Anton Chekhov Books

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short story writer who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theater. Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress." Chekhov renounced the theatre after the disastrous reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text". Chekhov had at first written stories only for financial gain, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations which have influenced the evolution of the modern short story. He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them. This application contains the following works: Ivanoff: A Play, Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends, Love and Other Stories, Note-Book of Anton Chekhov, Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series, Swan Song, The Bishop and Other Stories, The Chorus Girl and Other Stories, The Cook's Wedding and Other Stories, The Darling and Other Stories, The Duel and Other Stories, The Horse-Stealers and Other Stories, The House with the Mezzanine and Other Stories, The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories, The Party and Other Stories, The Schoolmaster and Other Stories, The Schoolmistress, and Other Stories, The Sea-Gull, The Slanderer / 1901, The Wife, and Other Stories, The Witch, and Other Stories and Uncle Vanya: Scenes from Country Life in Four Acts.