Anton Chekhov 1860-1904
¡@
Life Events  A Brief Biography  Characters  Plot  Plays
¡@
Life Events
¡@	1860 Born in Taranrog, Russia 1867-68 Taranrog grammar school 1868-79 Educated at a school for Greek boys, Taranrog 1879-84 Moscow University Medical School 1884 Graduated as doctor 1887 First-produced play, Ivanov 1888 Recipient: Pushkin Prize 1890 Traveled to Sakhalin Island 1901 Married the actress Olga Knipper 1884-92 Practice doctor in Moscow 1897 Suffered severe haemorrhage of the lungs 1898 First collaborated with Nemirovich Danchenko, Stanislavsky, and the Moscow Art Theater, on a revival of Chayka (The Seagull) 1892-99 Practice doctor in Melikohovo After 1899 Moved for reasons of ill-health to Yalta 1899 Member, Imperial Academy of Sciences 1904 Died in Badenweiler, Germany TOP
A Brief Biography
¡@	Anton Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, who was famous for his masterful short stories and lyrical dreams. Anton Chekhov was born in 1860 in Taganrog, located south in Russia. He's the third of 6 children. As Anton Chekhov grew up, he attended secondary school in Taganrog and in 1879 he enrolled in the School of Medicine at the University of Moscow. Six years later, he graduated. While in university, Anton Chekhov unfortunately got tuberculosis. Besides, he had to earn money to pay his way through college and support his family; Chekhov made a living by writing stories, short sketches or jokes to journals or papers. Later, a writer called Dmitry Grigotovich found his talent in writing and helped him improve the quality of his stories. As a result, Chekhov's reputation began to grow. In 1890 Chekhov made a trip to the Prison Island of Sakhalin, which is in the Far East. After his return to Russia, Chekhov was devoted to the relief work during the 1892 famine. Then, he bought a small estate at Melikhovo and moved there with his family. While living there, Chekhov created some of his best-known works. In addition to that, he produced two of his major plays, The Sea-Gull and Uncle Vanya. In 1898, the newly formed Moscow Art Theatre successfully put The Sea-Gull on the stage. Thanks to the success, the theatre also began to establish its reputation. Chekhov is famed as a master of the short story. Although some of his best prose pieces are almost novel length, the stories, as well as his better-known short works, achieve their effect with a minimum of artistic means. All of Chekhov's best work is an illustration of his dictum or statement: " Conciseness is the sister of talent." Chekhov's plays deal with the passing of the vitality of the Russian gentry. TOP
Characters
¡@	- Helpless before the changes taking place in 19th century Russia. - Take refuge in elaborate, improbable dreams of renewed prosperity. ¡@
Plot
¡@	simple, mere outlines for the creation of atmosphere and delineation of character. ¡@
Plays		¡@
¡@	Group of plays combining comedy, pathos, anticlimax, and digression in a wholly natural effect. His shorter plays include Medved (The Bear, 1888), Tragic ponevole (A Tragedian in Spite of Himself, 1889), Svadba (The Wedding, 1889), Na bolshoi doroge (On the High Road, 1884), Yubilei (The Jubilee, 1891), Predlozheniye (The Proposal, 1888), and Lebedinaya pesnya (1887). (Also see The Complete Works of Anton Chekhov) TOP	¡@
Reference
¡@	International Dictionary of Theatre-1 Plays (p.123-25) International Dictionary of Theatre-2 Playwrights (p.184-7) Guide of Great Plays (p.142, p.147-8) ¡@  (External Links) Chekhov, 19th century Russian dramatist and short story writer, Introduction to Literature (Spring, 2000) ¡@
¡@
¡@	¡@
¡@