![]() "When a woman isn't beautiful, people always say, 'You have lovely eyes, you have lovely hair'." (from Uncle Vanya). His characters are either crushed by their sense of disillusionment with the world, or they hold out hope in a better future.Ĭhekhov often described his stories and plays as comic satires. Consequently, Chekhov's tales conclude with either a moment of revelation or anti-climax. They tackle frustrated dreams, loneliness, and the breakdown of romantic ties, but they never fundamentally alter their worldview. Often his characters are disillusioned by events that force them to reevaluate their personal philosophies and understanding of the world. Chekhov suffered from tuberculosis and died of the disease at the age of forty-four, hence it is not surprising that he was haunted by the notion of infirmity.ĭisease and death are recurring themes and underlines Chekhov's recognition that human beings are subject to forces beyond their control.Ĭhekhov's stories examine many kinds of disappointment and failed ideals. He emphasizes character and mood, the misery of lonely people, and the misunderstandings that build up from self-absorption and desperation.ĭisease features prominently in Chekhov's stories, and his characters often suffer tragic and untimely deaths. The passage of time is a constant preoccupation, as are the trivialities of life and the halfhearted and unsuccessful search for its meaning. His younger characters are portrayed as victims of illusion and the older ones, victims of disillusionment. They are ordinary people leading dull and tedious lives - unsatisfactory lives. He portrayed life in the small towns of Russia and his characters belong often to the provincial middle class, petty aristocracy, or landowners of pre-revolutionary Russia. "What difference does it make?" says Chebutykin in Three Sisters.Ĭhekhov revolutionized story-writing by revealing the inner life of his characters through ordinary conversations, pauses, non-communication, non-happening, and incomplete thoughts to expose the truth behind trivial words and daily life. His characters are incredibly passive, filled with hopelessness and the fruitlessness of all efforts. His focus was the internal drama - fears, anxieties, yearnings, desperation, loneliness, and hope within a given character. His stories are remarkable for the paucity of external plot, events, and excitements. And so I am writing in fits and starts, like an irregular pulse. ![]() After the third page it was lunchtime and so on. After the second page I received a telegram from Shekhtel saying he was ill so I had to go and see him. Dmitriev came in asking for a medical certificate. The idea I had for it was not bad but the pity of it was it had to be written in the gaps between other duties. He sandwiched his writing between professional duties. He began writing shortstories during his days as a medical student at the University of Moscow. He was Russia's - and perhaps the world's - foremost story writer. He was awarded the prestigious Pushkin Prize in 1888. Founder of both the modern short story and modern prose drama, he is considered one of the greatest short story writers of all time. "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress when I get tired of one, I spend the night with the other" is a well-known quote by Anton Chekhov, the Russian physician and writer. Anton Chekhov: A Life in Medicine and Literature.
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