confessed, «I have written my stories the way reporters write up their notes about fires—mechanically, half-consciously, caring nothing about either the reader or myself.»^[40] The admission may have done Chekhov a disservice, since early manuscripts reveal that he often wrote with extreme care, continually revising.^[41] Grigorovich’s advice nevertheless inspired a more serious, artistic ambition in the twenty-six-year-old. In 1888, with a little string-pulling by Grigorovich, the short story collection At Dusk (V Sumerkakh) won Chekhov the coveted Pushkin Prize «for the best literary production distinguished by high artistic worth».^[42]

Turning points[edit]

In 1887, exhausted from overwork and ill health, Chekhov took a trip to Ukraine, which reawakened him to the beauty of the steppe.^[43] On his return, he began the novella-length short story «The Steppe«, which he called «something rather odd and much too original», and which was eventually published in Severny Vestnik (The Northern Herald).^[44] In a narrative that drifts with the thought processes of the characters, Chekhov evokes a chaise journey across the steppe through the eyes of a young boy sent to live away from home, and his companions, a priest and a merchant. «The Steppe» has been called a «dictionary of Chekhov’s poetics», and it represented a significant advance for Chekhov, exhibiting much of the quality of his mature fiction and winning him publication in a literary journal rather than a newspaper.^[45]

In autumn 1887, a theatre manager named Korsh commissioned Chekhov to write a play, the result being Ivanov, written in a fortnight and produced that November.^[46] Though Chekhov found the experience «sickening» and painted a comic portrait of the chaotic production in a letter to his brother Alexander, the play was a hit and was praised, to Chekhov’s bemusement, as a work of originality.^[47] Although Chekhov did not fully realise it at the time, Chekhov’s plays, such as The Seagull (written in 1895), Uncle Vanya (written in 1897), The Three Sisters (written in 1900), and The Cherry Orchard (written in 1903) served as a revolutionary backbone to what is common sense to the medium of acting to this day: an effort to recreate and express the realism of how people truly act and speak with each other. This realistic manifestation of the human condition may engender in audiences reflection upon what it means to be human.

This philosophy of approaching the art of acting has stood not only steadfast, but as the cornerstone of acting for much of the 20th century to this day. Mikhail Chekhov considered Ivanov a key moment in his brother’s intellectual development and literary career.^[17] From this period comes an observation of Chekhov’s that has become known as Chekhov’s gun, a dramatic principle that requires that every element in a narrative be necessary and irreplaceable, and that everything else be removed.^[48][49][50]

Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.

— Anton Chekhov^[50][51]

The death of Chekhov’s brother Nikolai from tuberculosis in 1889 influenced A Dreary Story, finished that September, about a man who confronts the end of a life that he realises has been without purpose.^[52][53] Mikhail Chekhov, who recorded his brother’s depression and restlessness after Nikolai’s death, was researching prisons at the time as part of his law studies, and Anton Chekhov, in a search for purpose in his own life, himself soon became obsessed with the issue of prison reform.^[17]

Sakhalin[edit]

In 1890, Chekhov undertook an arduous journey by train, horse-drawn carriage, and river steamer to the Russian Far East and the katorga, or penal colony, on Sakhalin Island, north of Japan, where he spent three months interviewing thousands of convicts and settlers for a census. The letters Chekhov wrote during the two-and-a-half-month journey to Sakhalin are considered to be among his best.^[54] His remarks to his sister about Tomsk were to become notorious.^[55][56]

Tomsk is a very dull town. To judge from the drunkards whose acquaintance I have made, and from the intellectual people who have come to the hotel to pay their respects to me, the inhabitants are very dull, too.^[57]

Chekhov witnessed much on Sakhalin that shocked and angered him, including floggings, embezzlement of supplies, and forced prostitution of women. He wrote, «There were times I felt that I saw before me the extreme limits of man’s degradation.»^[58][59] He was particularly moved by the plight of the children living in the penal colony with their parents. For example:

On the Amur steamer going to Sakhalin, there was a convict who had murdered his wife and wore fetters on his legs. His daughter, a little girl of six, was with him. I noticed wherever the convict moved the little girl scrambled after him, holding on to his fetters. At night the child slept with the convicts and soldiers all in a heap together.^[60]

Chekhov later concluded that charity was not the answer, but that the government had a duty to finance humane treatment of the convicts. His findings were published in 1893 and 1894 as Ostrov Sakhalin (The Island of Sakhalin), a work of social science, not literature.^[61][62] Chekhov found literary expression for the «Hell of Sakhalin» in his long short story «The Murder»,^[63] the last section of which is set on Sakhalin, where the murderer Yakov loads coal in the night while longing for home. Chekhov’s writing on Sakhalin, especially the traditions and habits of the Gilyak people, is the subject of a sustained meditation and analysis in Haruki Murakami’s novel 1Q84.^[64] It is also the subject of a poem by the Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney, «Chekhov on Sakhalin» (collected in the volume Station Island).^[65] Rebecca Gould has compared Chekhov’s book on Sakhalin to Katherine Mansfield’s Urewera Notebook (1907).^[66] In 2013, the Wellcome Trust-funded play ‘A Russian Doctor’, performed by Andrew Dawson and researched by Professor Jonathan Cole, explored Chekhov’s experiences on Sakhalin Island.

Melikhovo[edit]

Mikhail Chekhov, a member of the household at Melikhovo, described the extent of his brother’s medical commitments:

From the first day that Chekhov moved to Melikhovo, the sick began flocking to him from twenty miles around. They came on foot or were brought in carts, and often he was fetched to patients at a distance. Sometimes from early in the morning peasant women and children were standing before his door waiting.^[67]

Chekhov’s expenditure on drugs was considerable, but the greatest cost was making journeys of several hours to visit the sick, which reduced his time for writing.^[68] However, Chekhov’s work as a doctor enriched his writing by bringing him into intimate contact with all sections of Russian society: for example, he witnessed at first hand the peasants’ unhealthy and cramped living conditions, which he recalled in his short story «Peasants». Chekhov visited the upper classes as well, recording in his notebook: «Aristocrats? The same ugly bodies and physical uncleanliness, the same toothless old age and disgusting death, as with market-women.»^[69] In 1893/1894 he worked as a Zemstvo doctor in Zvenigorod, which has numerous sanatoriums and rest homes. A local hospital is named after him.

In 1894, Chekhov began writing his play The Seagull in a lodge he had built in the orchard at Melikhovo. In the two years since he had moved to the estate, he had refurbished the house, taken up agriculture and horticulture, tended the orchard and the pond, and planted many trees, which, according to Mikhail, he «looked after … as though they were his children. Like Colonel Vershinin in his Three Sisters, as he looked at them he dreamed of what they would be like in three or four hundred years.»^[17]

The first night of The Seagull, at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on 17 October 1896, was a fiasco, as the play was booed by the audience, stinging Chekhov into renouncing the theatre.^[70] But the play so impressed the theatre director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko that he convinced his colleague Konstantin Stanislavski to direct a new production for the innovative Moscow Art Theatre in 1898.^[71] Stanislavski’s attention to psychological realism and ensemble playing coaxed the buried subtleties from the text, and restored Chekhov’s interest in playwriting.^[72] The Art Theatre commissioned more plays from Chekhov and the following year staged Uncle Vanya, which Chekhov had completed in 1896.^[73] In the last decades of his life he became an atheist.^[74][75][76]

Yalta[edit]

In March 1897, Chekhov suffered a major haemorrhage of the lungs while on a visit to Moscow. With great difficulty he was persuaded to enter a clinic, where doctors diagnosed tuberculosis on the upper part of his lungs and ordered a change in his manner of life.^[77]

After his father’s death in 1898, Chekhov bought a plot of land on the outskirts of Yalta and built a villa (The White Dacha), into which he moved with his mother and sister the following year. Though he planted trees and flowers, kept dogs and tame cranes, and received guests such as Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, Chekhov was always relieved to leave his «hot Siberia» for Moscow or travels abroad. He vowed to move to Taganrog as soon as a water supply was installed there.^[78][79] In Yalta he completed two more plays for the Art Theatre, composing with greater difficulty than in the days when he «wrote serenely, the way I eat pancakes now». He took a year each over Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.^[80]

On 25 May 1901, Chekhov married Olga Knipper quietly, owing to his horror of weddings. She was a former protégée and sometime lover of Nemirovich-Danchenko whom he had first met at rehearsals for The Seagull.^[81][82][83] Up to that point, Chekhov, known as «Russia’s most elusive literary bachelor»,^[84] had preferred passing liaisons and visits to brothels over commitment.^[85] He had once written to Suvorin:

By all means I will be married if you wish it. But on these conditions: everything must be as it has been hitherto—that is, she must live in Moscow while I live in the country, and I will come and see her…. I promise to be an excellent husband, but give me a wife who, like the moon, won’t appear in my sky every day.^[86]

The letter proved prophetic of Chekhov’s marital arrangements with Olga: he lived largely at Yalta, she in Moscow, pursuing her acting career. In 1902, Olga suffered a miscarriage; and Donald Rayfield has offered evidence, based on the couple’s letters, that conception occurred when Chekhov and Olga were apart, although other Russian scholars have rejected that claim.^[87][88] The literary legacy of this long-distance marriage is a correspondence that preserves gems of theatre history, including shared complaints about Stanislavski’s directing methods and Chekhov’s advice to Olga about performing in his plays.^[89]

In Yalta, Chekhov wrote one of his most famous stories,^[90] «The Lady with the Dog»^[91] (also translated from the Russian as «Lady with Lapdog»),^[92] which depicts what at first seems a casual liaison between a cynical married man and an unhappy married woman who meet while holidaying in Yalta. Neither expects anything lasting from the encounter. Unexpectedly though, they gradually fall deeply in love and end up risking scandal and the security of their family lives. The story masterfully captures their feelings for each other, the inner transformation undergone by the disillusioned male protagonist as a result of falling deeply in love, and their inability to resolve the matter by either letting go of their families or of each other.^[93]

Death[edit]

In May 1903 Chekhov visited Moscow; the prominent lawyer Vasily Maklakov visited him almost every day. Maklakov signed Chekhov’s will. By May 1904 Chekhov was terminally ill with tuberculosis. Mikhail Chekhov recalled that «everyone who saw him secretly thought the end was not far off, but the nearer [he] was to the end, the less he seemed to realise it».^[17] On 3 June he set off with Olga for the German spa town of Badenweiler in the Black Forest in Germany, from where he wrote outwardly jovial letters to his sister Masha, describing the food and surroundings, and assuring her and his mother that he was getting better. In his last letter he complained about the way German women dressed.^[94] Chekhov died on 15 July 1904 at the age of 44 after a long fight with tuberculosis, the same disease that killed his brother.^[95]

Chekhov’s death has become one of «the great set pieces of literary history»^[96]—retold, embroidered, and fictionalized many times since, notably in the 1987 short story «Errand» by Raymond Carver. In 1908 Olga wrote this account of her husband’s last moments:

Anton sat up unusually straight and said loudly and clearly (although he knew almost no German): Ich sterbe (‘I’m dying’). The doctor calmed him, took a syringe, gave him an injection of camphor, and ordered champagne. Anton took a full glass, examined it, smiled at me and said: ‘It’s a long time since I drank champagne.’ He drained it and lay quietly on his left side, and I just had time to run to him and lean across the bed and call to him, but he had stopped breathing and was sleeping peacefully as a child …^[97]

Chekhov’s body was transported to Moscow in a refrigerated railway-car meant for oysters, a detail that offended Gorky.^[98] Some of the thousands of mourners followed the funeral procession of a General Keller by mistake, to the accompaniment of a military band.^[99] Chekhov was buried next to his father at the Novodevichy Cemetery.^[100][101]

Legacy[edit]

A few months before he died, Chekhov told the writer Ivan Bunin that he thought people might go on reading his writings for seven years. «Why seven?», asked Bunin. «Well, seven and a half», Chekhov replied. «That’s not bad. I’ve got six years to live.»^[102]
Chekhov’s posthumous reputation greatly exceeded his expectations. The ovations for the play The Cherry Orchard in the year of his death served to demonstrate the Russian public’s acclaim for the writer, which placed him second in literary celebrity only to Tolstoy, who outlived him by six years. Tolstoy was an early admirer of Chekhov’s short stories and had a series that he deemed «first quality» and «second quality» bound into a book. In the first category were: Children, The Chorus Girl, A Play, Home, Misery, The Runaway, In Court, Vanka, Ladies, A Malefactor, The Boys, Darkness, Sleepy, The Helpmate, and The Darling; in the second: A Transgression, Sorrow, The Witch, Verochka, In a Strange Land, The Cook’s Wedding, A Tedious Business, An Upheaval, Oh! The Public!, The Mask, A Woman’s Luck, Nerves, The Wedding, A Defenceless Creature, and Peasant Wives.^[103]

