Anton Chekhov Summary

The Russian author Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904) is among the major short-story writers and dramatists of modern times.During the last half of the 19th century the old order in Russia was crumbl... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in Vestnik Evropy in 1914, Grossman describes the influence of several authors, including Maupassant and Flaubert, upon Chekhov and his use of symbolism. ... Read more

In the following essay, Brewster and Burrell discuss the various critical opinions of Chekhov, including accusations of immorality, and compare Chekhov's and Katherine Mansfield's use of... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in 1957, Poggioli comments upon Chekhov's early stories and their relative importance in anticipating the author's later, more accomplished s... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in 1959, Derman dilates upon Chekhov's technique for a story's beginning and ending. 1 Čexov occupies one of the highest places amo... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in 1961, Nazarenko discusses verbal imagery in Chekhov's writing. The key to the understanding of verbal imagery is not found in a narrow linguis... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in 1963, Vinogradov remarks upon speech characterization in Chekhov's short stories. In Čexov, the devices of socio-professional speech ch... Read more

In the following essay, Winner dilates upon Chekhov's serious stories of the 1890s. In 1890, after Chekhov's visit to the Russian penal colony on the island of Sakhalin, he became inc... Read more

In the following essay, Mathewson examines the concept of immortality in Chekhov's stories “The Kiss,” “Gusev,” “Ionyc,” and “The Lady with the ... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in 1970, Pospelov demonstrates how Chekhov used neoteric and original literary devices and principles to transcend traditional literary constructions. T... Read more

In the following essay, Kramer discusses ambiguities in meaning as seen in Chekhov's stories. One could, with respect to terminology, talk about either ambiguity or paradox in describing tha... Read more

In the following essay, Hahn examines Chekhov's correspondence with the older author Grigorovich, who urged him to pursue a more careful and refined writing style, and the profound effects this... Read more

In the following essay, Martin discusses Chekhov's use of figurative language, including comparison, simile, and metaphor, and how abstract-to-concrete similes give expression to the author�... Read more

In the following essay, Rayfield surveys the stories Chekhov produced while living on his Melikhovo estate during the 1890s. The six years that Chekhov lived on his estate of Melikhovo gave him bot... Read more

In the following essay, Rayfield ponders Chekhov's late 1890s stories depicting love. “The House with the Mezzanine” and the stories of love, requited or not, consummated or no... Read more

In the following excerpt, Lavrin investigates Chekhov's "method of showing the tragic nature of everyday existence in its ordinary everyday conditions. " The impact of Chekhov ... Read more

Kirk provides a detailed examination of each of Chekhov's full-length plays. Chekhov wrote his first plays at the age of eighteen, but all that survived of those efforts are the titles: a dr... Read more

In the following essay, Peace focuses on the "emotional atmosphere" or "mood" Chekhov evokes in his plays. Chekhov, as a playwright, is the inheritor of a Russian tradit... Read more

In the following essay Palievsky discusses Chekhov's positive depiction of the common people, maintaining that the writer "formed an invisible link between a high ideal and the perceptio... Read more

In the following essay, Styan looks at the characters, settings, plots, and moods of Chekhov's plays. As the years pass and as Chekhov's plays are given different treatments and expos... Read more

In the following excerpt from a work that was first published in 1950, Hingley examines the essential characteristics of Chekhovian drama. Chekhov was admirably fitted to become the leading dramati... Read more

In the essay below, Senelick surveys works that caricature and satirize Chekhov's dramas. Parody, the late Dwight Macdonald has declared, is "an intuitive kind of literary criticism, ... Read more

The following is the text of an address Senelick delivered at a 1994 symposium on Chekhov's reception. Senelick traces shifts in the author's reputation over the years. When Douglas C... Read more

In this essay, Timmer traces Chekhov's use of the "bizarre, " defined as "a statement, or a situation, which has no logical place in the context or in the sequence of event... Read more

In this essay, Rexroth comments on the profound change in the nature of drama brought about by Chekhov. It comes as a bit of a shock to sit yourself down and deliberately think, "In the firs... Read more

In the following, Magarshack examines misinterpretations of Chekhov's plays by theater directors, translators, and others. The stage is a scaffold on which the playwright is executed. Ch... Read more

In the following essay, Johnson contends that a shift in Chekhov's narrative perspective during the late period of his career added greater depth and complexity to his short stories. Raymond... Read more

In the following excerpt, Tulloch interprets “The Duel” in light of evolutionary degeneration theory, and views the conflict between an “ambivalence of false choice” and th... Read more

In the following essay, Durkin investigates allusions to the writing of N. S. Laskov in “The Duel,” and examines the opposition between science and the humanities in the story. The ce... Read more

In the following excerpt, Baldeshweiler analyzes the so-called “lyrical” short story as represented by the short fiction of Turgenev and Chekhov. When the history of the modern short ... Read more