The Essential Chekhov: Plays, Short Stories, Novel & Biography


Book Description

This unique collection of Anton Chekhov's greatest works has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards. Excerpt: "In each one of us there are too many springs, too many wheels and cogs for us to judge each other by first impressions or by two or three external indications." Ivanoff, Act 3 (1887) Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian physician, dramaturge and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. Chekhov practised as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career. 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 theatre. 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. Contents: Novel: The Shooting Party Plays: On the High Road Swan Song Ivanoff The Anniversary The Proposal The Wedding The Bear The Seagull A Reluctant Hero Uncle Vanya The Three Sisters The Cherry Orchard Short Stories: The Safety Match The Boys Grisha A Trifle from Real Life The Cook's Wedding Shrove Tuesday In Passion Week An Incident A Matter of Classics The Tutor Out of Sorts A Joke After the Theatre Volodia A Naughty Boy Bliss Two Beautiful Girls The Chorus Girl The Father of a Family The Orator Ionitch At Christmas Time In the Coach House Lady N—'s Story A Journey By Cart The Privy Councillor Rothschild's Fiddle A Horsey Name The Pecheneg The Bishop The Slanderer The Kiss Verotchka On Trial The Mass for the Dead The Privy Councillor The Runaway The Reed La Cigale The Head Gardener's Tale Oysters Women Woe Zinotchka The Princess The Muzhiks The Darling




The Collected Works of Anton Chekhov: Plays, Novellas, Short Stories, Diary & Letters


Book Description

Anton Chekhov's 'The Collected Works' is a literary masterpiece showcasing his talent as a playwright, novelist, and short story writer. The book not only includes his famous plays like 'The Cherry Orchard' and 'The Seagull' but also lesser-known novellas and short stories that highlight Chekhov's keen observations of human nature. The collection offers readers a comprehensive view of Chekhov's work, characterized by his subtle humor, depth of emotion, and skillful portrayal of Russian society in the late 19th century. Chekhov's writing style is distinguished by its realism and attention to detail, making his stories both relatable and thought-provoking. Each piece in this collection is a testament to Chekhov's mastery of the craft and his ability to capture the complexities of the human experience. Anton Chekhov's background as a physician and his own health struggles likely influenced his introspective approach to writing. His firsthand experiences with illness and mortality add a poignant layer to his works, imbuing them with a sense of melancholy and introspection. Chekhov's deep understanding of human psychology and his ability to convey the nuances of everyday life make his works timeless and universal. 'The Collected Works of Anton Chekhov' is a must-read for anyone interested in Russian literature, drama, or short fiction, offering a rich tapestry of stories that continue to resonate with readers today.




The Essential Tales of Chekhov


Book Description

Of the two hundred stories that Anton Chekhov wrote, the twenty stories that appear in this extraordinary collection were personally chosen by Richard Ford--an accomplished storyteller in his own right. Included are the familiar masterpieces--"The Kiss," "The Darling," and "The Lady with the Dog"--as well as several brilliant lesser-known tales such as "A Blunder," "Hush!," and "Champagne." These stories, ordered from 1886 to 1899, are drawn from Chekhov's most fruitful years as a short-story writer. A truly balanced selection, they exhibit the qualities that make Chekhov one of the greatest fiction writers of all time: his gift for detail, dialogue, and humor; his emotional perception and compassion; and his understanding that life's most important moments are often the most overlooked. "The reason we like Chekhov so much, now at our century's end," writes Ford in his perceptive introduction, "is because his stories from the last century's end feel so modern to us, are so much of our own time and mind." Exquisitely translated by the renowned Constance Garnett, these stories present a wonderful opportunity to introduce yourself--or become reaquainted with--an artist whose genius and influence only increase with every passing generation.




The Complete Short Novels


Book Description

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Aanton Chekhov, widely hailed as the supreme master of the short story, also wrote five works long enough to be called short novels–here brought together in one volume for the first time, in a masterly new translation by the award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. The Steppe–the most lyrical of the five–is an account of a nine-year-old boy’s frightening journey by wagon train across the steppe of southern Russia. The Duel sets two decadent figures–a fanatical rationalist and a man of literary sensibility–on a collision course that ends in a series of surprising reversals. In The Story of an Unknown Man, a political radical spying on an important official by serving as valet to his son gradually discovers that his own terminal illness has changed his long-held priorities in startling ways. Three Years recounts a complex series of ironies in the personal life of a rich but passive Moscow merchant. In My Life, a man renounces wealth and social position for a life of manual labor. The resulting conflict between the moral simplicity of his ideals and the complex realities of human nature culminates in a brief apocalyptic vision that is unique in Chekhov’s work.




Chekhov's Plays


Book Description

Eminent critic Richard Gilman examines each of Chekhov's full-length plays, showing how they relate to each other, to Chekhov's short stories, and to his life. Gilman places the plays in the context of Russian and European drama and the larger culture of the period, and the reasons behind the enduring power of these classic works.