Chekhov’s work also found praise from several of Russia’s most influential radical political thinkers. If anyone doubted the gloom and miserable poverty of Russia in the 1880s, the anarchist theorist Peter Kropotkin responded, «read only Chekhov’s novels!»^[104] Raymond Tallis further recounts that Vladimir Lenin believed his reading of the short story Ward No. 6 «made him a revolutionary».^[105] Upon finishing the story, Lenin is said to have remarked: «I absolutely had the feeling that I was shut up in Ward 6 myself!»^[106]

In Chekhov’s lifetime, British and Irish critics generally did not find his work pleasing; E. J. Dillon thought «the effect on the reader of Chekhov’s tales was repulsion at the gallery of human waste represented by his fickle, spineless, drifting people» and R. E. C. Long said «Chekhov’s characters were repugnant, and that Chekhov revelled in stripping the last rags of dignity from the human soul».^[107] After his death, Chekhov was reappraised. Constance Garnett’s translations won him an English-language readership and the admiration of writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Katherine Mansfield, whose story «The Child Who Was Tired» is similar to Chekhov’s «Sleepy».^[108] The Russian critic D. S. Mirsky, who lived in England, explained Chekhov’s popularity in that country by his «unusually complete rejection of what we may call the heroic values».^[109] In Russia itself, Chekhov’s drama fell out of fashion after the revolution, but it was later incorporated into the Soviet canon. The character of Lopakhin, for example, was reinvented as a hero of the new order, rising from a modest background so as eventually to possess the gentry’s estates.^[110][111]

Despite Chekhov’s reputation as a playwright, William Boyd asserts that his short stories represent the greater achievement.^[112] Raymond Carver, who wrote the short story «Errand» about Chekhov’s death, believed that Chekhov was the greatest of all short story writers:

Chekhov’s stories are as wonderful (and necessary) now as when they first appeared. It is not only the immense number of stories he wrote—for few, if any, writers have ever done more—it is the awesome frequency with which he produced masterpieces, stories that shrive us as well as delight and move us, that lay bare our emotions in ways only true art can accomplish.^[113]

Style[edit]

One of the first non-Russians to praise Chekhov’s plays was George Bernard Shaw, who subtitled his Heartbreak House «A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes», and pointed out similarities between the predicament of the British landed class and that of their Russian counterparts as depicted by Chekhov: «the same nice people, the same utter futility».^[114]

Ernest Hemingway, another writer influenced by Chekhov, was more grudging: «Chekhov wrote about six good stories. But he was an amateur writer.»^[115] And Vladimir Nabokov criticised Chekhov’s «medley of dreadful prosaisms, ready-made epithets, repetitions».^[116][117] But he also declared “yet it is his works which I would take on a trip to another planet”^[118] and called «The Lady with the Dog» «one of the greatest stories ever written» in its depiction of a problematic relationship, and described Chekhov as writing «the way one person relates to another the most important things in his life, slowly and yet without a break, in a slightly subdued voice».^[119]

For the writer William Boyd, Chekhov’s historical accomplishment was to abandon what William Gerhardie called the «event plot» for something more «blurred, interrupted, mauled or otherwise tampered with by life».^[120]

Virginia Woolf mused on the unique quality of a Chekhov story in The Common Reader (1925):

But is it the end, we ask? We have rather the feeling that we have overrun our signals; or it is as if a tune had stopped short without the expected chords to close it. These stories are inconclusive, we say, and proceed to frame a criticism based upon the assumption that stories ought to conclude in a way that we recognise. In so doing we raise the question of our own fitness as readers. Where the tune is familiar and the end emphatic—lovers united, villains discomfited, intrigues exposed—as it is in most Victorian fiction, we can scarcely go wrong, but where the tune is unfamiliar and the end a note of interrogation or merely the information that they went on talking, as it is in Tchekov, we need a very daring and alert sense of literature to make us hear the tune, and in particular those last notes which complete the harmony.^[121]

Michael Goldman has said of the elusive quality of Chekhov’s comedies: «Having learned that Chekhov is comic … Chekhov is comic in a very special, paradoxical way. His plays depend, as comedy does, on the vitality of the actors to make pleasurable what would otherwise be painfully awkward—inappropriate speeches, missed connections, faux pas, stumbles, childishness—but as part of a deeper pathos; the stumbles are not pratfalls but an energized, graceful dissolution of purpose.»^[122]

Influence on dramatic arts[edit]

In the United States, Chekhov’s reputation began its rise slightly later, partly through the influence of Stanislavski’s system of acting, with its notion of subtext: «Chekhov often expressed his thought not in speeches», wrote Stanislavski, «but in pauses or between the lines or in replies consisting of a single word … the characters often feel and think things not expressed in the lines they speak.»^[123][124] The Group Theatre, in particular, developed the subtextual approach to drama, influencing generations of American playwrights, screenwriters, and actors, including Clifford Odets, Elia Kazan and, in particular, Lee Strasberg. In turn, Strasberg’s Actors Studio and the «Method» acting approach influenced many actors, including Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro, though by then the Chekhov tradition may have been distorted by a preoccupation with realism.^[125] In 1981, the playwright Tennessee Williams adapted The Seagull as The Notebook of Trigorin. One of Anton’s nephews, Michael Chekhov, would also contribute heavily to modern theatre, particularly through his unique acting methods which developed Stanislavski’s ideas further.

Alan Twigg, the chief editor and publisher of the Canadian book review magazine B.C. BookWorld wrote:

One can argue Anton Chekhov is the second-most popular writer on the planet. Only Shakespeare outranks Chekhov in terms of movie adaptations of their work, according to the movie database IMDb. … We generally know less about Chekhov than we know about mysterious Shakespeare.^[126]

Chekhov has also influenced the work of Japanese playwrights including Shimizu Kunio, Yōji Sakate, and Ai Nagai. Critics have noted similarities in how Chekhov and Shimizu use a mixture of light humour as well as an intense depictions of longing.^[127] Sakate adapted several of Chekhov’s plays and transformed them in the general style of nō.^[128] Nagai also adapted Chekhov’s plays, including Three Sisters, and transformed his dramatic style into Nagai’s style of satirical realism while emphasising the social issues depicted in the play.^[128]

Chekhov’s works have been adapted for the screen, including Sidney Lumet’s Sea Gull and Louis Malle’s Vanya on 42nd Street. Laurence Olivier’s final effort as a film director was a 1970 adaptation of Three Sisters in which he also played a supporting role. His work has also served as inspiration or been referenced in numerous films. In Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1975 film The Mirror, characters discuss his short story «Ward No. 6». Woody Allen has been influenced by Chekhov and references to his works are present in many of his films including Love and Death (1975), Interiors (1978) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Plays by Chekhov are also referenced in François Truffaut’s 1980 drama film The Last Metro, which is set in a theatre. The Cherry Orchard has a role in the comedy film Henry’s Crime (2011). A portion of a stage production of Three Sisters appears in the 2014 drama film Still Alice. The 2022 Foreign Language Oscar winner, Drive My Car, is centered on a production of Uncle Vanya.

Several of Chekhov’s short stories were adapted as episodes of the 1986 Indian anthology television series Katha Sagar. Another Indian television series titled Chekhov Ki Duniya aired on DD National in the 1990s, adapting different works of Chekhov.^[129]

Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep was adapted from the short story «The Wife» by Anton Chekhov.^[130]

Publications[edit]

See also[edit]

• Chekhov Library
• Chekhov Monument in Rostov-on-Don
• Maria Chekhova
• Ann Dunnigan, English-language translator
• Jean-Claude van Itallie, English-language translator

Explanatory notes[edit]

Citations[edit]

General and cited sources[edit]

External links[edit]

Biographical

• Petri Liukkonen. «Anton Chekhov». Books and Writers
• Biography at The Literature Network
• «Chekhov’s Legacy» by Cornel West at NPR, 2004
• The International competition of philological, culture and film studies works dedicated to Anton Chekhov’s life and creative work (in Russian)

Documentary

• 2010: Tschechow lieben (Tschechow and Women) – Director: Marina Rumjanzewa – Language: German

Works

• Works by Anton Chekhov in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
• Works by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov at Project Gutenberg. All Constance Garnett’s translations of the short stories and letters are available, plus the edition of the Note-book translated by S. S. Koteliansky and Leonard Woolf – see the «References» section for print publication details of all of these. Site also has translations of all the plays.
• Works by or about Anton Chekhov at Internet Archive
• Works by Anton Chekhov at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• 201 Stories by Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett presented in chronological order of Russian publication with annotations.
• Антон Павлович Чехов. Указатель Texts of Chekhov’s works in the original Russian, listed in chronological order, and also alphabetically by title. Retrieved June 2013. (in Russian)
• Антон Павлович Чехов Texts of Chekhov’s works in the original Russian. Retrieved 16 February 2007. (in Russian)
• Works by Anton Chekhov at Open Library

Anton Chekhov: biography

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is the classic of the world literature, writer, playwright, doctor by training, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Anton Chekhov was born in Taganrog in January 1860. His father was a grocer who held a small colonial products store. Anton had four brothers and two sisters one of which died in early childhood. Chekhov’s mother, a calm family-oriented woman, was a daughter of a merchant.

Chekhov went to the Taganrog grammar school when his father ran away from creditors to Moscow. The would-be writer stayed in the hometown to complete his education. He lived with the new owners of the house and paid for his living by tutoring.

In his school years, Chekhov acquired his worldview and developed the love of books and theater. At that time, he wrote several early humorous stories. Since 13, the boy was infatuated with theater and even took part in putting on home plays for his schoolmates.

Artworks

The first printed work by Anton Pavlovich appeared in 1880 in the magazine “Strekoza” (“Dragonfly”). Since then, Chekhov had been collaborating with the magazines “Budilnik” (“Alarm clock”), “Zritel” (“Viewer”), “Mirskoy Tolk” (“Mundane Talk”), “Svet i teni” (“Light and Shadows”). In the magazine “Oskolki” (“Fragments”), many Chekhov’s humorous stories appeared first: “Fat and Thin” 1883, “The Chameleon” 1884, “Overdoing it” 1885.

In 1886, in the periodical “Petersburg Gazeta” (“Petersburg Newspaper”), the Christmas story “Vanka” was published. The writer used the pseudonym “Antosha Chekhonte” in his first works.

In 1886, Anton Pavlovich received a job offer from St. Petersburg from the newspaper “Novoye Vremya” (“The New Time”). At this period, the writer created the short story collections “Motley Stories” and “Innocent Conversations.” As his works gained popularity, Chekhov started signing them with his real name.

The premiere of the new play “Ivanov” was in 1887 in Moscow. The young playwright’s artwork was first staged in Korsh Theater. With varied public reactions, the play was a success. Later, the play was staged in St. Petersburg with some adjustments. In 1888, Anton Pavlovich was awarded the half Pushkin Prize for his short story collection “At Dusk.”

In 1888-1889, the Chekhovy spent summer in Kharkov Governorate not far from Sumy. The death of one of the brothers made the writer escape the place where he lived with his relatives. Anton Pavlovich was going to visit Europe, but fate led him to Odessa where Maly Theater was touring. The writer attracted to some young actress, yet this feeling faded away soon. Apathetic, Chekhov went to Yalta.

By 1889, the writer had created the novellas “Drama on the Hunt,” Steppe,” “Lights,” and “A Boring Story.” The material for these works was gathered by Chekhov during his journeys. The writer became interested in visiting different places at the end of the 1880s when he stopped cooperating with the humorous magazines.

The desire to travel urged Chekhov to go to Sakhalin in 1890. The way to the island laid through Siberia where the writer stocked up on the material for his future literary projects. Considering the health condition of the consumptive person, the road was challenging for him. At the end of the journey, Chekhov created the collection of essays “From Siberia” and the book “Island Sakhalin.”

