Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
January 29, 1860-July 15, 1904
Grandfather was a serf; bought freedom for the
family even before the Emancipation of 1861
 Father was a grocer
 Received an Orthodox religious education;
later lost his faith
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Family…
Reinvented the short story
 opened up areas of life not yet explored by Russian
literature
 One of those who reinvented drama (in addition to
Ibsen, Strindberg, and others) at the end of the 1800sbeginning of 1900s
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Literary accomplishments…
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Studied medicine; was a doctor who once said
his real commitment was to medicine, while
literature was a mistress he would abandon.
Career…
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“The people I am afraid of are the ones who look
for tendentiousness between the lines and are
determined to see me as either liberal or
conservative. I am neither liberal nor conservative,
nor gradualist, nor monk, nor indifferentist. I
would like to be a free artist and nothing
else….My holy of holies is the human body,
health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love and
the most absolute freedom imaginable, freedom
from violence and lies, no matter what form the
latter two take.”
Chekhov:
1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of a political-socialeconomic nature
2. total objectivity
3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects
4. extreme brevity
5. audacity and originality: flee the stereotype
6. compassion
Chekhov’s 6 principles that make for a
good story
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Up until Chekhov, all short stories, virtually without
exception, were event-plot ones. In these stories the
skeleton of plot is all important, the narrative is shaped,
classically, to have a beginning, middle and end.
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Chekhov’s Revolutionary technique:
he did not abandon plot, but made the plot of his stories
like the plot of our lives: random, mysterious, run-of-themill, abrupt, chaotic, fiercely cruel, meaningless.
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The Event-plot story…
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Chekhov is the father of the modern short story. His influence is still
massive and everywhere.
What is the essence of the Chekhovian short story? Chekhov wrote: "It
is time writers, especially those who are artists, recognised that there is
no making out anything in this world.“
The Chekhovian point of view :
look at life in all its banality and all its
tragic comedy and refuse to make a
judgment. Refuse to condemn and refuse to
celebrate. Record the actions of human
beings as they are and leave them to speak
for themselves (in so far as they can) without
manipulation, censure or praise.
His famous retort when he was asked to define life: "You ask me
what is life? That is like asking: what is a carrot? A carrot is a
carrot and that's all there is to it."
Chekhov
{ As Playwright
Overturning of the old social
order: social change and
progress
 Independence, Emancipation
and Freedom
 Memory: source of identity
or burden?
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Central Themes
Jumbling together of comic and tragic
 Emphasis on dialogue and offstage
action
 Surprise and tension are not key
elements
 Ordinary conversations are key
 There are no villains in a Chekhov
play…all characters have flaws and gifts
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Historical Background
Prior to 1861, serfs made up 44% of Russia’s
population
 Just over 100,000 lords owned the land the serfs
were tied to
 Russia lagged behind the rest of Europe in
industrialization and politics (Czar as absolute
ruler)
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Illiteracy, poverty, scarce land and food