Michael Makin
Ann Arbor Public Library,
22 March 2010
Anton Chekhov from Taganrog
 Born 1860 in southern city of Taganrog – northern tip of Sea of Azov,
very provincial, very Southern (many non-Russians in population)
Early life
 One of seven children; father,
struggling, then bankrupt,
shopkeeper; mother of minor
merchant stock
 His paternal grandfather was a serf,
who had bought his freedom
 Anton Chekhov born in modest
rented house
 Later lived above the store
(on it perhaps based business
in late story “In the Ravine”)
 Father strict, pious (but
poor businessman), forced
children to sing in church choir,
etc – mature Chekhov perhaps
ambivalent about religion, but his
work full of references, markers of
knowledge of Orthodoxy
School, adolescence
 At age of eight entered local gimnaziya (equivalent of
English Grammar School, French lycée, German
gymansium) – by later C19th gimnazii important
instruments of upward social mobility
 Quality of education good, opened world for Anton
and siblings
 There was also a local library and a theatre (Chekhov
in love with theatre at early age, staged home
theatricals)
Family Crisis
 By 1876 older brothers Aleksandr and Nikolai in
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Moscow, in higher education (and in debt), but also
painting (Nikolai) and writing (Aleksandr)
Father – bankrupt; left town hidden in cart to catch
Moscow train further up the line (and to avoid creditors)
Adolescent Anton left with mother, young siblings, to
defend and fend for
Later rest of family left for Moscow, Anton and one
brother finished school in Taganrog alone, supported in
part by charity
Chekhov already writing (for school magazines, trying
out drama…)
Chekhov’s birth, childhood and
youth…
 Very obviously completely different from the early
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biographies and social background of almost all major
Russian writers of the C19th up to this period:
Pushkin – long-established noble family, connections with
Court
Count Lev Tolstoi
Turgenev – wealthy landowning gentry
Goncharov – landowning family
Dostoevsky – father had achieved noble status through
army service
All of these families could have owned Chekhov’s
grandfather
Apprenticeship
 May 1879 passed school-leaving exams, August – left for
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Medical Faculty of Moscow University. Completed his
medical degree, practiced as a doctor intermittently all his life
Worldy-wise, shaped by experiences, wry, ironic view of world,
practical
Began to write comic sketches for publication while a first-year
med. student, helped to find publishers by brother Aleksandr
Early literary apprenticeship – comic sketches, very short
stories for (new) popular periodicals
And, again, not the early adulthood of his great successors
Out of this early experience emerges, by mid-1880s the
perhaps greatest master of the short story
By early 90s recognized as a great prose writer, major success
as playwright yet to come
Ivanov, The Wood Demon
 In 1887 hastily wrote Ivanov, his first major play to be
performed
 A modest success, with much that anticipates later
plays (set in decaying gentry estate; capricious, dying
heroine; hypocritical hero torn by inner conflict…) …
 … but clumsy, and Chekhov unhappy with it.
 The pattern for his early big plays -- failure (although
the short vaudevilles were succeeding), was confirmed
with the disastrous premiere of The Wood Demon in
1889
The Seagull Emerges
 After the disaster of The Wood
Demon Chekhov had, as usual,
foresworn the theatre …
 … while continuing to think
about new plays (and
actresses…)
 At Melikhovo, the estate he
bought in 1891, he started to
write in 1895 The Seagull in a
little guest house on the estate
 First of his four “great plays”,
that would eventually make
him the second-mostperformed playwright in the
world
Initial reception
 At read-throughs, play was disliked – the apparent parody
of the fashionable Rostand (La Princesse lointaine, etc) in
Treplev’s play-with-the-play caused distress
 Première – catastrophe; benefit night for comic actress,
who had no role in play; her fans angry and displeased
 Chekhov walked from Alexandrinskii Theatre in Pbg to
apartment of his friend and publisher Suvorins, went to
bed and covered his head with a blanket, through which he
announced to friends that he would never write another
play
 In fact, performances improved as cast came to terms with
play, although only with the formation of the Moscow Arts
Theatre would Chekhov’s mature drama find an
appropriate arena
The Seagull as landmark
 Very unlike his previous plays (dialogue that doesn’t
communicate, role of the ordinary, failure to resolve
issues)
 Although also somewhat unlike future plays (artistic
milieu, discussions of art by practitioners, significant
and even melodramatic action)
 Definitely a new kind of theatre, and aspects of it lead
to Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry
Orchard
A difficult play (like the next 3)
 Chekhov explicitly saw himself as “breaking all the
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rules” in The Seagull, as he would in later plays:
Told Suvorin that he was writing “contrary to all the
rules of dramatic art”
As with earlier plays, called it a “Comedy”
The same effects that intrigued and delighted many
readers of his prose caused huge problems for the first
performers of his plays, and for early audiences
Only with the Moscow Arts Theatre and Chekhov’s
