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. Ĭhekhov at first wrote stories to earn money, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations that influenced the evolution of the modern short story. The plays that Chekhov wrote were not complex, but easy to follow, and created a somewhat haunting atmosphere for the audience. 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'.

'Medicine is my lawful wife', he once said, 'and literature is my mistress.' Ĭhekhov renounced the theatre after the reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Konstantin 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. 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. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Portrait of Anton Chekhov by Isaac Levitan (1886)Īnton Pavlovich Chekhov (Russian: Антон Павлович Чехов, IPA: 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904 ) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time.

Chekhov sisters