For numerous Chekhov’s art admirers, the novella “Ward № 6” stands out among other works. It was first published in the magazine “Russkaya Mysl” (“Russian Thought”) in 1892. The title of the novella became denominative – it means something abnormal or crazy. Many phrases from this book have become popular quotes.

In 1892, the writer’s old dream came true: he bought a country estate in Melikhovo and started living there with his parents and sister Maria who became a faithful guardian angel for her brother. After the purchase of the estate, Chekhov’s life transformed. Again, he had the opportunity to practice medicine – except literature, Anton Pavlovich had another passion, surgery.

During the Melikhovo period, Chekhov worked as a zemski doctor, built several schools, a fire station for peasants, and a bell tower. The writer ensured the road to Lopasnya was built and the railway station had a post office. Besides, Chekhov planted elms, oaks, and larches in the less dense parts of the forest; he also planted more than a thousand cherry trees. At this time, Anton Pavlovich opened the public library in Taganrog at his own expense.

Many famous works by Chekhov, such as “The Seagull” and “Uncle Vanya,” were created in Melikhovo. The tuberculosis exacerbation made the writer to leave the country estate for the south. In 1898, the playwright spent the winter in Nice; having returned from France, he bought a piece of land in Yalta. In summer 1899, Chekhov sold the country estate in Melikhovo and finally moved to Crimea.

At this time, Anton Pavlovich met his future wife. Olga Knipper spent July 1900 at Chekhov’s summer house which determined their further relationship development. In 1900, the playwright created the play “Three Sisters” where his spouse played splendidly. As the leading actress, Olga Knipper was also a success when “The Cherry Orchard” was staged in 1903.

In 1904, the playwright died. The play “The Cherry Orchard” was the last work of the Russian classic.

Stage Plays and Movies

In 1969, the Soviet director Sergey Yutkevich created the movie about how the play “The Seagull” was made. The movie was named “A Plot for a Little Story.”

Using the facts from the writer’s biography, in 1991, Robert Long and Dmitry Frenkel created the musical “Chekhov” in the Netherlands.

Commissioned by the Moscow Government, the biographical drama “Farewell, doctor Chekhov!” telling the story of the playwright’s life was created in 2007.

In 2012, the movie about the relationship between Anton Pavlovich and Lydia Avilova was presented. “The Admirer” starred Oleg Tabakov and Kirill Pirogov, the famous Russian actors.

In 2015, the French director René Féret created the movie “Anton Chekov 1890” based on his own scenario. The young actor Nicolas Giraud played the Russian playwright. The plot is based on the writer’s life in 1885-1890.

Personal Life

The writer’s personal life is full of love stories. The relationships between Chekhov and his women could last for years, and the writer’s affairs were not sequential. The women often knew about each other, yet they did not rush to break up with their beloved.

In 1888, the writer was attracted to Lidija Mizinova. The 19-year-old girl was a friend of Chekhov’s sister. Lika wanted to become the writer’s wife, but all Chekhov wanted was to be free and independent – he never considered her as a possible spouse. However, it did not prevent Chekhov from giving her hope for almost ten years. He enjoyed her company but avoided speaking about marriage and household.

In the first years, Chekhov laughed at his possible rivals in front of Lika, thus leaving them no chance to gain the young woman’s favor. Later, Chekhov himself introduced Lika who was in love with him with the womanizer Ignaty Potapenko.

Mizinova entered into the relationship with the married man, got pregnant, and had a daughter who died in her early childhood. Chekhov used these facts – Mizinova was the prototype figure of Nina Zarechnaya in “The Seagull.” After complex and complicated games with Chekhov and Potapekno, Lika found comfort in her marriage – in 1902, she married the theater director Alexander Sanin.

In the 1880s, Anton Pavlovich met Elena Shavrova. The 15-year-old girl brought her short story manuscript to Chekhov and fell over heels in love with him. However, the girl realized that she had few chances to be loved back and married five years after their meeting.

In 1897, Elena went to Moscow to visit her relatives. She met Chekhov again, and they had a love affair. The lovers escaped to Crimea and spent some time in Yalta; in the end, they split up. Chekhov wrote her about 70 letters – more than to any other woman he loved. In the short story “The Lady with the Dog,” the writer portrayed Shavrova as the female character.

In 1898, at “The Seagull” premiere, the playwright met his old acquaintance Nina Korsh who had fallen in love with Chekhov at 12. She did not miss the chance to mesmerize the writer, and Anton Pavlovich got attracted. As a result, Nina became pregnant. The writer is considered to have no direct offspring, but in 1900, his daughter Tatyana was born. Chekhov did not know about it since he left Nina for Olga Knipper, and Korsh never told him about her child. Afterwards, Nina and her parent went to Paris. Tatyana Antonovna followed in the footsteps of her father and became a doctor.

Olga Knipper was the woman who managed to persuade Chekhov to marry her. They met in 1898 during one of “The Seagull” rehearsals. Olga was a beautiful, charming woman and actress. The couple had no children. Knipper was pregnant, but no successor was born.

The letters from Chekhov’s archive give an ambiguous impression concerning his marriage to Knipper. Olga did not leave the stage, and Chekhov lived in Yalta most of the time, managing his tuberculosis episodes. The love story of the writer and his wife began with mutual feelings and beautiful courtship, yet it grew only into the epistolary novel with occasional meetings.

Chekhov’s friends believed that if he had not married Olga he would have lived longer and happier. However, the denouement of this story was not as dramatic as it could have been: in the last days, the playwright’s wife was by his side, not touring.

Disease and Death

Chekhov had tuberculosis. For the first time, he discovered the symptoms of consumption at 24. Since 1885, his sickness became more apparent: according to the writer’s memories, the temperature was accompanied by coughing blood. In his youth, Anton Pavlovich did not have treatment for tuberculosis – he thought the symptoms were the signals of another disease.

Later, the writer used to hide his poor physical condition from the nearest and dearest – he did not want to disturb his mother and sister. By 1897, the playwright was seriously ill, and he had regular bleedings in his right lung. This fact made him undergo examination conducted by doctor Ostroumov.

To study Chekhov’s disease symptoms, he was hospitalized. The doctors made the diagnosis and prescribed treatment. As long as the writer felt better, he started asking to let him go home – he wanted to continue his literary work. In 1898, coughing blood lasted for several days, yet he disguised this fact from his family.

The pain that had become an integral part of the writer’s life was also present in his characters. It is particularly evident in his work “The Story of an Unknown Man.”

The writer was prescribed visiting various health resorts the road to which was sometimes too heavy for a sick person. Living in Yalta extended his life till his marriage. As Ivan Bunin believed, his wife undermined his health with her frequent departures. She did not get along well with the writer’s sister Maria which gave more reasons to worry. Shortly before he died, Chekhov and his wife went to the resort in South Germany.

In summer 1904, in Badenweiler, the writer passed away. The reason of Chekhov’s death was tuberculosis. It began when the playwright felt worse than usual. When a doctor came, Chekhov was sure he was dying. He asked for a glass of champagne, had a drink, and died.

Interesting facts

• In his childhood, Chekhov was called “bomb” because he had a large head. Together with his brothers, he sang in a church choir led by his father.
• Sometimes, the writer did not use his real surname in his works. Scholars know more than 40 pseudonyms invented by Anton Pavlovich for himself.
• The writer loved dogs; he had two dachshunds. He called his pets Hina Markovna and Brom Isaevich in honor of popular medicines. The writer also had a mongoose.
• The playwright was friends with Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Maxim Gorky, Isaaс Levitan, Ivan Bunin; he called Leo Tolstoy his idol.
• Anton Pavlovich’s height was more than 180 cm. His charm attracted many women. The playwright’s friends jokingly called them “antonovkas.”

• The coffin with the writer’s body was delivered to Moscow from Germany in a car labeled “Oysters.” It was the only part of the train with refrigeration.
• After the writer’s death, one of his literary colleagues published memoirs “A.P. Chekhov in my life.” Lydia Avilova claimed that their relationship was passionate, although there is no documental evidence supporting this version. In his letters, Anton Pavlovich called her “matushka” (“mother”) or “the honorable.” Lydia Avilova explained it by the fact that she had burned the majority of the personal letters.
• The historians doubt her memoirs are true and believe she wanted to attract attention to herself by the famous colleague’s name.

Photo

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Russian: Антон Павлович Чехов)

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860 — 1904), was a Russian playwright and master of the modern short story. His best plays and short stories have very simple plots, but this simplicity reveals deep emotions and hidden thoughts of the characters creating an unforgettable impression on the readers. Chekhov is regarded as the outstanding representative of the late 19th-century Russian realist school.

Anton Chekhov was born in the Black Sea port of Taganrog. His grandfather used to be a serf, but he managed to purchase his family’s freedom. His father Pavel Chekhov owned a grocery shop. Little Chekhov used to spend a lot of time there. He learned to observe the everyday lives of different people and his ability to listen later became one of his most valuable skills as a writer.

Unfortunately, Pavel Chekhov wasn’t successful in his business. In 1876, he was declared bankrupt, so he moved with the family to Moscow to make a fresh start. Anton Chekhov stayed in Taganrog to finish his education and supported himself by working as a tutor for younger boys. In 1879, he joined the family and enrolled in the medical school at I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.

By the time of Anton’s graduation in 1884, his father was no longer earning a living. So Anton Chekhov supported his family through his freelance earnings as a journalist and writer of comic sketches. In the same year, the first symptoms of tuberculosis appeared, but Chekhov couldn’t afford to stop his work as a physician or make a pause in his writing in order to get treatment.

In 1887, Chekhov took a trip to Ukraine and fell in love with the beauty of the steppe. In 1888, he published his first novel in a leading literary review called Severny Vestnik («Northern Herald»). The novel described a journey in the Ukraine as seen through the eyes of a child sent away from his family. It was the first among more than 50 stories published in a variety of journals between 1888 and his death in 1904.

End of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century was the time when artists and scholars debated the purpose of literature. Some felt that literature should offer «life instructions.» Others felt that art should simply exist to please. Chekhov mostly agreed with the latter view. But at some point in this life he became obsessed with an idea of a prison reform. In early 1890, he even took an expedition to a remote island, Sakhalin, which was an imperial Russian penal settlement. Chekhov stayed there for three months, interviewing thousands of convicts and settlers for a census. After his return, he published his findings as a research thesis called The Island of Sakhalin (1893 — 1894).

In 1892, Chekhov bought a country estate in the village of Melikhovo, about 50 miles south of Moscow. He moved there with his parents and his sister Maria. The Melikhovo period was the most fruitful for Chekhov as a short story writer. During those six years, he wrote «The Butterfly,» «Neighbors» (1892), «An Anonymous Story» (1893), «The Black Monk» (1894), «Murder,» and «Ariadne» (1895). He worked as a doctor, charging poor people nothing for his services. He also took the responsibilities of the landlord very seriously, so he built three schools, a fire station, and a clinic.

In some of his stories of the Melikhovo period, Chekhov attacked the teachings of Leo Tolstoy. He used to be Tolstoy’s follower at first, but later Chekhov rejected those doctrines. He illustrated his new view in one particularly outstanding story called «Ward Number Six» (1892). The story pictures an elderly doctor who shows himself nonresistant to evil refusing to do anything in order to change the appalling conditions in the mental ward of which he has charge — only to find himself later a patient of the same ward.

Chayka (The Seagull) is Chekhov’s only dramatic work composed during the Melikhovo period. It received a disastrous response on opening night. The audience actually booed during the first act. Fortunately, innovative directors Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko believed in Chekhov’s work. Their new approach to drama invigorated audiences. The Moscow Art Theatre restaged The Seagull and it was a triumph.

Soon after, the Moscow Art Theatre, led by Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko, produced the rest of Chekhov’s masterpieces: Uncle Vanya (1899), The Three Sisters (1900), and The Cherry Orchard (1904).

In March 1897 Chekhov suffered a major lung hemorrhage caused by tuberculosis. Chekhov had to sell his Melikhovo estate. He built a villa in Yalta, the Crimean coastal resort. From then on, he spent most of his winters there. Both his plays Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard were written in Yalta. Soon Chekhov had become attracted by a young actress, Olga Knipper, who was starring in his plays. He married her in 1901; the marriage probably marked the only profound love affair of his life. But since his wife continued to pursue her acting career and Chekhov was badly ill, they lived apart during most of the winter months and had no children. In 1904, Chekhov died of tuberculosis in Badenweiler, Germany, where he was together with his wife.