gradual absorption into canon, did his plays become
easily “readable”, even if still hard to produce
Breaking the rules
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Language doesn’t communicate, but obstructs
No clearly dominant character
Action take place off stage
Full of inartistic “ordinariness” – people talking about their
salaries, about everyday details of the estate (cf UV)
Full of ordinary, but shocking details: Masha drinks, takes
tobacco (cf Astrov and vodka in UV)
Not plot-driven – there seem to be many redundant
characters and events
Even the censor was upset (frank admission of Arkadina’s
relations with Trigorin, and discussion of them by her son)
The way forward for Chekhov’s drama (and the world’s) …
From The Wood Demon to Uncle
Vanya
 Probably returned to The Wood Demon in Aug/Sept 96
 Disastrous première of The Seagull October, Chekhov
forswearing theatre (again), but probably by then
transforming The Wood Demon into Uncle Vanya
 Again – Chekhov determined to succeed as a
playwright, fascinated by the theatre
Transformation of The Wood Demon
 It had been a disaster on the stage (supposedly, one of leading ladies too corpulent to embrace lover on
stage, as required…)
 But it contains many of same characters as UV: Serebryakov, Elena, Sonya; eponymous hero – Dr
Khrushchov, has much in common with Astrov; Georges Voinitskii → Vanya; Mar’ya Vonitskaya; Dyadin
→Telegin
 Two other pairs Zheltukhin, bro. and sis.; Orlovskii, fthr and son
 Zheltukhin courting Sonya; Orlovskii jr’s half serious pursuit of Elena, which is ended by his engagement
to the Zheltukhin sister
 Time and place of action spread much more (Act I at Zheltukhins’ house; Act IV at water mill)
 Much more action: Georges commits suicide because Elena does not love him; Elena, depressed by rural
idiocy, runs away, but only as far as mill, to reappear and suffer husband’s judgement when the rest picnic
at the mill…
 Khrushchov brash and young , but finally accepted by Sonya as appropriate suitor
 Play ends (two weeks after suicide) with double engagement
 Much action contrived: a diary is discovered posthumously, revealing that George had not been Elena’s
lover (as “whole county” thought); Elena’s sudden reappearance clumsy
 Some motivation sketchy – problems between Sonya (no university degree) and Khrushchov (a political
populist) mentioned, never to re-surface, but Yuliya Zheltukhina tells us that she is unmarried in her late
20s because she is uneducated…
 Modulates uncomfortably between melodrama and comedy –final scene very typical (characters hide to
watch engagement of one of the couples, then celebrate double engagement when they emerge)
So why return to it?
 Apparently the key conflicts (generational, romantic,
socio-political) mattered to Chekhov – his ecologyminded doctor important; the strains of estate life
(now familiar to him as a landowner); the problems of
resolving the romantic entanglements?
 Maybe, too, desire to “get things right”
 The comparison of The Wood Demon with Uncle
Vanya gives us a vivid demonstration of what
Chekhov’s mature drama could do
The result – The Wood Demon
becoming Uncle Vanya
 Melodrama stripped – no suicide, just ridiculous attempt at
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suicide; the “murder” attempt equally ridiculous
No resolution – no engagements, no secrets revealed
Far fewer plot lines, fewer characters
No scenic divisions
New play full of interrupted conversations, dialogues
without interaction, etc (characteristic of the “great plays”,
radically different from earlier plays)
Ne w play, like future plays, makes extensive use of rather
disconcerting sound effects – the watchman beating time
(always a key and complex theme in later plays), Telegin
strumming on his guitar…
Similarities
 The country estate setting
 Secondary characters again prominent (always
significant in later plays, here: Nurse, with whom
action begins, Telegin)
 Monologues, near monologues (for example, Astrov on
forests, Act I)
 Interconnecting stories
Speech
 Note, btw, how monologues work: rhythmic alternation,
but semantic shift is sharp – monologues often ending with
trivial dialogue
 Important exchanges take place in trivial contexts:
Vanya cries, seeing late sister in Sonya
Sonya and Astrov in Act II (drunk doctor making light
promises, talking to Sonya as to a child, hunting for snacks
in sideboard, discussion of Serebryakov; relationship of
Astrov and Sonya tentatively explored, interrupted by
Astrov remembering death on operating table)
 Then the key exchange between Sonya and Elena (built
around drinking ritual and a pronoun)
Drinking bruderschaft
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SONIA. He has gone. [A pause.]
ELENA. Sonia!
SONIA. Yes?
ELENA. How much longer are you going to sulk at me? We have not hurt each other. Why not be friends?
We have had enough of this.
SONIA. I myself—[She embraces HELENA] Let us make peace.
ELENA. With all my heart. [They are both moved.]
SONIA. Has papa gone to bed?
ELENA. No, he is sitting up in the drawing-room. Heaven knows what reason you and I had for not
speaking to each other for weeks. [Sees the open sideboard] Who left the sideboard open?
SONIA. Dr. Astrov has just had supper.
ELENA. There is some wine. Let us seal our friendship.
SONIA. Yes, let us.
ELENA. Out of one glass. [She fills a wine-glass] So, we are friends, are we?
SONIA. Yes. [They drink and kiss each other] I have long wanted to make friends, but somehow, I was
ashamed to. [She weeps.]
