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Ivanov
The first of Chekhov's full-length dramas, Ivanov treads a fine line between broad comedy and tragic melodrama. Ivanov, the young estate owner, is too intelligent and too bored to endure his provincial life. He is a "superfluous man," attracted to a beautiful young woman who threatens his moral foundations and leads him ultimately to tragedy. This new translation...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
November 15th 2001
by Ivan R. Dee Publisher
(first published January 1st 1989)
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One of Chekov's depressing plays. I remember raving about these kinds of plays when I read them as a kid (maybe the Arabic translation is better than the English one?) but reading it now just made me depressed. Alot of people feel bad for Ivanoff; not me though...being depressed is not an excuse for being an ass!
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This is more of a close reading/reflection of the work than a review. Can also be found at: http://katherinestillwater.blogspot.com/...
In Act One of IVANOV by Anton Chekhov, Nikolay Alexeyevich Ivanov says
"Well, five years have passed, and she [his wife:] still loves me, but I...Here you are, telling me she's soon going to die, and I don't feel any love or pity but just a sort of indifference and lassitude..." While this language may suggest that Ivanov is melodramatic...more
In Act One of IVANOV by Anton Chekhov, Nikolay Alexeyevich Ivanov says
"Well, five years have passed, and she [his wife:] still loves me, but I...Here you are, telling me she's soon going to die, and I don't feel any love or pity but just a sort of indifference and lassitude..." While this language may suggest that Ivanov is melodramatic...more
While I have found some of Chekhov's plays brilliant, such as The Bear and The Seagull, others I have forgotten immediately upon finishing them, like The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya. This play falls into neither category. While I do not find it brilliant it is at least memorable, if nothing else, for its incredibly unlikeable protagonist. Ivanoff is character so whiny that Shakespeare's Richard the II, the Bard's reigning king of self-pity, would tell him to suck it up and b...more
Thirty-five year old Ivanoff has spent the vigor of his youth in his twenties, disregarded sage advice by spending all he earned and more, and now finds that like a friend who broke his back falling from a horse, Ivanoff, too, is psychologically broken.
Unable to squeeze pleasure from the ordinary offerings of life, he denies his dying wife his company, allows others to plot a money making second marriage, and stops himself from attaining relief from all measure of misery by forever hal...more
Unable to squeeze pleasure from the ordinary offerings of life, he denies his dying wife his company, allows others to plot a money making second marriage, and stops himself from attaining relief from all measure of misery by forever hal...more
[on Paul Schmidt's version]:
Because this play is often written off as an "immature" "early" work, I didn't expect much. But the dismissals are overstated. Yes, as Chekhov admitted at the time, each act ends with too much of a "bang" - Ivanov caught by his wife in another woman's arms; an announcement that Ivanov's wife is going to die of TB within months; a suicide - but these little bits of melodrama aren't enough to obscure the fact that this is a great and ...more
Because this play is often written off as an "immature" "early" work, I didn't expect much. But the dismissals are overstated. Yes, as Chekhov admitted at the time, each act ends with too much of a "bang" - Ivanov caught by his wife in another woman's arms; an announcement that Ivanov's wife is going to die of TB within months; a suicide - but these little bits of melodrama aren't enough to obscure the fact that this is a great and ...more
It is lucky that I read this play instead of seeing it performed. I am sure that, had I had to sit through Ivanov's decline, I would not have been able to resist yelling at the actor, telling him to get it together. Unfair? Most likely, but I found many of the characters unbelievably annoying, and their unlikeability simply ruined any greater message Chekhov was trying to convey.
Chloe
rated it
Recommends it for:
people with a lot of patience...people that really like and understand Chekov.
All Ivanov did was complain throughout the whole play...Well, there was more to it than that, but the whole work had this whiney feel to it that I didn't like. Just because somebody awknowledges that they're boring everybody out of their minds doesn't make things any better. There were some good moments, and the more minor characters like Borkin were really likeable.
Also post-theater reading, though by many months. I wanted to make sure I was remembering correctly, and really did prefer Ivanov to The Cherry Orchard. I do.
busybodies is the name of game.
not bad
My translation is horrifically westernised. I don't even know why I bothered. I am definitely going to get a good translation (hopefully Tom Stoppard if he publishes his) after I see it on the west end on saturday :D
I mean, russians from yonder would not say:
hubby, miss know-it-all, no kidding, nickel and diming (I choked on my cup of tea at this).
Poor Chekhov is rolling around in his grave. Like he wasn't miserable enough.
I mean, russians from yonder would not say:
hubby, miss know-it-all, no kidding, nickel and diming (I choked on my cup of tea at this).
Poor Chekhov is rolling around in his grave. Like he wasn't miserable enough.
Fantastically tragic play.
Once a man of great influence and means, Ivanov has fallen into debt and out of love with his wife. Spending his evenings away from home, amongst the idle and morally corrupt, Ivanov finds himself drawn to Sasha, the daughter of a wealthy friend, who appears determined to save him.
نمایش نامه در چهار پرده، ترجمه به فارسی از سعید حمیدیان، چاپ و انتشار انتشارات پیام در 1349
Liz (Consumed by Books)
rated it
It can be easy to get frustrated with the characters in this play, but it's interesting to sit down and analyze them.
Emily
marked it as to-read
Katie Rodemich
marked it as to-read
Jodi
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Антон Павлович Чехов
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in the small seaport of Taganrog, southern Russia, the son of a grocer. Chekhov's grandfather was a serf, who had bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught himself to read and write.Yevgenia Morozov, Chekhov's mother, was the daughter of a cloth merchant.
"When I think back on my childh...more
More about Anton Chekhov...
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in the small seaport of Taganrog, southern Russia, the son of a grocer. Chekhov's grandfather was a serf, who had bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught himself to read and write.Yevgenia Morozov, Chekhov's mother, was the daughter of a cloth merchant.
"When I think back on my childh...more
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“If an intelligent, educated, and healthy man begins to complain of his lot and go down-hill, there is nothing for him to do but to go on down until he reaches the bottom--there is no hope for him. Where could my salvation come from? How can I save myself? I cannot drink, because it makes my head ache. I never could write bad poetry. I cannot pray for strength and see anything lofty in the languor of my soul. Laziness is laziness and weakness weakness. I can find no other names for them. I am lost, I am lost; there is no doubt of that.”
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“It's better to live down a scandal than to ruin one's life.”
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