During and after his lifetime, Anton Chekhov was adored throughout Russia. Aside from his beloved stories and plays, he is also remembered as a humanitarian and a philanthropist. However, Chekhov remained largely unknown to the international audience until after World War I when his works were finally translated by Constance Garnett (into English) and others.

One of the first non-Russians to praise Chekhov’s plays was George Bernard Shaw, who subtitled his Heartbreak House «A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes,» and pointed out similarities between the predicament of the British landed class and that of their Russian counterparts as depicted by Chekhov: «the same nice people, the same utter futility.»

In the United States, Chekhov’s reputation grew together with the influence of Stanislavski’s system of acting, with its notion of subtext: «Chekhov often expressed his thought not in speeches,» wrote Stanislavski, «but in pauses or between the lines or in replies consisting of a single word … the characters often feel and think things not expressed in the lines they speak.» This subtextual approach to drama influenced many well-known playwrights, actors, and screenwriters.

Alan Twigg, the chief editor and publisher of the Canadian book review magazine BC Bookworld wrote, «One can argue Anton Chekhov is the second-most popular writer on the planet. Only Shakespeare outranks Chekhov in terms of movie adaptations of their work, according to the movie database IMDb. … We generally know less about Chekhov than we know about mysterious Shakespeare.»

Sources:

• Wikipedia
• Encyclopedia Britannica
• ThoughtCo
• TheatreHistory.com

About the author

Антон Павлович Чехов

Литератор и врач, публицист и благотворитель, классик мировой драматургии Антон Павлович Чехов прожил всего 44 года, но его творчество повлияло на многие поколения писателей в России и за рубежом. Чехов создал новый тип драмы и перевернул прежние представления о том, каким должно быть театральное искусство.

Детство и юность Антона Чехова

Будущий писатель родился 17 (29) января 1860 года на юге России, в Таганроге, в большой купеческой семье. Глава семейства, Павел Егорович, продавал бакалейные товары. Он был человеком набожным, но крутого нрава, и его пять сыновей и дочь рано начали трудиться. С пяти утра они пели в церковном хоре, а вечерами сторожили отцовскую лавку.

В восьмилетнем возрасте Чехов поступил в таганрогскую гимназию, которая в наши дни носит имя писателя. Именно здесь, в стенах одного из старейших учебных заведений юга России, юный Антон Чехов начал писать рассказы и даже обзавёлся первым из своих многочисленных псевдонимов – Антоша Чехонте. Молодой гимназист страстно полюбил литературу и сцену: он выпускал юмористический журнал, участвовал в домашних спектаклях своих друзей, не пропускал постановок таганрогского театра.

В 1876 году, когда Чехову исполнилось всего 16 лет, отец его разорился, продал имущество и уехал с семьёй в Москву. Антон остался в Таганроге, чтобы окончить гимназию. Он жил у бывшего квартиранта своих родителей и зарабатывал на жизнь частными уроками.

В 1879 году Чехов поступил в Московский университет. Он выбрал профессию врача и уже с 1882 года погрузился в медицинскую практику – начал помогать докторам Чикинской больницы в подмосковном Воскресенске (ныне Истра). В этой же лечебнице Чехов продолжил работать и после окончания в 1884 году университета. Затем молодой врач перебрался в Звенигород и на некоторое время возглавил местную больницу.

Становление Антона Чехова как литератора

В 1880 году на страницах сатирического журнала «Стрекоза» появился первый печатный рассказ А.П. Чехова под названием «Письмо учёному соседу». Чехов писал много и быстро, и за этим дебютом последовали публикации коротких юмористических рассказов и фельетонов в различных московских и петербургских изданиях. В начале 1880-х миниатюры Чехова выходили под разнообразными псевдонимами (Антоша Чехонте, Человек без селезёнки и др.), что было характерной чертой жанра.

Вскоре Чехов «перерос» фельетоны, водевили и юморески. Со второй половины 1880-х темы его произведений стали серьёзнее, автора всё больше занимал трагизм обыденной жизни. В эти годы зародился интерес Чехова к повседневности, начала проявляться та особенная «бессобытийность» чеховской прозы, которую впоследствии будут отмечать многие критики.

К концу 1880-х гг. юмористические миниатюры уступили место повестям. «Степь» и «Скучная история», опубликованные в толстых журналах, принесли Чехову литературную славу. Вышедший в 1887 году сборник рассказов «В сумерках» был отмечен Пушкинской премией Императорской Санкт-Петербургской академии наук. К этому же времени относится и первое серьёзное драматургическое произведение А.П. Чехова – пьеса «Иванов». Рассказы конца 1880-х сочетали в себе подчёркнуто бесстрастное описание малозначительных событий повседневности и сквозящую в них глубокую трагичность («Спать хочется»).

Писательская деятельность. Творчество Чехова

В 1890 году Чехов отправился в путешествие на Сахалин, длившееся почти год. Писатель проехал через всю Сибирь, несколько месяцев прожил на острове, много общаясь с его ссыльными обитателями, провёл перепись населения, а затем морем вернулся домой. По свидетельству самого Чехова, поездка на Сахалин оказала огромное влияние и на его мировоззрение, и на его творчество.

По возвращении Чехов в течение пяти лет работал над книгой «Остров Сахалин» – путевыми заметками, в которых из отстранённых описаний и статистических данных вырос невыразимый ужас автора перед бесправием, унижениями и нищетой каторжников и их семей. Рассказы о жизни арестантов и сцены жестоких телесных наказаний перемежаются в книге с подробной статистикой заболеваний, которыми страдало население острова, и этнографическими заметками о коренных жителях Сахалина айнах.

Чехов любил собак, в Мелихово у него жили две таксы – Бром Исаевич и Хина Марковна. В 2012 году в местном доме-музее таксам установили памятник.

1890-е годы писатель провёл в Москве и подмосковном имении Мелихово. Два московских года были отмечены общением со многими литераторами и деятелями искусства. В Мелихове, куда Чехов перебрался в 1892 году, он написал знаменитые рассказы «Дом с мезонином», «Человек в футляре», повесть «Палата № 6», пьесу «Чайка» и более 30 других произведений.

В творчестве Чехова в эти годы всё больше проявлялся интерес к особому типу драматургического действия, а вернее – своеобразного бездействия. Вопреки традициям драматического жанра, в центре чеховских пьес находились не критически меняющие жизнь героев события, а повседневные мелочи. Театр Чехова – это быт героев, малозначащие диалоги, медленно развивающееся действие, за которым скрывается глубокая лиричность и сложные переживания чеховских персонажей, их разобщённость и неразрешимые внутренние конфликты.

Герои Чехова часто «не слышат» друг друга, их диалоги рассыпаются на отдельные реплики, сочетание которых создаёт причудливую смысловую игру – порой комическую, а порой и трагическую. Интерпретацию этих реплик, проникновение в психологию персонажей и постижение внутреннего конфликта бесстрастный драматург оставляет читателю и зрителю.

Подобное построение произведений стало новаторством не только для русской драматургии, но и для русского театра: новый конфликт и способы его выражения потребовали изменений в самом типе сценического действия и подходах к постановке. Не случайно первые критики Чехова упрекали его пьесы в бессюжетности, излишней затянутости, слабости. Лишь с приходом в театр К.С. Станиславского и В.И. Немировича-Данченко новый художественный язык Чехова, его лиризм и особенное внутреннее движение его пьес были интерпретированы на сцене.

Годы жизни в Мелихове Чехов провёл не только в литературной, но и в общественной работе. Он продолжал частную медицинскую практику, боролся с холерой в качестве санитарного инспектора, принимал участие в делах земства, строил школы, занимался благотворительностью. Писатель и врач, общественный деятель и частный человек сосуществовали в его натуре. Успевал Чехов и путешествовать по Европе: он побывал в Австрии, Италии, Франции и других странах.

Семья и личная жизнь

Несмотря на трудные детство и юность, Чехов всегда чувствовал единение со своей большой семьёй. Со временем братья и сестра Антона Павловича стали его соратниками на поприще литературы и искусства. Старший брат Александр стал известен как прозаик, публицист и мемуарист. Он вращался в московских литературных кругах, в молодости публиковался в юмористических журналах и немало сделал для литературной карьеры Антона. Сыном Александра был знаменитый актёр и режиссёр Михаил Александрович Чехов. Другой брат писателя, художник Николай Чехов, иллюстрировал юморески Антона в сатирических журналах.

Иван Павлович, младший из братьев, был известным русским педагогом, народным учителем, большим авторитетом в области образования. Михаил Павлович Чехов прославился как писатель, литературный критик, редактор, издатель детских журналов, переводчик, первый биограф и исследователь творчества своего знаменитого брата. Сестра Чехова Мария Павловна намного пережила всех своих братьев. Она создала дом-музей Чехова в Ялте и посвятила долгие годы сбору, хранению и изучению наследия Антона Павловича.

Личная жизнь Антона Павловича Чехова складывалась непросто. В молодости он часто увлекался женщинами, заводил романы, но до женитьбы дело не доходило. В 1898 году писатель встретил Ольгу Леонардовну Книппер – актрису Московского художественного театра, на сцене которого ставились пьесы к тому времени уже знаменитого драматурга. В 1901 году Чехов и Книппер заключили брак, однако жили почти всегда порознь: Ольга – в Москве, где она играла на театральной сцене, Антон – в Ялте. Лишь изредка Чехов приезжал в Москву к супруге, но в разлуке он писал ей множество нежных и забавных писем, полных любви.

Поздние годы

В конце 1890-х гг. Чехов, у которого всё сильнее проявлялись симптомы туберкулёза, купил дом в Ялте и перебрался к морю. На ялтинской даче, где впоследствии сестра Чехова Мария откроет музей писателя, были написаны все важнейшие произведения поздних лет, в том числе пьесы «Три сестры» и «Вишнёвый сад».

В 1899 году указом императора Николая II писатель удостоился ордена Святого Станислава 3-й степени, а с ним и дворянства, в 1900 году стал почётным академиком по разряду изящной словесности Отделения русского языка и словесности Академии наук. В 1902 году Чехов вместе с В.Г. Короленко откажется от этого звания в знак протеста против царского указа об исключении из числа академиков Максима Горького.

Болезнь и смерть Чехова

По всей видимости, Чехов заболел туберкулёзом ещё в детстве или ранней юности. Диагноз он, как врач, поставил себе сам. Нередко случались обострения, а с 1884 года писатель страдал кровотечениями из правого лёгкого и неуклонно слабел. Здоровье его было подорвано непростым детством, трудным путешествием по Сибири и Сахалину, тяжёлой врачебной работой и огромными эмоциональными нагрузками.

С конца 1890-х годов болезнь Чехова неуклонно прогрессировала. В 1904 году писатель уехал на немецкий курорт Баденвайлер, чтобы лечиться от чахотки. Там в ночь на 2 (15) июля 1904 года наступила смерть Антона Павловича Чехова. По воспоминаниям супруги, перед смертью писатель попросил бокал шампанского и послал за доктором, в присутствии которого ясно и уверенно произнёс ставшие знаменитыми последние слова: «Ich sterbe» (нем. «Я умираю»). Тело писателя поездом доставили в Москву и при большом стечении народа похоронили на Новодевичьем кладбище.

Библиография

Произведения Антона Павловича Чехова признаны классикой мировой литературы и переведены на сотню языков. Его пьесы вот уже более 100 лет не сходят со сцен театров, а влияние, которое он оказал на драматургию и театральное искусство, признается одним из самых значительных в XX веке. Писатель стал автором более 500 рассказов, повестей и пьес, не считая множества фельетонов и юморесок. Перечислим самые известные из них.