ELENA. Why are you crying?
SONIA. I don't know. It is nothing.
ELENA. There, there, don't cry. [She weeps] Silly! Now I am crying too. [A pause] You are angry with me
because I seem to have married your father for his money, but don't believe the gossip you hear. I swear to
you I married him for love. I was fascinated by his fame and learning. I know now that it was not real love,
but it seemed real at the time. I am innocent, and yet your clever, suspicious eyes have been punishing me
for an imaginary crime ever since my marriage.
SONIA. Peace, peace! Let us forget the past.
ELENA. You must not look so at people. It is not becoming to you. You must trust people, or life becomes
impossible.
Very original form, but some very
“classical” elements
 What could be more classical than an old nurse, who knows
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everyone and to whom everyone confides?
A living man making testamentary arrangements – a rather
familiar theme …
… but here in grotesque form (it’s not even his estate, but he
plans to benefit himself, not his child, and, in the end, nothing
happens)
That discussion of Serebryakov’s proposal very telling – dispute
between Serebryakov (with his ironic use of literary allusion to
introduce announcement) and Vanya, during which Sonya is
silent – her first words are an appeal to the nurse
As so often, key events have happened before the dramatic time –
death of Serebryakov’s first wife; even the arrival of the
Serebryakovs on the estate.
Difficult characters
 Astrov – do we take his ecology seriously; what does
his pursuit of Elena mean; what does his indifference
to Sonya (on paper a good match) mean?
 Elena – resists Vanya and even Astrov (while also
attracting him); revolted by her husband; does she
manipulate Sonya, deliberately emasculate Astrov and
thwart Sonya?
 What of Sonya and Vanya – what of her silent work,
her naïve relations with Astrov and Elena; his
hysterical claims, his love for Elena?
Difficult speech
 What do we make of Astrov’s forests?
 Is his interest like the map of Africa, noted in setting for Act II?
VOINITSKII'S bedroom, which is also his office. A table stands
near the window; on it are ledgers, letter scales, and papers of
every description. Near by stands a smaller table belonging to
ASTROV, with his paints and drawing materials. On the wall
hangs a cage containing a starling. There is also a map of Africa
on the wall, obviously of no use to anybody. There is a large sofa
covered with buckram. A door to the left leads into an inner
room; one to the right leads into the front hall, and before this
door lies a mat for the peasants with their muddy boots to stand
on. It is an autumn evening. The silence is profound. TELEGIN
and MARINA are sitting facing one another, winding wool.
Difficult ending
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SONIA. He has gone.
VOINITSKII. [Adding and writing] Total, fifteen—twenty-five—
SONIA sits down and begins to write.
[Yawning] Oh, ho! The Lord have mercy.
TELEGIN comes in on tiptoe, sits down near the door, and begins to tune his guitar.
VOINITSKII. [To SONIA, stroking her hair] Oh, my child, I am miserable; if you only knew how miserable I
am!
SONIA. What can we do? We must live our lives. [A pause] Yes, we shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live
through the long procession of days before us, and through the long evenings; we shall patiently bear the trials
that fate imposes on us; we shall work for others without rest, both now and when we are old; and when our
last hour comes we shall meet it humbly, and there, beyond the grave, we shall say that we have suffered and
wept, that our life was bitter, and God will have pity on us. Ah, then dear, dear Uncle, we shall see that bright
and beautiful life; we shall rejoice and look back upon our sorrow here; a tender smile—and—we shall rest. I
have faith, Uncle, fervent, passionate faith. [SONIA kneels down before her uncle and lays her head on his
hands. She speaks in a weary voice] We shall rest. [TELEGIN plays softly on the guitar] We shall rest. We shall
hear the angels. We shall see heaven shining like a jewel. We shall see all evil and all our pain sink away in the
great compassion that shall enfold the world. Our life will be as peaceful and tender and sweet as a caress. I
have faith; I have faith. [She wipes away her tears] My poor, poor Uncle Vanya, you are crying! [Weeping] You
have never known what happiness was, but wait, Uncle Vanya, wait! We shall rest. [She embraces him] We
shall rest. [The WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden; TELEGIN plays softly; MME. VOITSKAYA writes
something on the margin of her pamphlet; MARINA knits her stocking] We shall rest.
The curtain slowly falls.
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As with Astrov, work here seems a way to avoid the acute and chronic problems of the characters’ lives, yet, at
the same time, in an ironic reversal of the call of the departing Serebyrakov (who had done nothing
throughout the play) to work, Vanya and Sonya are engaged in productive work. Yet the future anticipated
here is ….?
Uncle Vanya
 Self-conscious markers of generic originality (sub-title:
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“Scenes from country life”….) …
… with many familiar elements (allusions to classical
stories and forms; familiar setting, theme – declining
country estate, family matters (Uncle Vanya)
Failure of words, relationships as vehicles of frustration and
irresolution…
Almost no story development and very elusive
characterization
Result – a remarkable play, and a moment of
transformation not only for Chekhov, but also for world
drama