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Anton Chehov: A critical study
Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden leaf printing on spine. This book is printed in black & white, Sewing binding for longer life, where the book block is actually sewn (smythe sewn/section sewn) with thread before binding which results in a more durable type of binding. Reprinted in 2022 with the help of original edition published long back 1923. As this book is reprinted from a very old book, there could be some missing or flawed pages. If it is multi vo Resized as per current standards. We expect that you will understand our compulsion with such books. 232 Anton Chehov; a critical study, 1923 William Alexander Gerhardie
172 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1923
About the author
William Gerhardie
26 books12 followersWilliam Alexander Gerhardie (21 November 1895 – 15 July 1977)[1] was a British (Anglo-Russian) novelist and playwright.
William Gerhardie by Norman Ivor Lancashire (1927-2004). Photograph by Stella Harpley
Gerhardie (or Gerhardi: he added the 'e' in later years as an affectation) was one of the most critically acclaimed English novelists of the 1920s (Evelyn Waugh told him 'I have talent, but you have genius'). H.G. Wells also championed his work. His first novel, Futility, was written while he was at Worcester College, Oxford and drew on his experiences in Russia fighting (or attempting to fight) the Bolsheviks, along with his childhood experiences visiting pre-revolutionary Russia. Some say that it was the first work in English to fully explore the theme of 'waiting' later made famous by Samuel Beckett in Waiting for Godot, but it is probably more apt to recognize a common comic nihilism between those two figures. His next novel, The Polyglots, is probably his masterpiece (although some argue for Doom). Again it deals with Russia (Gerhardie was strongly influenced by the tragi-comic style of Russian writers such as Chekhov about whom he wrote a study while in College).
He collaborated with Hugh Kingsmill on the biography The Casanova Fable, his friendship with Kingsmill being both a source of conflict over women and a great intellectual stimulus.
After World War II Gerhardie's star waned, and he became unfashionable. Although he continued to write, he published no new work after 1939. After a period of poverty-stricken oblivion, he lived to see two 'definitive collected works' published by Macdonald (in 1947-49 and then revised again in 1970-74). An idiosyncratic study of world history between 1890 and 1940 ("God's Fifth Column") was discovered among his papers and published posthumously. More recently, both Prion and New Directions Press have been reissuing his works.
William Gerhardie by Norman Ivor Lancashire (1927-2004). Photograph by Stella Harpley
Gerhardie (or Gerhardi: he added the 'e' in later years as an affectation) was one of the most critically acclaimed English novelists of the 1920s (Evelyn Waugh told him 'I have talent, but you have genius'). H.G. Wells also championed his work. His first novel, Futility, was written while he was at Worcester College, Oxford and drew on his experiences in Russia fighting (or attempting to fight) the Bolsheviks, along with his childhood experiences visiting pre-revolutionary Russia. Some say that it was the first work in English to fully explore the theme of 'waiting' later made famous by Samuel Beckett in Waiting for Godot, but it is probably more apt to recognize a common comic nihilism between those two figures. His next novel, The Polyglots, is probably his masterpiece (although some argue for Doom). Again it deals with Russia (Gerhardie was strongly influenced by the tragi-comic style of Russian writers such as Chekhov about whom he wrote a study while in College).
He collaborated with Hugh Kingsmill on the biography The Casanova Fable, his friendship with Kingsmill being both a source of conflict over women and a great intellectual stimulus.
After World War II Gerhardie's star waned, and he became unfashionable. Although he continued to write, he published no new work after 1939. After a period of poverty-stricken oblivion, he lived to see two 'definitive collected works' published by Macdonald (in 1947-49 and then revised again in 1970-74). An idiosyncratic study of world history between 1890 and 1940 ("God's Fifth Column") was discovered among his papers and published posthumously. More recently, both Prion and New Directions Press have been reissuing his works.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 6, 2007
The rare book about literature that illuminates its object instead of obscuring it. Chehov was quite possibly a great human in addition to being a great writer, and it's well worth understanding him. Is he the rarest of things: a modernist who helps us live well, with a body of work almost immune from unhealthy perversities, and never boring: in a word, balanced, and in a way that we are all curious of naturally and should strive toward culturally (if not eaten away by the perverse)?
Why read literary critism if you're not an academic? The truth is that there's no reason to do it, usually. This is a rare exception written by a largely forgotten British novelist who soaked up Chehov [Gerhardie's choice of spelling] in the original Russian. I tripped over this book while reading a review of William Trevor's newest collection of stories. Not available from Amazon, so look in your local University library.
Why read literary critism if you're not an academic? The truth is that there's no reason to do it, usually. This is a rare exception written by a largely forgotten British novelist who soaked up Chehov [Gerhardie's choice of spelling] in the original Russian. I tripped over this book while reading a review of William Trevor's newest collection of stories. Not available from Amazon, so look in your local University library.
Displaying 1 of 1 review