Anton Chekhov was an incredible Russian playwright and is considered to be the father of the modern short story and the modern play. In his lifetime he wrote seventeen plays and almost six hundred short stories. His best pieces lack complexity and feature simple resolutions. He was known for using simple technique without obtrusive literary devices, and he fully explored the genre of Realism (written based on facts rather than emotions).
He was one of six children and his father was a religious fanatic with a temper. His father physically abused his children and was in a pool of debt when Chekhov was young. He took the family and fled to Moscow to escape creditors. Chekhov stayed behind to finish school, paying for tuition with money he made from small side jobs. Due to his early background, a child-family separation theme played out in many of his stories including Vanka, The Steppe, and Sleepy.
In an attempt to add to his income in Moscow, he wrote for the humor magazines that he liked to read himself and his first story was published in 1880. He went on to publish nine more stories in the magazine and his stories became increasingly popular. By fall of 1881 he had stories accepted by other popular magazines like Alarm Clock and the Spectator. His first book was published soon after. His first play, Ivanov, was produced in 1887.
By 1889, he decided he could support his family by writing alone and wrote one-act plays. Many criticized his works for holding no real political or social views and for failing to provide a sense of direction. Chekhov was bothered by such expectations, as a man who was not politically or philosophically committed. He sought relief by suddenly taking a one-man journey to the remote island, Sakhalin. He arrived unscathed after a long journey and studied local conditions, returning to publish his findings as a research thesis. This earned him an honored place in a historical record of the Island.
Chekhov went on to write many plays in the late 1890s. His play The Sea Gull first failed in 1896 but became such a spectacular success in 1898 in the new Moscow Art Theater that the play became and remains the theater’s official emblem. His other great plays followed quickly and by 1900 he was at the height of fame. He encouraged other young writers such as Ivan Bunin and Leonid Andreyev, and he was highly sought out for advice and comment. At the time he was struggling with tuberculosis, and his health worsened in 1904. He set out for a hospital in Badenweiler, Germany. He died at a hotel there from tuberculosis and his body was returned to Moscow for the burial.
Sources cited:
Francis, R. (n.d.). Anton Chekhov. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anton-Chekhov
Anton Chekhov. Short Stories and Classic Literature. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://americanliterature.com/author/anton-chekhov
Anton Chekhov Biography. Encyclopedia of World Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.notablebiographies.com/Ch-Co/Chekhov-Anton.html
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