Anton Chekhov

He qualified as a doctor in 1884 although he rarely practised. 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.

Chekhov is one of the few Russian dramatists whose works are well known in western Europe. His plays commonly feature the struggle of a sensitive individual to maintain his integrity against the temptations of worldly success. A recurring theme is the pointlessness of radical, human/mechanical change, versus the powerful inertia of slow natural/organic cycles.

He died in Badenweiler, Germany, of tuberculosis and is now buried in Novodevichy Cemetery.

Works

Plays

• That Worthless Fellow Platonov (c.1881) - one act
• On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco (1886, 1902)
• Ivanov (1887) - four acts
• The Bear (1888) - one act comedy
• The Proposal or A Marriage Proposal (c.1888-1889) - one act
• The Wood Demon (1889) - four-act comedy
• The Seagull (1896)
• Uncle Vanya (1899-1900) - based on The Wood Demon
• The Three Sisters (1901)
• The Cherry Orchard (1904) (Set in the Russian village of Abramtsevo Colony, which is famous for its folk art.)

Nonfiction

• A Journey to Sakhalin (1895), including:
  • Saghalien [or Sakhalin] Island (1891-1895)
  • Across Siberia
  • Letters

Short Stories

• "Intrigues" (1879-1884) - nine stories
• "Late-Blooming Flowers" (1882)
• "The Swedish Match" (1883)
• "Lights" (1883-1888)
• "Oysters" (1884)
• "Perpetuum Mobile" (1884)
• "Motley Stories" ("Pëstrye Rasskazy") (1886)
• "Excellent People" (1886)
• "Misery" (1886)
• "The Princess" (1886)
• "The Scholmaster" (1886)
• "A Work of Art" (1886)
• "Hydrophobia" (1886-1901)
• "The Beggar" (1887)
• "The Doctor" (1887)
• "Enemies" (1887)
• "The Examining Magistrate" (1887)
• "Happiness" (1887)
• "The Kiss" (1887)
• "On Easter Eve" (1887)
• "Typhus" (1887)
• "Volodya" (1887)
• "The Steppe" (1888) - won the Pushkin Prize
• "An Attack of Nerves" (1888)
• "An Awkward Business" (1888)
• "The Beauties" (1888)
• "The Swan Song" (1888)
• "Sleepy" (1888)
• "The Name-Day Party" (1888)
• "A Boring Story" (1889)
• "Gusev" (1890)
• "The Horse Stealers" (1890)
• "The Duel" (1891)
• "Peasant Wives" (1891)
• "Ward No 6" (1892)
• "In Exile" (1892)
• "The Grasshopper" (1892)
• "Neighbours" (1892)
• "Terror" (1892)
• "My Wife" (1892)
• "The Butterfly" (1892)
• "The Two Volodyas" (1893)
• "An Anonymous Story" (1893)
• "The Black Monk" (1894)
• "The Head Gardener's Story" (1894)
• "Rothschild's Fiddle" (1894)
• "The Student" (1894)
• "The Teacher of Literature" (1894)
• "A Woman's Kingdom" (1894)
• "Three Years" (1895)
• "Ariadne" (1895)
• "Murder" (1895)
• "The House with an Attic" (1896)
• "My Life" (1896)
• "At Home" (1897)
• "Peasants" (1897)
• "In the Cart" (1897)
• "The Man in a Case", "Gooseberries", "About Love" - the 'Little Trilogy' (1898)
• "Ionych" (1898)
• "A Doctor's Visit" (1898)
• "The New Villa" (1898)
• "On Official Business" (1898)
• "The Darling" (1899)
• "The Lady with the Dog" (1899)
• "At Christmas" (1899)
• "In the Ravine" (1900)
• "The Bishop" (1902)
• "The Bet" (1904)
• "Betrothed" or "A Marriageable Girl" (1903)

Novels

• The Shooting Party (1884-1885)

External link

• Project Gutenberg e-texts of works by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Referenced By