Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (?????? ????????? ??????) (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) (Old Style: 17 January 1860 – 2 July 1904) was a major Russian playwright and perhaps the foremost modern writer of the short story.

Life

Early Life

Anton Chekhov was born in Taganrog, a small provincial port on the Sea of Azov, in southern Russia on January 29, 1860. A son of a grocer (his father had the official rank of Trader of the Third Guild - ???e? 3? ???????) and grandson to a serf who had bought his own freedom, Anton Chekhov was the third of six children.

Related Topics:
Taganrog - Sea of Azov - Russia - 1860 - Grocer - Guild - Serf

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Anton attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog (1866-1868), and at the age of eight he was sent to the Taganrog Gymnasium for boys, where he proved an average pupil. Rather reserved and undemonstrative, he nevertheless gained a reputation for satirical comments, for pranks, and for making up humorous nicknames for his teachers. He enjoyed playing in amateur theatricals and often attended performances at the provincial theater. As an adolescent he tried his hand at writing short "anecdotes," farcical or facetious stories, although he is also known to have written a serious long play at this time, "Fatherless," which he later destroyed.

Related Topics:
Taganrog - 1866 - 1868 - Gymnasium

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The writer's mother, Yevgeniya, was an excellent storyteller, and Chekhov is supposed to have acquired his own gift for narrative and to have learned to read and write from her. His father, Pavel Yegorovich Chekhov, a strict disciplinarian and a religious zealot, demanded from all dedication to the Eastern Orthodox Church and the family business. In 1875, facing bankruptcy, he was forced to escape from creditors to Moscow, where his two eldest sons were attending the university, and for the next several years the family lived in poverty.

Related Topics:
Disciplinarian - Zealot - Eastern Orthodox Church - 1875 - Bankruptcy - Creditor - Moscow

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Anton stayed behind in Taganrog for three more years to finish school. He made ends meet by giving private tutoring, selling off household goods, and later, working in a clothing warehouse. In 1879, Chekhov completed schooling at the gymnasium and joined his family in Moscow, having gained admission to the medical school at Moscow State University.

Related Topics:
Taganrog - 1879 - Gymnasium - Moscow State University

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Early Writings

In a bid to support his family, Chekhov started writing short, humorous sketches and vignettes of contemporary Russian life, many under pseudonyms such as Antosha Chekhonte (?????? ???????), Man without the spleen (??????? ??? ?????????), and others. His first published piece appeared in the St Petersburg weekly Strekoza (????????, "Dragonfly") in March, 1880. It is not known how many stories Chekhov wrote during this period, but his output was prodigious, and he rapidly earned a reputation as a satirical chronicler of Russian street life.

Related Topics:
Pseudonym - St Petersburg - 1880

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Nicolas Leykin, one of the leading publishers of the time and the owner of Oskolki (???????, "Fragments"), to which Chekhov began submitting some of his finer works, recognized the writer's talent but restricted the length of Chekhov's prose, limiting him only to sketches of a page and a half in length. Some believe that it was this limitation that developed Chekhov's trademark concise style.

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Chekhov qualified as a physician in 1884, but continued writing for weekly periodicals and in 1885 began submitting to the Petersburgskaya Gazeta ("The Petersburg Gazette") longer works of a more somber nature; these were rejected by Leykin. By December 1885 he was invited to write for one of the most respected papers of St Petersburg, Novoye vremya (????? ?????, "New Times"), owned and edited by the millionaire magnate Alexey Suvorin. By 1886 Chekhov was becoming a well-known writer, but he still considered his writing a hobby.

Related Topics:
Physician - 1884 - 1885 - 1886 - Hobby

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Dmitrii Grigorovich, one of the many writers who were attracted to Chekhov's stories, persuaded him to take his talents seriously. In an immensely fruitful year Chekhov wrote over a hundred stories and published his first collection "Motley Tales" {Pestrye rasskazy) with support from Suvorin, and in the following year the short story collection "At Dusk" (V sumerkakh) won Chekhov the coveted Pushkin prize. This would mark the beginnings of a highly productive career for the writer.

Related Topics:
Dmitrii Grigorovich - Pushkin prize

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Mature years

In the late 1880s, Chekhov contracted tuberculosis from his patient. In 1887, forced by overwork and ill health, Chekhov undertook a trip to eastern Ukraine. Upon his return, he started writing the long short story The Steppe (Step), which was eventually published in a serious literary journal Severny vestnik ("Northern Herald"). This short story marked a new height for the writer, having the prestige to be published in a leading periodical of the time and showing the maturity that distinguished his later fiction.

Related Topics:
1880s - Tuberculosis - 1887 - Ukraine

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After a successful production of The Seagull by the Moscow Art Theatre, he wrote three more plays for the same company: Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. In 1901 he married Olga Leonardovna Knipper (1870-1959), an actress who performed in his plays.

Related Topics:
Moscow Art Theatre - 1901 - Olga Leonardovna Knipper - 1870 - 1959

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The movement toward naturalism in theatre that was sweeping Europe reached its highest artistic peak in Russia in 1898 with the formation of the Moscow Art Theatre (later called ????, the Moscow Academy Art Theatre). Its name became synonymous with that of Chekhov, whose plays about the day-to-day life of the landed gentry achieved a delicate poetic realism that was years ahead of its time. Konstantin Stanislavsky, its director, became the 20th century's most influential theorist on acting.

Related Topics:
Naturalism - Moscow Academy Art Theatre - Landed gentry - Konstantin Stanislavsky - 20th century

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Accompanied by Suvorin, Chekhov visited western Europe. Their long and close friendship negatively reflected on Chekhov's popularity, as Suvorin's Novoye vremya was considered politically reactionary in the increasingly liberal times. Eventually, Chekhov broke with Suvorin over the attitude taken by the paper toward the notorious Dreyfus Affair in France, with Chekhov championing the cause of Alfred Dreyfus.

Related Topics:
Europe - Dreyfus Affair - France - Alfred Dreyfus

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His illness forced Chekhov to spend long periods of time in Nice, France and later in Yalta in the Crimea. Chekhov died of complications of tuberculosis in Badenweiler, Germany where he had been visiting a special clinic for treatment. He was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery.

Related Topics:
Nice - France - Yalta - Crimea - Badenweiler - Germany - Novodevichy Cemetery

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