Рассказы:

Смерть чиновника (1883)

Толстый и тонкий (1883)

Свадьба с генералом (1884)

Хамелеон (1884)

Егерь (1885)

Живая хронология (1885)

Злоумышленник (1885)

Кухарка женится (1885)

Лошадиная фамилия (1885)

На чужбине (1885)

Налим (1885)

Оба лучше (1885)

Унтер Пришибеев (1885)

Rara avis (1886)

Беспокойный гость (1886)

Ванька (1886)

Лишние люди (1886)

Ночь на кладбище (1886)

Роман с контрабасом (1886)

Тоска (1886)

Шуточка (1886)

Каштанка (1887)

Накануне поста (1887)

Спать хочется (1887)

Тайна (1887)

В ссылке (1892)

Попрыгунья (1892)

После театра (1892)

Соседи (1892)

Страх (1892)

Володя большой и Володя маленький (1893)

Бабье царство (1894)

Скрипка Ротшильда (1894)

Студент (1894)

Учитель словесности (1894)

Анна на шее (1895)

Супруга (1895)

Убийство (1895)

Дом с мезонином (1896)

В родном углу (1897)

На подводе (1897)

Душечка (1898)

Ионыч (1898)

Крыжовник (1898)

О любви (1898)

Случай из практики (1898)

У знакомых (1898)

Человек в футляре (1898)

Дама с собачкой (1899)

На святках (1900)

Архиерей (1902)

Невеста (1903)

Повести:

Цветы запоздалые (1882)

Драма на охоте (Истинное происшествие) (1884)

Огни (1888)

Степь (1888)

Скучная история (1889)

Дуэль (1891)

Палата № 6 (1892)

Рассказ неизвестного человека (1893)

Чёрный монах (1894)

Три года (1895)

Моя жизнь (1896)

Мужики (1897)

В овраге (1899)

Пьесы:

Иванов (1887)

Медведь (1888)

Леший (1889)

Предложение (1889)

Свадьба (1889)

Трагик поневоле (1889)

Юбилей (1891)

Чайка (1896)

Дядя Ваня (1896)

Три сестры (1900)

Вишнёвый сад (1903)

Документальная литература, публицистика:

Из Сибири (1890)

Остров Сахалин (1893–1895)

Авторские сборники:

Шалость (1882) (не был издан)

Сказки Мельпомены (1884)

Пёстрые рассказы (1886)

В сумерках (1887)

Невинные речи (1887)

Рассказы (1888)

Детвора (1889)

Хмурые люди (1890)

Палата № 6 (и др. рассказы) (1893)

Повести и рассказы (1894)

Мужики (1897)

Моя жизнь (1897)

Антон Павлович Чехов — биография

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Антон Чехов — русский писатель, драматург, прозаик. Он носил звание почетного академика Императорской Академии наук по разряду словесности, хотя по профессии был врачом.

Один из самых известных драматургов в мире Антон Чехов создал множество произведений, которые не утратили актуальности до настоящего времени. Примерно три сотни его работ в самых разных жанрах, в том числе и сатирическом, составляют высокохудожественное наследие не только у него на родине, но и далеко за ее пределами. Он внес в литературу художественные открытия – в его произведениях отсутствует финальный вывод, он воспользовался приемом «поток сознания», и благодаря этому как бы не дает ответ на вопросы, а сам ставит их читателю. Его любимым выражением было «краткость – сестра таланта», и руководствуясь им, он создавал произведения для детей.

Детство

Родился Антон Чехов 29 января 1860 года в Таганроге. Его отец Павел Чехов был владельцем бакалейной лавки, купцом третьей гильдии. Мама Антона Чехова, в девичестве Морозова, из купеческой семьи, была домохозяйкой. Антон стал третьим из шестерых детей этого семейства, где подрастало пять сыновей и одна дочь.

Детские годы Антона и его братьев прошли в постоянных церковных праздниках и именинах. После занятий в школе мальчики должны были сторожить лавку своего отца, ежедневно они вставали в 5 утра, и шли петь в церковный хор. Чехов потом сказал, что детства у него и не было.

Сразу Антона отдали в греческую школу в Таганроге, в конце августа 1868 года он стал учеником приготовительного класса гимназии, которая была одной из старейших в России. В это время отцу семейства пришлось срочно скрываться от кредиторов, и он уехал в Москву. Антон продолжал учиться в Таганроге, и ему пришлось жить в своем собственном доме, только уже купленном другими людьми. Чтобы его не выгнали, парень исправно платил, а деньги зарабатывал, подрабатывая репетитором.

Именно во время учебы в гимназии Чехов полюбил книги и театр, у него появилось своеобразное видение окружающей действительности. В то время и произошла первая проба пера – парень стал автором нескольких юмористических повествований и получил псевдоним Чехонте. Так его назвал Федор Покровский, преподаватель Закона Божьего в гимназии. В тринадцатилетнем возрасте Чехов понял, что ему нравится театр и все, что с ним связано. Он стал активным участником домашних постановок, которые устраивали его товарищи по гимназии.

Творчество

Творческая биография Антона Чехова началась в 1880-м, когда журнал «Стрекоза» первый раз напечатал его произведение. После этого он сотрудничает с другими изданиями, которых было достаточно много – «Зритель», «Будильник», «Свет и тени», «Мирской толк». Периодическое издание под названием «Осколки» напечатало на своих страницах его юмористические произведения. В 1883-м на страницах этого журнала читатели смогли прочесть повесть «Толстый и тонкий», спустя год «Хамелеона», а в 1885-м рассказ «Пересолил».

Еще одно периодическое издание – «Петербургская газета», в 1886-м опубликовала новый рассказ Чехова под названием «Ванька». Под всеми этими произведениями красовался псевдоним «Чехонте».

В том же году ему пришло письмо из Петербурга, в котором ему предлагали работу. Чехова позвали в печатное издание «Новое время». Как раз в то время на суд читателей он представил сборники «Невинные речи» и «Пестрые рассказы». После того, как о нем начали отзываться хвалебно, Чехов больше не скрывался под псевдонимом, везде ставил свою настоящую фамилию.

В 1887-м в московском театре Корша прошла премьера постановки по пьесе Чехова «Иванов». Публика реагировала неоднозначно, но в общем спектакль прошел с большим успехом. Затем ее поставили в одном из петербургских театров, но только слегка доработали. В 1888-м творчество драматурга получило и материальное признание – он получил половину Пушкинской премии за сборник рассказов под названием «В сумерках».

Летом 1888 и 1889 года Чехов с семьей проживал недалеко от города Сумы. В то время умер один из его братьев, и это вынудило его срочно уехать из этого места. Писатель хотел побывать в Европе, однако по воле судьбы оказался в Одессе, где в то время была на гастролях труппа Малого театра. Чехов влюбился в молоденькую актрису, но эти отношения не имели продолжения. Чтобы справиться с нахлынувшей апатией, Чехов решается на переезд в Ялту.

К 1889-му году копилка работ прозаика пополнилась повестями «Степь», «Драма на охоте», «Скучная история», «Огни». Он описывал все, что видел во время своих путешествий.

Чехову очень нравилось бывать в новых местах, и в конце 80-х он очень много путешествует, тем более, что в это время он уже не публиковался в юмористических журналах.

В 1890-м Антон Павлович принимает решение побывать на Сахалине, так сильно ему понравилось путешествовать по новым местам. Чтобы попасть на остров, ему нужно было проехать всю Сибирь, и это путешествие тоже дало ему много материала для литературной деятельности. Если учесть, что прозаик болел чахоткой, то в этом путешествии ему было очень трудно. Зато впечатления от поездки впоследствии вылились в собрание очерков под названием «По Сибири» и книгу, которую автор назвал просто – «Остров Сахалин».

Многочисленные поклонники Чехова больше всего помнят его «Палату №6», которая увидела свет на страницах журнала «Русская мысль» в 1892-м. Название повести до сих пор употребляется, если нужно рассказать о каком-то сумасшествии или ненормальном поведении.

В 1892-м сбылась давняя мечта писателя – он стал владельцем усадьбы в Мелихово. Там он поселился с родителями и сестрой Марией, которая была при нем неотлучно. После того, как у Чехова появилось собственное жилье, его жизнь вошла в другое русло. Он снова возобновил медицинскую практику, потому что кроме писательского таланта в нем жила страсть к хирургии.

Во время проживания в Мелихово Антон Павлович исполнял обязанности земского врача, инициировал строительство нескольких школ, участвовал в обустройстве пожарного пункта для селян и колокольни. Следующей его заботой стала шоссейная дорога, ведущая на Лопасню, а также он добился, чтобы на железнодорожной станции появилось почтовое отделение. Помимо этого писатель побеспокоился, чтобы на прореженных участках леса посеяли дубы, вязы, лиственницы, приобрел и высадил свыше 1000 саженцев вишен. На собственные деньги Антон Павлович открыл библиотеку в Таганроге.

Именно мелиховский период принес новые произведения писателя, которые потом стали всемирно известными. Это были пьесы «дядя Ваня» и «Чайка». У Чехова частенько обострялся туберкулез, он был вынужден уезжать из имения и на некоторое время поселяться на юге. Зимний период 1898-го писатель прожил в Ницце, а после того, как вернулся домой, приобрел землю в Ялте. В 1899 году Чехов продает свое имение в Мелихово и окончательно поселяется в Крыму.

Именно в это время случились изменения в его личной жизни. Он познакомился с Ольгой Книппер и пригласил ее к себе на дачу.

Весь июль 1900-го года женщина прожила там и после этого их отношения стали официальными. В том же, 1900-м Чехов написал произведение «Три сестры», которое вскоре поставили в театре, а Ольга сыграла одну из ролей. История повторилась и с пьесой «Вишневый сад» в 1903-м, когда Книппер снова исполнила главную женскую роль и сорвала бурные аплодисменты зрителей.

В 1904-м Антона Чехова не стало. «Вишневый сад» стал последним произведением классика мирового масштаба.

Спектакли и кино

В 1969-м на экраны вышла лента советского режиссера Сергея Юткевича «Сюжет для небольшого рассказа», в которой рассказывалось как создавалась одна из самых известных пьес Чехова – «Чайка».

В 1991-м в Нидерландах состоялась премьера спектакля «Чехов», режиссерами которого были Дмитрий Френкель и Роберт Лонг. В основу легли известные и малознакомые события из биографии великого драматурга.

В 2007-м Правительство Москвы приняло решение о создании биографической драмы «Прощайте, доктор Чехов!».

В 2012-м на суд зрителей представлен еще один фильм, раскрывающий тонкости отношений Антона Чехова и Лидии Авиловой. Лента получила название «Поклонница», и в актерском составе ее можно было увидеть Кирилла Пирагова и Олега Табакова.

В 2015-м на экраны вышла лента французского режиссера Рене Фере «Антон Чехов 1890», сценарий к которой написал он сам. В роли Чехова снялся Николя Жиро, в картине идет рассказ о жизни писателя в 1885-1890 годах.

Личная жизнь

В личной жизни Антона Чехова было достаточно много любовных историй. Некоторые отношения длились много лет, причем бывало так, что он одновременно поддерживал отношения с двумя женщинами и они прекрасно знали о наличии соперницы. Но первыми на разрыв отношений не шли.

В 1888-м в жизни писателя появилась Лидия Мизинова. Ей было 19, и она была подругой его сестры. Она очень хотела выйти за Антона замуж, а ему больше всего хотелось свободы и независимости. В роли жены он Лику не видел, но на протяжении десяти лет не отпускал от себя, поддерживая в девушке огонек надежды. Ему нравилось ее общество, а вот разговоры о свадьбе он попросту игнорировал.

На протяжении первых лет знакомства, писатель старался высмеять в глазах Лики всех молодых людей, которые оказывались рядом и пытались привлечь ее внимание. А потом он сделал так, чтобы влюбленная в него Лидия переключилась на ловеласа Игнатия Потапенко.

У Мизиновой закрутился роман с женатым мужчиной, от которого она вскоре родила дочку. Девочка умерла в раннем детстве. Антон Чехов показал эту ситуацию в пьесе «Чайка», а Мизинова послужила прототипом главной героини Нины Заречной. После непонятных отношений с писателем Чеховым и ловеласом Потапенко, Лика наконец-то вышла замуж. В 1902 году ее мужем стал театральный режиссер Александр Санин.

В 80-е годы в личной жизни писателя появилась Елена Шаврова. Девушке только исполнилось 15, она пришла к Чехову, чтобы он оценил ее рукопись, и влюбилась с первого взгляда. Она прекрасно понимала, что ни о какой взаимности речь идти не может, поэтому спустя пять лет счастливо вышла замуж.

В 1897-м они случайно встретились в Москве, куда Елена приехала к родственникам. Их роман вспыхнул мгновенно, и втайне от всех они сбежали в Ялту, где какое-то время наслаждались чувствами. Но вскоре они расстались. Антон написал ей почти семьдесят писем, столько он не писал никому. Шаврова стала прототипом героини рассказа «Дама с собачкой».

