Anthon Pavlovic Chekhov (29 January 1860-15 July 1904) was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stores in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stores are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Chekhov practiced as a doctor throughout most of his literary career: “Medicine is my lawful wife”, he once said, “and literature is my mistress”. Chekhov had at first written stories for financial gain, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations which have influenced the evolution of the modern short story. His originally consists in an early use of the stream-of-consciousness technique, later adopted by James Joyce and modernists, combined with a disavowal of the moral finality of traditional story structure. He made no apologies for the difficulties thus posted to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them. In 1876, Chekhov’s father was declared bankrupt after over extending his finances building a new house, and to avoid the debtors prison fled to Moscow, where his two eldest sons, Alexander and Nikolay, were attending university. The family lived in poverty in Moscrow, Chekhov’s mother physically and emotionally broken. Chekhov was left behind to sell the family possessions and finish his education. In 1879, Chekhov completed his schooling and joined his family in Moscow, having gained admission to the medical school at Moscow University. Chekhov now assumed responsibility for the whole family. To support them and to pay his tuition fees, he wrote daily short, humorous sketches and vignettes of contemporary Russian life, many under pseudonymous such as “Anthosha Chekhonte” and ‘Man without a Spleen”. In 1884, Chekhov Qualifed as a physician, which he considered his principal profession though he made little money from it and treated the poor free. Before long, Chekhov was attracting literary as well as popular attention. The 64 year old Dmitry Grigorovich, a celebrated Russian writer of the day, wrote to Chekhov after reading his short story The Huntsman, “You have real talent-a talent which places you in the front rank among writers in the new generation.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 03:50:25 +0000
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