Four Great Russian Plays

by Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Maxim Gorky

From the golden age of Russian theater: masterpieces by four great writers. Gogol's The Inspector General (translated by John L. Seymour and George R. Noyes) skewers the stupidity and corruptibility of provincial officials. Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (translator anonymous) brilliantly depicts the passing of the semifeudal social order. The Lower Depths by Gorky (translated by Jennie Covan) paints a grim picture of society on the eve of the Russian Revolution; and Turgenev's A Month in the Country (translated by Constance Garnett) explores the absurdity of romantic love.

Genres: Plays, Russian Literature

304 pages, paper

First published July 19, 2004

About the author

Antón Chéjov (Spanish)

Dramas, such as The Seagull (1896, revised 1898), and including "A Dreary Story" (1889) of Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, also Chekov, concern the inability of humans to communicate.

Born ( Антон Павлович Чехов ) in the small southern seaport of Taganrog, the son of a grocer. His grandfather, a serf, bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught to read. A cloth merchant fathered Yevgenia Morozova, his mother.

"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." Tyranny of his father, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, open from five in the morning till midnight, shadowed his early years. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog from 1867 to 1868 and then Taganrog grammar school. Bankruptcy of his father compelled the family to move to Moscow. At the age of 16 years in 1876, independent Chekhov for some time alone in his native town supported through private tutoring.

In 1879, Chekhov left grammar school and entered the university medical school at Moscow. In the school, he began to publish hundreds of short comics to support his mother, sisters and brothers. Nicholas Leikin published him at this period and owned Oskolki (splinters), the journal of Saint Petersburg. His subjected silly social situations, marital problems, and farcical encounters among husbands, wives, mistresses, and lust; even after his marriage, Chekhov, the shy author, knew not much of whims of young women.

Nenunzhaya pobeda , first novel of Chekhov, set in 1882 in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Mór Jókai. People also mocked ideological optimism of Jókai as a politician.

Chekhov graduated in 1884 and practiced medicine. He worked from 1885 in Peterburskaia gazeta.

In 1886, Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him, a regular contributor, to work for Novoe vremya, the daily paper of Saint Petersburg. He gained a wide fame before 1886. He authored The Shooting Party , his second full-length novel, later translated into English. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in later her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . First book of Chekhov in 1886 succeeded, and he gradually committed full time. The refusal of the author to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intelligentsia, who criticized him for dealing with serious social and moral questions but avoiding giving answers. Such leaders as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, however, defended him. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.

The failure of The Wood Demon , play in 1889, and problems with novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, he traveled across Siberia to Sakhalin, remote prison island. He conducted a detailed census of ten thousand convicts and settlers, condemned to live on that harsh island. Chekhov expected to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. Hard conditions on the island probably also weakened his own physical condition. From this journey came his famous travel book.

Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. During these years, Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion." Because he objected that the paper conducted against [a:Alfred Dreyfu

Reviews

[David Dionys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not too much experience reading theatre plays but was pleasantly surprised by these Russian plays.

Gogol's Inspector General is a comedy about shameless scoundrels that is as timeless as funny.

I liked Turgenev's A month in the country best of all, the characters are well outlined and come to life through their words and acts, the revelation of the book for me - so far my reading of Russian novelists was mainly limited to Dostojevski.

Chekhov's the Cherry orchard was a disappointment; while I guess he tried to paint a historical picture of decadence amongst the landed gentry, the characters are so frivolous I found them hard to digest. If I am not mistaken I even saw the play performed as a teenager around 1990 in Maastricht, with the same dumbfounded outcome. It must be me.

Gorky's the lower depths was great in its tragic depiction of the very poor. I saw the 1957 movie of Akira Kurosawa some five years ago as well, which I found just as moving as the play.

[Drew]

Four Great Plays By Chekhov by Anton Chekhov (1963)