В 1898-м на премьерном показе постановки «Чайка» Чехов встретился со своей давнишней знакомой Ниной Корш. Она давно и безнадежно была влюблена в писателя, и решила теперь не упускать шанса. Чехов увлекся, Нина забеременела. Историки утверждают, что писатель не оставил прямых потомков, но в 1900-м Нина Корш родила от него дочь Татьяну. Она не рассказала писателю о рождении дочери, потому что на тот момент их отношения закончились. Родители увезли Нину в Париж, где Татьяна выросла и выучилась на врача, продолжив путь отца.

Чехов порвал с Ниной из-за Ольги Книппер, единственной из всех женщин писателя, которая смогла женить его на себе. Их знакомство длилось с 1898 года, когда они впервые увиделись на репетиции постановки «Чайка». Ольга была очень красивой женщиной, в 1901-м они стали мужем и женой. Вскоре она забеременела, но родить не получилось. Этот брак писателя был бездетным.

Неизвестно, был ли этот союз счастливым, потому что Ольга по-прежнему служила в театре, а Чехову приходилось все чаще уезжать в Ялту, чтобы бороться с туберкулезом. Их история любви начиналась очень красиво, но вскоре стала поддерживаться случайными встречами и перепиской.

Друзья писателя почему-то были уверены, что если бы он не связал себя узами брака с ней, то возможно не умер бы так рано. Хотя в его последние дни Ольга не отходила от его постели и даже отказалась от гастролей.

Болезнь и смерть

На протяжении долгих лет писатель страдал от туберкулеза. Впервые он понял, что болен, когда ему исполнилось 24 года. С 1885 года болезнь начала переходить в более активную фазу, у него держалась постоянная температура, случалось кровохарканье. В юные годы он тайком от родных (прежде всего, родителей) лечил у себя туберкулез, исключительно консервативными методами — уровень медицины XIX века — удавалось до поры до времени только снимать обострения. Туберкулез диагностировал у себя правильно. Более того, догадывался об этиологии у себя этой болезни: в детстве перенес перитонит (воспаление кишечника), чудом выжил; туберкулез мог быть следствием осложнения перенесенного заболевания: помимо туберкулеза Чехов страдал «катаром кишечника», а значит не мог есть жирную пищу.

Похоже он не хотел расстраивать родных, поэтому всячески скрывал от них свое состояние. Ему не хотелось вызывать тревогу у матери и сестры. В 1897-м болезнь обострилась еще больше, правое легкое постоянно кровоточило. Писатель понял, что дело очень серьезное и обследовался у одного из известных специалистов – профессора Остроумова.

Для того, чтобы изучить его заболевание, писатель был госпитализирован. Доктора диагностировали болезнь, назначили курс лечения. Но как только болезнь слегка отпустила, Чехов начал проситься выписать его домой. Ему очень хотелось дальше писать, а больничные стены не давали волю фантазии. В 1898-м кровавый кашель участился, приступ мог длиться по несколько суток. И это он не рассказывал своим родным.

Чехов постоянно находился в плену болезненных ощущений, которые передавал и своим персонажам. Заметнее всего это отразилось в «Рассказе неизвестного человека».

Чехова часто отправляли на курорт. Его отправляли в Африку. Поэтому Чехов несколько раз ездил на отдых в Ниццу и жил там по нескольку месяцев, чтобы пережить период с осени по весну, а затем возвращался в Россию, пока окончательно не обосновался в Ялте. Когда он находился в Ялте, то болезнь отступала и так продолжалось до тех пор, пока в его жизни не появилась официальная жена – Ольга Книппер. Писатель Бунин был твердо уверен, что здоровье Чехову подрывала именно она, своими бесконечными гастролями. Не сложились у Ольги отношения и с Марией, сестрой драматурга, и это тоже выводило его из спокойного состояния. Перед самой смертью Антон Павлович уехал на курорт в южную Германию.

15 июля 1904 года Антон Чехов умер в Баденвайлере. Причиной летального исхода был туберкулез. Началось с того, что ему стало значительно хуже. Когда к нему позвали врача, писатель говорил, что он сейчас умрет. Перед смертью он выпил бокал шампанского и в ту же минуту умер.

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Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Ант́он П́авлович Ч́ехов) (January 29, 1860 – July 15, 1904) was a major Russian playwright and perhaps the foremost modern writer of the short story. His technique, which included an almost clinical objectivity, rejected traditional plotting (rising and falling action, transformation of the hero, heroes vs. villains, etc.) for a more natural exposition. Chekhov is a modernist insofar as his impressionistic renderings of scene do not impose moral judgment as much as enlist the reader’s subjective response. His attempts to paint life through vividly capturing commonplace incidents helped to revolutionize the short story genre.

Chekhov is best known in modern-day Russia for his several hundred short stories, many of which are considered masterpieces of the form, but his plays are also major influences on twentieth-century drama. From Chekhov, many contemporary playwrights have learned how to use mood, apparent trivialities, and inaction to highlight the internal psychology of characters. Chekhov’s four major plays—The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard—are frequently revived in modern productions.

Early Life

Anton Chekhov was born in Taganrog, a small provincial port on the Sea of Azov, in southern Russia on January 29, 1860. The son of a grocer (his father had the official rank of Traderions of the Third Guild — купeц 3й гильдии) and grandson to a serf who had bought his own freedom, Anton Chekhov was the third of six children.

Anton attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog (1866-1868). At the age of eight he was sent to the Taganrog Gymnasium for boys, where he proved an average pupil. Rather reserved and undemonstrative, he nevertheless gained a reputation for satirical comments, for pranks, and for making up humorous nicknames for his teachers. He enjoyed playing in amateur theatrical productions, often attending performances at the provincial theater. As an adolescent he tried his hand at writing short «anecdotes,» farcical or facetious stories, although he is also known to have written a serious long play at this time, Fatherless, which he later destroyed.

The writer’s mother, Yevgeniya, was an excellent storyteller, and Chekhov is supposed to have acquired his own gift for narrative and to have learned to read and write from her. His father, Pavel Yegorovich Chekhov, a strict disciplinarian and a religious zealot, demanded from all dedication to the Eastern Orthodox Church and the family business. In 1875, facing bankruptcy, he was forced to escape from creditors to Moscow, where his two eldest sons were attending the university. For the next several years the family lived in poverty.

Anton stayed behind in Taganrog for three more years to finish school. He made ends meet by giving private tutoring, selling off household goods, and later, working in a clothing warehouse. In 1879, Chekhov completed schooling at the gymnasium and joined his family in Moscow, where he gained admission to medical school at Moscow State University.

Short Stories

Early Period

In a bid to support his family, Chekhov started writing short, humorous sketches and vignettes of contemporary Russian life, many under pseudonyms such as Antosha Chekhonte (Антоша Чехонте), Man without a spleen (Человек без селезенки), and others. His first published piece appeared in the St. Petersburg weekly Strekoza (Стрекоза, «Dragonfly») in March 1880. It is not known how many stories Chekhov wrote during this period, but his output was prodigious, and he rapidly earned a reputation as a satirical chronicler of Russian street life.

Nicolas Leykin, one of the leading publishers of the time and the owner of Oskolki (Осколки, «Fragments»), to which Chekhov began submitting some of his finer works, recognized the writer’s talent but restricted the length of Chekhov’s prose, limiting him only to sketches of a page and a half in length. Some believe that it was this limitation that developed Chekhov’s trademark concise style.

Chekhov graduated from medical school in 1884, but while he worked as a physician, he continued writing for weekly periodicals. In 1885, he began submitting longer works of a more somber nature to the Petersburgskaya Gazeta («The Petersburg Gazette»); these were rejected by Leykin. By December 1885 he was invited to write for one of the most respected papers of St. Petersburg, Novoye vremya (Новое Время, «New Times»), owned and edited by the millionaire magnate Alexey Suvorin. By 1886 Chekhov was becoming a well-known writer, but he still considered his writing a hobby.

Dmitrii Grigorovich, one of the many writers who were attracted to Chekhov’s stories, persuaded him to take his talents seriously. In an immensely fruitful year Chekhov wrote over a hundred stories and published his first collection «Motley Tales» {Pestrye rasskazy) with support from Suvorin. The following year the short story collection «At Dusk» (V sumerkakh) won Chekhov the coveted Pushkin Prize. This would mark the end of his early career and the beginning of a highly productive second phase.

Later Period

In the late 1880s, Chekhov contracted tuberculosis from a patient. In 1887, forced by overwork and ill health, Chekhov undertook a trip to eastern Ukraine. Upon his return, he started writing the long short story The Steppe (Step), which was eventually published in a serious literary journal Severny vestnik («Northern Herald»). During this phase Chekhov developed the objective style that is most often associated with his name.

As a physician and man of science, Chekhov began to put human life under the microscope. His longer story, «Peasants,» (1897) deals with the bleak existence of the story’s namesake. Against the trend of Russian literature (Tolstoy, for example) and Russian thought, both radical and conservative, he did not present a romantic portrayal of peasant life and culture. Nor did he indict the regime. With precision, Chekhov portrayed both the brutish conditions and the brutish behavior that characterized peasant life, but also showed their warmth and human feeling. «In the Ravine» (1900) is even bleaker in its treatment of small town life rife with corruption. The scope of Chekhov’s literary universe is much smaller than that of his predecessors, like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. These novelists wrote massive tomes on the grand stage about universal truths. Chekhov employed the small screen to hone in on the common, the everyday problems and sins that plague people’s lives. There is no «Life of the Great Sinner» here (a work that Dostoevsky once contemplated), but the petty, the venal, selfish actions of the ordinary sinner. Chekhov’s technique is to describe many seemingly random details, sights, smells, and sounds that create the mood, but also carry the meaning of the story.

For example, in «Gooseberries» (1898), one of Chekhov’s most fully realized stories, he conveys many details of two hunters walking through the woods who happen upon a mill. The story of the mill owner, a swim in the rain, the exchanging of stories, including one about a man whose ambition in life is to become a landowner so that he can eat is own gooseberries, paint a picture in which the good and evil elements cannot be easily separated into discreet categories. Chekhov is less concerned with the great evils of the world as he is with the fact that people «live badly.» He does not seek to redeem life through a grand transformation, but in his stories there are moments of beauty and goodness side by side with the coarseness of life. His stories reject the typical notion of development. His characters are not portraits, but sketches. They do not typically undergo any transformation within the narrative, so the normal sense of plot is relegated to creating a vignette.

The Major Plays

In 1896, Chekhov wrote the play The Seagull. After a successful production by the Moscow Art Theater in 1898, he wrote three more plays for the same company: Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard. Chekhov’s plays have common features to his short stories. He eschews traditional plot lines and classic heroes. Rather, he creates ensembles without delineated lead characters. Like his stories, the characters don’t develop or undergo transformation. Their inner workings are merely uncovered; dialogue sometimes overlaps.

Uncle Vanya is a play that deals with bitterness. Uncle Vanya has sacrificed his life for the sake of a now retired professor of literature, Serebryakov. Together with the professor’s daughter, he has managed the professor’s estate. But when Serebryakov decides to sell the estate, leaving him and Sonya no place to live, he realizes that his sacrifice was made in vain to a self-serving egotist who cares nothing about him or anyone else. He is so enraged he tries to shoot the professor, but misses. But this does not really represent a resolution to the conflict. Instead, things just go back to the way they were. This play has the same bleak outlook as some of his short stories.

Three Sisters (1901) tells the story of the fall of a noble family and its effect on three sisters, Olga, Masha, and Irina. They lose the family home to their brother and his wife, Natasha. The play is oriented between a wistful view of the past and a hopeful view toward the future, but neither view is really tenable. With their past taken away, they naively place all their hopes and dreams toward a future that the viewer recognizes will not come, most notably in their constant refrain of «to Moscow,» which they imagine as the cosmopolitan place that will be the solution to all their problems. It is a journey that they will never make.

Cherry Orchard (1904) depicts the end of the era of the aristocracy and the rise of the new capitalist class. Lyubov Ranevskaya is the owner of an estate who must sell her cherry orchard to pay off her creditors. Lopakhin, a merchant who wants to buy the orchard and cut it down to make lots for summer homes, represents the ascendancy of the new merchant class. Chekhov’s storytelling technique is not paint one side as hero, the other as villain. Ranevskaya is capable of both pettiness and nobility. While there is a sense of loss over the cherry orchard, the way of life it represents is not romanticized.