The Cook's Wedding and Other Stories


Book Description

GRISHA, a fat, solemn little person of seven, was standing by the kitchen door listening and peeping through the keyhole. In the kitchen something extraordinary, and in his opinion never seen before, was taking place. A big, thick-set, red-haired peasant, with a beard, and a drop of perspiration on his nose, wearing a cabman's full coat, was sitting at the kitchen table on which they chopped the meat and sliced the onions. He was balancing a saucer on the five fingers of his right hand and drinking tea out of it, and crunching sugar so loudly that it sent a shiver down Grisha's back. Aksinya Stepanovna, the old nurse, was sitting on the dirty stool facing him, and she, too, was drinking tea. Her face was grave, though at the same time it beamed with a kind of triumph. Pelageya, the cook, was busy at the stove, and was apparently trying to hide her face.




Seven Short Novels


Book Description

"Anton Chekhov's best stories display a detached sympathy for the Russian people and a controversial skill in portraying the decaying world of czarist Russia. Though not a political man, Chekhov could be cutting in his criticisms of upper-class society, and he turned a lens on its manners and shortsightedness. His finely observed and sharp-as-nails writing created unforgettable characters." "In these short novels, Chekhov was interested, above all, in human relationships, especially mutual unintelligibility and frustration between lovers and the evolution of affection over time. "The Duel," "My Life," and "Ward No. 6" are intimate portraits of individuals and their predicaments, while "A Woman's Kingdom," "Peasants," "Three Years," and "In the Ravine" depict the social milieu on a much larger scale than was possible in his shorter stories."--BOOK JACKET.




Anton Chekhov


Book Description

The description 'definitive' is too easily used, but Donald Rayfield's biography of Chekhov merits it unhesitatingly. To quote no less an authority than Michael Frayn: 'With question the definitive biography of Chekhov, and likely to remain so for a very long time to come. Donald Rayfield starts with the huge advantage of much new material that was prudishly suppressed under the Soviet regime, or tactfully ignored by scholars. But his mastery of all the evidence, both old and new - a massive archive - is magisterial, his background knowledge of the period is huge; his Russian is sensitive to every colloquial nuance of the day, and his tone is sure. He captures a likeness of the notoriously elusive Chekhov which at last begins to seem recognisably human - and even more extraordinary.' Chekhov's life was short, he was only forty-four when he died, and dogged with ill-health but his plays and short stories assure him of his place in the literary pantheon. Here is a biography that does him full justice, in short, unapologetically to repeat that word 'definitive'. 'I don't remember any monograph by a Western scholar on a Russian author having such success. . . Nikita Mikhalkov said that before this book came out we didn't know Chekhov. . . The author doesn't invent, add or embellish anything . . . Rayfield is motivated by the Westerner's urge not ot hold information back, however grim it may be.' Anatoli Smelianski, Director of Moscow Arts Theatre School 'It is hard to imagine another book about Chekhov after this one by Donald Rayfield.' Arthur Miller, Sunday Times 'Donald Rayfield's exemplary biography draws on a daunting array of material inacessible or ignored by his predecessors.' Nikolai Tolstoy, The Literary Review 'Donald Rayfield, Chekhov's best and definitive biographer.' William Boyd, Guardian




Freedom from Violence and Lies


Book Description

An enlightening, nuanced, and accessible introduction to the life and work of one of the greatest writers of short fiction in history. Anton Chekhov’s stories and plays endure, far beyond the Russian context, as outstanding modern literary models. In a brief, remarkable life, Chekhov rose from lower-class, provincial roots to become a physician, leading writer, and philanthropist, all in the face of a progressive fatal disease. In this new biography, Michael C. Finke analyzes Chekhov’s major stories, plays, and nonfiction in the context of his life, both fleshing out the key features of Chekhov’s poetics of prose and drama and revealing key continuities across genres, as well as between his lesser-studied early writings and the later works. An excellent resource for readers new to Chekhov, this book also presents much original scholarship and is an accessible, comprehensive overview of one of the greatest modern dramatists and writers of short fiction in history.




The Best Works of Anton Chekhov


Book Description

Musaicum Books presents to you this carefully created collection of Anton Chekhov's greatest works. This ebook has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian physician, dramaturge and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. Chekhov practised as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career. 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 theatre. 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. Contents: Novel: The Shooting Party Plays: On the High Road Swan Song Ivanoff The Anniversary The Proposal The Wedding The Bear The Seagull A Reluctant Hero Uncle Vanya The Three Sisters The Cherry Orchard Short Stories: The Safety Match The Boys Grisha A Trifle from Real Life The Cook's Wedding Shrove Tuesday In Passion Week An Incident A Matter of Classics The Tutor Out of Sorts A Joke After the Theatre Volodia A Naughty Boy Bliss Two Beautiful Girls The Chorus Girl The Father of a Family The Orator Ionitch At Christmas Time In the Coach House Lady N—'s Story A Journey By Cart The Privy Councillor Rothschild's Fiddle A Horsey Name The Pecheneg The Bishop The Slanderer The Kiss Verotchka On Trial The Mass for the Dead The Privy Councillor The Runaway The Reed La Cigale The Head Gardener's Tale Oysters Women Woe Zinotchka The Princess The Muzhiks The Darling