In this essay, Briggs provides an overview of A Month in the Country and discusses its significance within the canon of modern Russian drama, particularly the play's influence upon the pyschological dramas of Anton Chekhov.

A Month in the Country is a five-act play in prose written by the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev in the period 1848-50. After objections by the censors to some of its overt social criticism, the play was finally passed for publication in 1855. It was performed for the first time in Moscow (at the Maly Theatre) in 1872 and assured of continuing success in the 20th century by a famous Stanislavsky production at the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1909.

The story concerns a young tutor, Aleksey Belyaev, who is hired during the summer to teach the ten year old son of the Islaevs on their country estate. Despite his own mild manner the charming Belaev...