A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
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Life and Works: Russian playwright, one of the great masters of modern short story. In his work Chekhov combined the dispassionate atitbustude of a scientist and a doctor with the sensitivity and psychological understanding of an artist. Chekhov portrayed often life in the Russian small towns, where tragic events occur in a minor key, as a part of everyday life. Anton Chekhov was born in Taganrog, Ukraine, in 1860, as the son of a grocer, whose father had been a serf who had bought his freedom in 1841. His mother was Yevgenia Morozov, the daughter of a cloth merchant.He was the third of six children. Their upbringing was strict and religious. At the age of seven he started at the local Greek Orthodox Church school and went on to Taganrog Grammar School. He was an average pupil and not particularly healthy. He acquired a reputation as a practical joker and storyteller. Because of financial difficulties, in 1876, the family moved to Moscow leaving Chekhov behind to complete his schooling. At the age of 16 Chekhov became independent and remained for some time alone in his native town, supporting himself through private tutoring. He was able to visit his family in Moscow in 1877 and to go to the theatre. On leaving school in 1879, he joined his family in a Moscow basement flat and enrolled for a five year course in Medicine at Moscow University. By 1880, he was contributing articles under a pseudonym to various periodicals. He qualified as a doctor in 1884 and began work at Chikino Rural Hospital. Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. He was continually writing - articles, vaudeville pieces, a theatrical comedy, books of short stories. Chekhov is "one of the most enigmatic Russian writers" because of the fact that his complexity is not clearly apparent. Chekhov rejected following religious or political ideology, and he dislikes the notion that self-fulfillment is feasible through material things. Chekhov's writings are influenced by Gogol, Lermontov, and Tolstoy. However, the influence of Turgenev is very significant because we find "Chekhov rebelling against many conventions accepted by these writers." Checkhov would take issues mostly importantly with Turgenev, from whome he had learned so much. Impressive techniques that are often used in Chekhov's stories are his "resolution by means of a surprising ending." The other technique has been called "a zero ending." In this form the "conflict leads to expectations of a dramatic conclusion while in fact the story seems to end in an unmotivated relaxation of tension, and without a climax." Both of Chekhov's techniques, "the surprise ending and the zero ending have in common the tension between the expected and the actual resolution which creates the aesthetic effect." Chekhov's "zero ending" has significantly influenced the short stories. By 1886 he had gained wide fame as a writer. Chekhov published his works in St. Petersburg daily papers, Peterburskaia gazeta from 1885, and Novoe vremia from 1886. He also published two full-length novels of which The Shooting Party was translated into English in 1926. By 1888, he began work on a full-length play, The Wood Demon. He also met Stanislavsky, who was later to direct his work so memorably. Unfortunately, The Wood Demon was greeted with hostile notices and only ran for three performances in December 1889. This made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, Chekhov travelled to Sakhalin Island, which was a convict colony, and conducted a census of 10,000 convicts. Chekhov hoped to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. It is probable that hard conditions also worsened his own physical condition. From this journey was born his famous travel book The Island: A Journey to Sakhalin (1893-94). He then travelled on to Hong Kong, Singapore and Ceylon, before returning to Moscow. Throughout the next few years he travelled a great deal. In October of 1895, the short story Anna on the Neck was written by Chekhov. The story is based on Anna, a girl of eighteen, who marries Modest Aleksiech who is a pompous elderly civil servant. Her mother is dead and her father is an alcoholic. She marries Modest Aleksiech with the hopes of improving the financial position of her family. However, she is very afraid of her husband, and she does not receive financial support from him. Nevertheless, at a formal dance, her beauty catches the eyes of an important man. She becomes his mistress. Her husband becomes weak because his career depends on her. While she lives a happy but carefree life, she spends the rest of her life being her husband's authoritative figure. Anna on the Neck expresses themes of both tragedy and triumph. Tragedy is first apparent because of the "ill-matched and loveless marriage that Anna found herself in." However, triumph was bought at the expense of her humanity, for Anna committed adultery to gain self fulfillment. It has been said that Anna on the Neck is ironic rather than tragic, for Anna wins in the end by conquering her husband's world." Chekhov designs the story to end victoriously, for Russians are very sensitive about winning. Another theme that is expressed in the short story is the important role that class structure played in Russia. When Anna, a poor young girl, marries an old civil servent, she marries him only because "she is afraid to return to her former state of poverty." In 1896, the first night of The Seagull was very badly received, however, subsequent performances fared better. The following year, Chekhov suffered a lung haemorrage and TB was diagnosed. He had recovered sufficiently to attend rehearsals of The Seagull in the new Moscow Arts theatre (run by Stanislavsky). The production was a tremendous success. At the Moscow Arts theatre, he met, and was attracted to the actress Olga Knipper. Over the next few years his relationship with Olga deepened and they were married in 1901. His health continued to be poor and they spent much time in Yalta, where he had built a villa. Among his masterpieces from this period is Uncle Vanya (1900), a melancholic story of Sonia and his brother-in-law Ivan (Uncle Vanya) who see their dreams and hopes passing in drudgery for others. The Three Sisters (1901) was set in a provincial garrison town. In The Cherry Orchaid (1904) reflected the larger developments in the Russian society. Chekhov was awarded the Pushkin Prize in 1898. Next year he was elected a member of the "Society of Lovers of Russian Literature". In 1900 he became a member of the "Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg", but resigned his membership two years later as a protest against the cancellation by the authorities of Gorky's election to the Academy. In 1904, on his doctor's orders, he and his wife travelled to a health spa in Badenweiler, Germany. Here he suffered two heart attacks and died on July 14/15, 1904. He was buried in the cemetery of the Novodeviche Monastery in Moscow. |
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