Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) was Russia’s greatest playwright. He is also one of the inventors of the modern short story.
Born in Tagnarog, Russia, into a family of farmers, Chekhov studied medicine and became a doctor. At the same time, he supported his family as a freelance journalist and writer of comic sketches. He considered himself a doctor above all and a writer in pastime; he declared, “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress. When I get fed up with one, I spend the night with the other. Though it is irregular, it is less boring this way, and besides, neither of them loses anything through my infidelity.”
Chekhov’s first play, The Seagull, opened unsuccessfully in 1885. It got awful reviews, and he walked out on it at intermission and was determined never to compose another play. However, two years later, when it was produced a second time by the Moscow Art Theater and directed by Constantin Stanislavsky, it received rave reviews. This triumph inspired Chekhov to write the plays The Three Sisters (1901,) The Cherry Orchard (1904,) and Uncle Vanya (1896)—all these are now considered masterpiece dramas.
Chekhov also helped pioneer the modern short story form. He wrote over 600 stories before his death at age 44. He was one of the first short-story writers to explore characters instead of events. His stories lacked much of a plot. They did not have big emotional climaxes, and typically concluded with a revelation of an intriguing feature of his characters’ lives.
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Silence accompanies the most significant expressions of happiness and unhappiness: those in love understand one another best when silent, while the most heated and impassioned speech at a graveside touches only outsiders, but seems cold and inconsequential to the widow and children of the deceased.
—Anton Chekhov
We shall find peace. We shall hear angels. We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.
—Anton Chekhov
Capital punishment kills immediately, whereas lifetime imprisonment does so slowly. Which executioner is more humane? The one who kills you in a few minutes, or the one who wrests your life from you in the course of many years?
—Anton Chekhov
Man is what he believes.
—Anton Chekhov
Topics: Thoughts, Thought, Thinking, Belief, Positive Attitudes, Optimism, Believe
Reason and justice tell me there’s more love for humanity in electricity and steam than in chastity and vegetarianism.
—Anton Chekhov
The more refined one is, the more unhappy.
—Anton Chekhov
Topics: One liners, Unhappiness
Michael Astroff says that forests are the ornaments of the earth, that they teach mankind to understand beauty and attune his mind to lofty sentiments. Forests temper a stern climate, and in countries where the climate is milder, less strength is wasted in the battle with nature, and the people are kind and gentle.
—Anton Chekhov
People who lead a lonely existence always have something on their minds that they are eager to talk about.
—Anton Chekhov
Topics: Existence
All of life and human relations have become so incomprehensibly complex that, when you think about it, it becomes terrifying and your heart stands still.
—Anton Chekhov
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