The movement toward naturalism in theatre that was sweeping Europe reached its highest artistic peak in Russia in 1898 with the formation of the Moscow Art Theatre (later called МKhАТ, the Moscow Academy Art Theater). Its name became synonymous with that of Chekhov, whose plays about the day-to-day life of the landed gentry achieved a delicate poetic realism that was years ahead of its time. Konstantin Stanislavsky, its director, became the twentieth century’s most influential theorist on acting.

Later Life

Accompanied by Suvorin, Chekhov visited western Europe. Their long and close friendship negatively reflected on Chekhov’s popularity, as Suvorin’s Novoye vremya was considered politically reactionary in the increasingly liberal times. Eventually, Chekhov broke with Suvorin over the attitude taken by the paper toward the notorious Dreyfus Affair in France, with Chekhov championing the cause of Alfred Dreyfus.

In 1901, he married Olga Leonardovna Knipper (1870–1959), an actress who performed in his plays. His illness forced Chekhov to spend long periods of time in Nice, France and later in Yalta in the Crimea. Chekhov died of complications of tuberculosis in Badenweiler, Germany where he had been visiting a special clinic for treatment. He was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery.

Assessment

Chekhov revolutionized the genre of short story; his subject matter and technique influenced many future short-story writers. It is often said that little action occurs in Chekhov’s stories and plays, but he compensates for lack of outward excitement by his original techniques for developing internal drama. The point of a typical Chekhov story is most often what happens within a given character, and that is conveyed indirectly, by suggestion or by significant detail. Chekhov eschews the traditional build-up of chronological detail, instead emphasizing moments of epiphanies and illumination over a significantly shorter period of time. As such, his best stories have a psychological realism and conciseness seldom matched by other writers. Tolstoy likened Chekhov’s technique to that of the French Impressionists, who daubed canvases with paint apparently without reason, but achieved an overall effect of vivid, unchallenged artistry.

As samples of the Russian epistolary art, Chekhov’s letters have been rated second only to Alexander Pushkin’s by the literary historian D.S. Mirsky. Equally innovative in his dramatic works, Chekhov sought to convey the texture of everyday life and move away from traditional ideas of plot and conventions of dramatic speech. Dialogue in his plays is not smooth or continuous: characters interrupt each other, several different conversations take place at the same time, and lengthy pauses occur when no one speaks at all.

Perhaps one of his best known contributions is Chekhov’s dictum (also known as Chekhov’s Gun): If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.

Influence

Though already celebrated by the Russian literary public at the time of his death, Chekhov did not become internationally famous until the years after World War I, by which time Constance Garnett’s translations (into English) had become available. His elusive, superficially guileless style of writing, in which what is left unsaid is often more important than what is said, proved to be very influential in twentieth-century literature.

Chekhov’s plays were immensely popular in England in the 1920s and have become classics of the British stage. In the United States his fame came somewhat later, through the influence of Stanislavsky’s method acting technique. American playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Clifford Odets have used Chekhovian techniques, and few important playwrights in the twentieth century have escaped Chekhov’s influence entirely.

Many writers of prose, particularly of short stories, have also been influenced by Chekhov, such as Katherine Mansfield. John Cheever has been called «the Chekhov of the suburbs» for his ability to capture the drama and sadness of the lives of his characters by revealing the undercurrents of apparently insignificant events. American writer Raymond Carver was also frequently compared to Chekhov, because of his minimalist prose style and tendency to meditate upon the humor and tragedy in the everyday lives of working class people. Master of the short story, the British author Victor Sawdon Pritchett’s works are prized for their craftsmanship and comic irony similar to that of Chekhov.

Works

Plays

• That Worthless Fellow Platonov (c. 1881) – one act
• On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco (1886, 1902)
• Ivanov (1887) – four acts
• The Bear (1888) – one-act comedy
• The Proposal or A Marriage Proposal (c. 1888–1889) – one act
• The Wood Demon (1889) – four-act comedy
• The Seagull (1896)
• Uncle Vanya (1899–1900) – based on The Wood Demon
• Three Sisters (1901)
• The Cherry Orchard (1904)

Nonfiction

• A Journey to Sakhalin (1895), including:
  • Saghalien [or Sakhalin] Island (1891–1895)
  • Across Siberia

Short stories

Many of the earlier stories were written under the pseudonym «Antosha Chekhonte.»

• «Intrigues» (1879–1884) – nine stories
• «Late-Blooming Flowers» (1882)
• «The Swedish Match» (1883)
• «Lights» (1883–1888)
• «Oysters» (1884)
• «Perpetuum Mobile» (1884)
• A Living Chronology (1885)
• «Motley Stories» («Pëstrye Rasskazy») (1886)
• «Excellent People» (1886)
• «Misery» (1886)
• «The Princess» (1886)
• «The Schoolmaster» (1886)
• «A Work of Art» (1886)
• «Hydrophobia» (1886–1901)
• «At Home» (1887)
• «The Beggar» (1887)
• «The Doctor» (1887)
• «Enemies» (1887)
• «The Examining Magistrate» (1887)
• «Happiness» (1887)
• «The Kiss» (1887)
• «On Easter Eve» (1887)
• «Typhus» (1887)
• «Volodya» (1887)
• «The Steppe» (1888) – won the Pushkin Prize
• «An Attack of Nerves» (1888)
• «An Awkward Business» (1888)
• «The Beauties» (1888)
• «The Swan Song» (1888)
• «Sleepy» (1888)
• «The Name-Day Party» (1888)
• «A Boring Story» (1889)
• «Gusev» (1890)
• «The Horse Stealers» (1890)
• «The Duel» (1891)
• «Peasant Wives» (1891)
• «Ward No. 6» (1892)
• «In Exile» (1892)
• «The Grasshopper» (1892)
• «Neighbors» (1892)
• «Terror» (1892)
• «My Wife» (1892)
• «The Butterfly» (1892)
• «The Two Volodyas» (1893)
• «An Anonymous Story» (1893)
• «The Black Monk» (1894)
• «The Head Gardener’s Story» (1894)
• «Rothschild’s Fiddle» (1894)
• «The Student» (1894)
• «The Teacher of Literature» (1894)
• «A Woman’s Kingdom» (1894)
• «Three Years» (1895)
• «Ariadne» (1895)
• «Murder» (1895)
• «The House with an Attic» (1896)
• «My Life» (1896)
• «Peasants» (1897)
• «In the Cart» (1897)
• «The Man in a Case,» «Gooseberries,» «About Love» – the “Little Trilogy” (1898)
• «Ionych» (1898)
• «A Doctor’s Visit» (1898)
• «The New Villa» (1898)
• «On Official Business» (1898)
• «The Darling» (1899)
• «The Lady with the Dog» (1899)
• «At Christmas» (1899)
• «In the Ravine» (1900)
• «The Bishop» (1902)
• «The Bet» (1904)
• «Betrothed» or «A Marriageable Girl» (1903)
• «Agafya»

Novel

• The Shooting Party (1884–1885)

External links

All links retrieved October 30, 2021.

• Works by Anton Chekhov. Project Gutenberg
• Texts of Chekhov’s works in the original Russian
• Official Web Site of the City of Taganrog, «The Birthplace of Anton Chekhov»
• In-depth review of Chekhov’s short stories

ЧЕ́ХОВ Ан­тон Пав­ло­вич [17(29).1.1860, Та­ган­рог – 2(15).7.1904, Ба­ден­вай­лер, Гер­ма­ния; по­хо­ро­нен в Мо­ск­ве], рус. пи­са­тель. Из ку­печ. се­мьи; отец – хо­зя­ин ба­ка­лей­ной лав­ки, дед по от­цов­ской ли­нии – кре­по­ст­ной, по­лу­чив­ший воль­ную по вы­ку­пу и вы­ку­пив­ший свою се­мью. В от­ро­че­ст­ве и юно­сти Ч. ис­пы­тал тя­го­ты и ли­ше­ния, с дет­ст­ва по­мо­гал в тор­гов­ле от­цу. По­сле его ра­зо­ре­ния и отъ­ез­да в 1876 с семь­ёй в Мо­ск­ву, ос­тав­шись один в Та­ган­ро­ге, за­ра­ба­ты­вал на жизнь ча­ст­ны­ми уро­ка­ми. При­над­леж­ность к ин­тел­ли­ген­ции в пер­вом по­ко­ле­нии и впе­чат­ле­ния юно­сти от­час­ти оп­ре­де­ли­ли те­ма­ти­ку твор­че­ст­ва зре­ло­го Ч.: му­чи­тель­ность по­шлой обы­ден­но­сти, ис­пы­та­ние ге­роя кос­ной сре­дой, со­ци­аль­но-пси­хо­ло­гич. ком­плек­сы пер­со­на­жа-не­дво­ря­ни­на в ок­ру­же­нии по­ме­щи­ков. В 1879 по окон­ча­нии Та­ган­рог­ской гим­на­зии Ч. по­сту­пил на мед. ф-т Моск. ун-та; окон­чил ун-т в 1884, по­лу­чив зва­ние уезд­но­го вра­ча.

По при­ез­де в Мо­ск­ву Ч. сра­зу же на­чал со­труд­ни­чать в по­пу­ляр­ных юмо­ри­стич. и са­ти­ри­че­ских жур­на­лах («Стре­ко­за», «Ос­кол­ки», «Бу­диль­ник» и др.), где пе­ча­тал под разл. псев­до­ни­ма­ми (Ан­то­ша Че­хон­те, Че­ло­век без се­ле­зён­ки и др.) рас­ска­зы, очер­ки, па­ро­дий­ные юмо­ре­ски, бы­ст­ро об­ре­тя ре­пу­та­цию ода­рён­но­го и ост­ро­ум­но­го ли­те­ра­то­ра. Од­на из де­бют­ных пуб­ли­ка­ций Ч. – юмо­ре­ска «Ко­му пла­тить (сни­мок)» (1878, под псевд. Юный ста­рец); пер­вая боль­шая пуб­ли­ка­ция – «Пись­мо дон­ско­го по­ме­щи­ка Сте­па­на Вла­ди­ми­ро­ви­ча N. к учё­но­му со­се­ду д-ру Фрид­ри­ху» (1880). В 1883–85 вёл обо­зре­ние «Ос­кол­ки мо­с­ков­ской жиз­ни» для пе­терб. ж. «Ос­кол­ки»; в 1884 вы­пус­тил сб. юмо­ри­стич. и са­ти­рич. рас­ска­зов «Сказ­ки Мель­по­ме­ны», в 1886 – сб. «Пё­ст­рые рас­ска­зы». В про­зе Ч. 1-й пол. 1880-х гг. пре­ва­ли­ру­ют ко­мич. мо­ти­вы и об­ра­зы, од­на­ко в не­ко­то­рых про­из­ве­де­ни­ях уже от­чёт­ли­во зву­чат ха­рак­тер­ные для позд­ней­ше­го его твор­че­ст­ва мо­ти­вы бес­цель­но­сти, бес­смыс­лен­но­сти и аб­сурд­но­сти жиз­ни: рас­ска­зы «Смерть чи­нов­ни­ка» (1883), «Ха­ме­ле­он» (1884), «Ун­тер При­ши­беев» (1885, пер­во­на­чаль­ное назв. – «Сверх­штат­ный блю­сти­тель»), при­чём ра­бо­тая с тра­диц. ти­пом «ма­лень­ко­го че­ло­ве­ка», обыч­но яв­ляв­ше­го­ся пред­ме­том со­стра­да­ния, Ч. об­на­ру­жи­ва­ет в нём низ­мен­ные, под­лые или страш­ные чер­ты («Смерть чи­нов­ни­ка», «Ха­ме­ле­он»). В зре­лом твор­че­ст­ве Ч. от ран­ней про­зы со­хра­нит­ся вни­ма­ние к пред­мет­ной, ве­ще­ст­вен­ной де­та­ли, а юмор и иро­ния уже не бу­дут пре­об­ла­дать, а со­ста­вят од­ну из кра­сок в слож­ной па­лит­ре ав­то­ра.

