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Anton Pavlovich Chekhov ( Антон Павлович Чехов) (1860-1904)

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov ( Антон Павлович Чехов) (1860-1904). Presentation by Anna Kadnikova. Anton Chekhov. “Medicine is my legal wife…Literature is my mistress” Anton Chekhov. Physician

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Anton Pavlovich Chekhov ( Антон Павлович Чехов) (1860-1904)

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  1. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov(Антон Павлович Чехов)(1860-1904) Presentation by Anna Kadnikova

  2. Anton Chekhov “Medicine is my legal wife…Literature is my mistress” Anton Chekhov • Physician • Major Russian short story writer • Playwright

  3. Early Years and Literature • Mother – excellent storyteller • School life –gained a reputation for: satyrical comments, making up humorous nicknames • Wrote his own anecdotes and funny stories in adolescence

  4. Early Years and Theater • Took part in amateur theatrical performances • First performance attended – Jacques Offenbach’s La Belle Helene • Spent virtually all his savings on tickets to theater! • First serious long play– “Fatherless” (“Безотцовщина”) (destroyed)

  5. Medicine, Prose and Drama • Medical School at Moscow State University • 1883 – resigns due to sickness. Devotes the rest of his life to literature • Mainly wrote short stories – they are considered the apotheosis of form • Playwrighting career – brief – but had a great impact on dramatic literature and performance

  6. Major Plays • The Seagull («Чайка») • Uncle Vanya («Дядя Ваня») • Three Sisters («Три сестры») • The Cherry Orchard («Вишнёвый сад»)

  7. The Seagull • The first of four major plays. • Centers on the romantic and artistic conflicts between four theatrical characters. • First perfomance – a famous failure • Staged by Stanislavsky – sound success

  8. The Cherry Orchard • Family of impoverished nobles whose beautiful cherry orchard (which they are attached to) is heavily mortgaged • Characters seek to find a way of saving the garden but cease to do so. • Merchant Lopakhin (his ancestors were serfs) buys the garden and “lays an axe to it”

  9. The Cherry Orchard • Lopakhin: “Lay the axe to the orchard! Come and see the trees fall down!” • Trophimov: “All Russia is our orchard!” • New Epoch is Coming. Romanticism gives a way to Commercialism. The Past is never to return. • Chekhov’s attitude: pessimistic or optimistic? – still causes arguments.

  10. Uncle Vanya • Structurally and psychologically complex drama • Estate in 19th century Russia • Exploring complex relationships between people • Themes of weakness, delusion and despair, but courage and hope as well

  11. The Three Sisters • Decay of the privileged class in Russia • Search for meaning in the modern world • Family that is dissatisfied and frustrated with its present existence

  12. Chekhov’s Talent and Manner • Selecting important moments from the trivial ones • Brevity and conciseness • Anti-ideological • Anti-pedagogical • Objectivity • Free artist

  13. Chekhov’s Talent and Manner • No blame for anybody • Acute delineation of human weaknesses and delights, of human psychology • Naturalist of the theater • Delineation of ordinary characters • Exceptional importance of dialogue (What is said is more important that what is done!)

  14. Chekhov and Stanislavsky • collaborators – both paid closer attention to the important unsaid messages within the writing • Chekhov by many is acknowledged as someone who made Stanislavsky’s Theater famous • Some arguments. E.g., Cherry Orchard – comedy(Chekhov) or drama (Stanislavsky)?

  15. Chekhov About His Plays “You say you have cried at my plays…But this is not why I wrote them, it was Stanislavsky who turned them into cry-babies.I simply wanted to say to people honestly: “Understand, how bad and boring your lives are!” People should understand this and…create themselves another and better life. What is here to cry about?”

  16. Chekhov’s Impact and Influence • Contemporary Russians celebrated Chekhov • International fame – after World War I (Constance Garnett’s English translations) • Immensely popular in the UK in the 1920s • In the US – fame came later (through the influence of Stanislavsky’s method) • Many writers and playwrights used Chekhovian techniques throughout the XX century, almost none escaped his influence

  17. Films and Theater Productions • Among many others: - Lanford Wilson’s “The Three Sisters”(1997) • Emil Loteanu’s “My Tender and Affectionate Beast”(Мой ласковый и нежный зверь)(1978) • Nikita Mikhalkov’s “Dark Eyes”(1987)

  18. Sources • Anton Chekhov – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov • “Three Plays of Absurd” Anton Chekhov Available at http://www.theatrehistory.com/russian/chekhov001.html • The Social Significance of the Modern Drama. Emma Goldman. Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1914. pp. 290-3. • ANTON CHEKHOV. available at http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc6.htm • Chekhov’s Quotes. Available at http://www.notable-quotes.com/c/chekhov_anton.html • «Антон Павлович Чехов» Энциклопедия «Аванта+» «Русская литература». Москва, 1998

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