Силь­ное впе­чат­ле­ние на Ч. про­из­ве­ло в 1886 пись­мо Д. В. Гри­го­ро­ви­ча, при­зы­вав­ше­го его от­ка­зать­ся от мел­кой по­дён­ной ра­бо­ты ра­ди за­ра­бот­ка и об­ра­тить­ся к боль­шим и серь­ёз­ным те­мам. В том же го­ду А. С. Су­во­рин – ре­дак­тор круп­ней­шей рус. газ. «Но­вое вре­мя», при­звал мо­ло­до­го пи­са­те­ля бе­реж­нее от­но­сить­ся к сво­ему та­лан­ту и не раз­мени­вать его на лит. ме­ло­чи. В 1886 Ч. на­чал со­труд­ни­чать в «Но­вом вре­ме­ни», в 1888 – в ж. «Се­вер­ный вест­ник», в 1892 – в ж. «Рус­ская мысль». В твор­че­ст­ве Ч. на­ме­ти­лись серь­ёз­ные из­ме­не­ния, о чём сви­де­тель­ст­ву­ют про­из­веде­ния, во­шед­шие в сб. «В су­мер­ках» (1887): на сме­ну ост­ро­сю­жет­но­сти ран­них ко­мич. рас­ска­зов при­хо­дит «бес­со­бы­тий­ность» – изо­бра­же­ние си­туа­ций, в ко­то­рых до­ми­ни­ру­ет не дей­ст­вие, но тон­кий пси­хо­ло­гизм, эмо­цио­наль­ный под­текст; вме­сто шар­жи­ро­ван­ных ко­мич. ти­па­жей пред­став­ле­ны слож­ные, не­од­но­знач­ные, ин­ди­ви­дуа­ли­зи­ро­ван­ные пер­со­на­жи.

Пер­вым дра­ма­тур­гич. про­из­ве­де­ни­ем Ч., по­став­лен­ным на сце­не, ста­ла в 1887 пье­са «Ива­нов» (1-я ред.; Кор­ша те­атр). В 1888 в по­вес­ти «Степь» Ч., об­ра­тив­шись к но­во­му для се­бя жан­ру, соз­да­ёт на ос­но­ве впе­чат­ле­ний от по­езд­ки по юж­но­рус­ским сте­пям пер­со­на­жа – ма­лень­ко­го маль­чи­ка Его­руш­ки – па­но­ра­му рус. жиз­ни, ис­пол­нен­ную эпич. ши­ро­ты и од­но­вре­мен­но про­ник­ну­тую ли­рич. на­ча­лом, с по­лу­скры­ты­ми ре­ми­нис­цен­ция­ми из «Мёрт­вых душ» Н. В. Го­го­ля. В по­вес­ти «Скуч­ная ис­то­рия» (1889) о тра­ге­дии оди­но­че­ст­ва по­жи­ло­го, при­бли­зив­ше­го­ся к смер­ти че­ло­ве­ка, Ч. пе­ре­ос­мыс­лил об­раз «лиш­не­го че­ло­ве­ка» и свя­зан­ную с ним со­ци­аль­ную про­бле­ма­ти­ку, вы­дви­нув на пер­вый план пси­хо­ло­гич. и фи­ло­соф­ский ас­пек­ты. Те­ма­ми его твор­че­ст­ва ста­но­вят­ся не­пре­одо­ли­мая обо­соб­лен­ность всех и ка­ж­до­го, не­воз­мож­ность взаи­мо­по­ни­ма­ния ме­ж­ду людь­ми. В по­вес­ти «Ду­эль» (1891) пред­ме­том горь­ко-иро­нич. изо­бра­же­ния ока­зы­ва­ет­ся реф­лек­ти­рую­щий и са­мо­оп­рав­ды­ваю­щий­ся «лиш­ний че­ло­век», пы­таю­щий­ся оп­рав­дать свои по­ро­ки и сла­бо­сти влия­ни­ем сре­ды и вре­ме­ни. Од­но­вре­мен­но в по­вес­ти ве­дёт­ся по­ле­ми­ка с нравств. уче­ни­ем Л. Н. Тол­сто­го; по­ле­ми­ка с тол­стов­ским идеа­лом «оп­ро­ще­ния» при­сут­ст­ву­ет и в по­вес­ти «Моя жизнь» (1896).

В 1890 Ч. как кор­рес­пон­дент «Но­во­го вре­ме­ни» от­пра­вил­ся че­рез Си­бирь на о. Са­ха­лин, глав­ное в то вре­мя ме­сто ка­тор­ги и ссыл­ки. Ре­зуль­та­том по­езд­ки ста­ла кн. очер­ков «Ост­ров Са­ха­лин» (1893–94, отд. изд. 1895); кос­вен­ным об­ра­зом впе­чат­ле­ния, на­ве­ян­ные кар­ти­на­ми не­сво­бо­ды и по­ру­га­ния че­ло­ве­че­ско­го дос­то­ин­ст­ва, от­ра­зи­лись в рас­ска­зах «В ссыл­ке» (1892), «Убий­ст­во» (1895), в по­вес­ти «Па­ла­та № 6» (1892).

К нач. 1890-х гг. Ч. – не толь­ко при­знан­ный пи­са­тель, но и об­ществ. дея­тель. Осе­нью 1891 он уча­ст­ву­ет в сбо­ре средств для го­ло­даю­щих кре­сть­ян; в 1892 по­се­ща­ет Ни­же­го­род­скую, за­тем Во­ро­неж­скую гу­бер­нии, ор­га­ни­зуя эту по­мощь; без­воз­мезд­но ле­чит кре­сть­ян в ок­ре­ст­но­стях ку­п­лен­но­го им в 1892 под­мос­ков­но­го име­ния Ме­ли­хо­во, стро­ит шко­лы в Ме­ли­хо­ве и со­сед­них де­рев­нях; уча­ст­ву­ет во все­об­щей пе­ре­пи­си на­се­ле­ния 1897. Став в 1900 по­чёт­ным ака­де­ми­ком Пе­терб. АН, Ч. вме­сте с В. Г. Ко­ро­лен­ко от­ка­зы­ва­ет­ся в 1902 от это­го зва­ния в знак про­тес­та про­тив ре­ше­ния ис­клю­чить из чле­нов ака­де­мии толь­ко что из­бран­но­го М. Горь­ко­го.

В про­зе сер. 1890-х – нач. 1900-х гг. Ч. стре­мит­ся к пре­дель­ной ла­ко­нич­но­сти по­ве­ст­во­ва­ния, вме­щая в рам­ки не­боль­шо­го рас­ска­за ис­то­рию жиз­ни, ду­хов­ной и ду­шев­ной де­гра­да­ции ге­роя («Ио­ныч», 1898), об­ра­ща­ет­ся к изо­бра­же­нию ду­хов­но убо­гих и ни­чтож­ных пер­со­на­жей, от­ка­зы­ва­ясь от пря­мо­ли­ней­ных са­ти­рич. оце­нок («Ду­шеч­ка», 1899), пред­по­чи­та­ет от­кры­тые фи­на­лы од­но­пла­но­вым раз­вяз­кам («Сту­дент», 1894; «Да­ма с со­бач­кой», 1898; опубл. в 1899; «Не­вес­та», 1903). В позд­них рас­ска­зах фор­ми­ру­ет­ся слож­ное со­от­но­ше­ние ме­ж­ду од­но­знач­ны­ми идея­ми и оцен­ка­ми, при­над­ле­жа­щи­ми пер­со­на­жам-рас­сказ­чи­кам, и ав­тор­ской точ­кой зре­ния («Че­ло­век в фут­ля­ре», «Кры­жов­ник», «О люб­ви», все 1898), про­из­ве­де­ния во мно­гом стро­ят­ся на прин­ци­пах по­вто­ре­ния и варь­и­ро­ва­ния мо­ти­вов.

В сво­их позд­них пье­сах – «Дя­дя Ва­ня» (1896, опубл. в 1897, пост. в 1899; пе­ре­ра­бот­ка пье­сы «Ле­ший», 1889, опубл. в 1890), «Чай­ка» (1896), «Три се­ст­ры» (1901), «Виш­нё­вый сад» (1904), Ч. вы­сту­пил как дра­ма­тург-но­ва­тор, пред­вос­хи­тив­ший ху­дож. ис­ка­ния и от­кры­тия мо­дер­ни­ст­ской дра­ма­тур­гии 20 в., в т. ч. аб­сур­да те­ат­ра. Ч. от­ка­зал­ся от тра­диц. сис­те­мы ам­п­луа, от еди­но­го сю­же­та и кон­флик­та, оп­ре­де­ляв­ших до это­го вре­ме­ни всю струк­ту­ру дра­матич. со­чи­не­ний; со­бы­ти­ем в его дра­ма­тур­гии ста­ли не пе­ри­пе­тии сю­же­та, а внут­рен­нее со­стоя­ние и пе­ре­жи­ва­ния пер­со­на­жей; при этом мыс­ли и чув­ст­ва обыч­но не вы­ра­же­ны пря­мо, в ре­п­ли­ках и мо­но­ло­гах, а да­ны в под­тек­сте. Не­при­выч­ность че­хов­ской дра­мы обу­сло­ви­ла про­вал «Чай­ки» на пре­мье­ре в Алек­сан­д­рин­ском те­ат­ре в С.-Пе­тер­бур­ге в 1896, од­на­ко уже в 1898 пье­са име­ла три­ум­фаль­ный ус­пех в Мо­с­ков­ском Ху­до­же­ст­вен­ном ака­де­ми­че­ском те­ат­ре в по­ста­нов­ке В. И. Не­ми­ро­ви­ча-Дан­чен­ко и К. С. Ста­ни­слав­ско­го. На сце­не Ху­до­же­ст­вен­но­го те­ат­ра с ус­пе­хом бы­ли по­став­ле­ны «Дя­дя Ва­ня», «Три се­ст­ры», «Виш­нё­вый сад», хо­тя, по мне­нию Ч., за­мы­сел этой пье­сы и в МХТ по­нят не­вер­но: про­иг­но­ри­ро­ва­но ко­ми­че­ское на­ча­ло и вне­сён не­уме­ст­ный ме­ло­дра­ма­тизм. «Виш­нё­вый сад», в ко­то­ром за ча­ст­ным слу­ча­ем – ис­то­ри­ей про­да­жи име­ния и ги­бе­ли са­да – вста­ёт кар­ти­на сме­ны ис­то­рич. эпох, а ко­мич. эле­мен­ты ука­зы­ва­ют на вза­им­ную от­чу­ж­дён­ность пер­со­на­жей и не­по­ни­ма­ние ими су­ти про­ис­хо­дя­ще­го, – наи­бо­лее слож­ная и мно­го­знач­ная пье­са Че­хо­ва.

В 1898 Ч. пе­ре­се­лил­ся из Ме­ли­хо­ва в Ял­ту, вы­стро­ил собств. дом, где встре­чал­ся с Л. Н. Тол­стым, А. М. Горь­ким, И. А. Бу­ни­ным, А. И. Ку­при­ным и др. В 1901 же­нил­ся на ар­ти­ст­ке МХТ О. Л. Книп­пер (см. Книп­пер-Че­хо­ва О. Л.). Крым­ский кли­мат не пре­дот­вра­тил стре­ми­тель­ное раз­ви­тие ту­бер­ку­лё­за. В на­ча­ле ию­ня 1904 Ч. вы­ехал для ле­че­ния в Гер­ма­нию, где и умер.

Зна­че­ние твор­че­ст­ва Ч. бы­ло оче­вид­ным уже для его со­вре­мен­ни­ков. Од­нако, при­зна­вая та­лант Ч., ан­га­жи­ро­ван­ные кри­ти­ки уп­ре­ка­ли его в бе­зы­дей­но­сти, от­сут­ст­вии оп­ре­де­лён­ных убе­ж­де­ний, скеп­ти­циз­ме и пес­си­миз­ме. На про­тя­же­нии 20 в. Ч. стал при­знан­ным клас­си­ком ми­ро­вой лит-ры. Его рас­ска­зы и по­вес­ти мно­го­крат­но эк­ра­ни­зи­ро­ва­ны, пье­сы не схо­дят со сцен отеч. и за­ру­беж­ных те­ат­ров. Для за­ру­беж­но­го куль­тур­но­го соз­на­ния Ч. – один из наи­бо­лее из­вест­ных рус. пи­са­те­лей, на­ря­ду с Л. Н. Тол­стым и Ф. М. Дос­то­ев­ским.