Chekhovâs work is unique. Figuratively speaking, he is one of the titans of golden Russian literature of the late 19th century, the founder of a new creative method. Anton Pavlovich is also considered an unsurpassed playwright. His works contributed to the real rise of the Russian national theater. They are still highly desired on the stages of the most conceptual theaters in Russia and the world.
Classics appreciate classics
Leo Tolstoy highly appreciated the work of Chekhov. Lev Nikolaevich claimed that Anton Pavlovich is a unique writer on a global scale. His description of the author of âThe Seagullâ is full of enthusiasm: âChekhov is Pushkin in prose!â An outstanding novelist called him an incomparable artist, who created such forms of writing that he had never met.
The creative method of Anton Pavlovich found its response on the shores of Misty Albion. English playwright and writer John Galsworthy noted that Chekhov had an exceptionally beneficial effect on English literature. The topics of creativity thanks to him were rethought, in particular, by Bernard Shaw. For example, his "House where hearts are broken" is called a play about Britain "in the Russian style"
About the creative method of the writer
Indeed, Chekhov became an innovator who refused to engage heroes in external action, from artificially creating intrigue, from deliberately giving the author his work of amusement. Instead of all this, Anton Pavlovich shifted the main emphasis in his works to more subtle matters. In the plot of his works, the first fiddle was played by changes in the mental state of the hero, the dynamics of his opposition to circumstances, everyday routine.
Anton Pavlovich put the idea of ââmaking the world a better, cleaner, higher world at the head of his art. Chekhov's work, following this principle, seeks to wake up the "soul I live" in the reader. The classic in the work simply shows the person what he is. The author does not flirt with his audience, does not try to touch her, does not embellish anything. His favorite characters are educated people who reduce themselves to a case life that lies on a lie and an unfulfilled womb, as well as representatives of the people, brought by poverty and bullying to a state of indifferent stupidity.
It is also important to focus on the fact that Chekhovâs work follows the principles that he is open:
- The classic calls the brevity of thought a sister of talent for a reason. He prefers a concise, restrained narrative. He is confident in his reader, who, in his opinion, will himself find the meaning, even if the work is complex.
- It seems that small details always play a significant role in Chekhovâs things. They are not just present in the works, but serve as a hint of his main, cornerstone ideas.
- The style of Anton Pavlovich is characterized by the impartiality of the description, for he is convinced that the reader should draw conclusions.
- Chekhov specifically did not write specifically for children (âKashtankaâ and âWhite-facedâ are exceptions). He believed that for reading the child should simply choose the best from the literature of the "adult".
However, formulating a general view of the work of the classic, it would be logical to trace the evolution of the formation of his creative method. The object of our study will be the biography and work of Chekhov.
The first experience of creativity
Anton Chekhov was born on January 17, 1860 in Taganrog in a poor merchant family. Here he graduated from the city gymnasium. Even in graduation classes, he published with the activity of an adult author in the popular magazines âAlarm Clockâ, âDragonflyâ, âShardsâ. So earned from a young age, money critically needed for the family, Chekhov.
Meanwhile, fate prepared the young man a difficult test: at the age of 17 he suffered a severe inflammation of the peritoneum, which, according to one version, is considered the first manifestation of his disease with tuberculosis. According to another version, expressed by Professor V. And Razumovsky, Anton Chekhov had the misfortune of getting infected precisely at the university studies of the medical faculty.
Since 1879, for young Chekhov, a difficult and laborious study at Moscow University and intense journalistic work began. According to the memoirs of Anton Pavlovich, it was quite difficult to combine classes with the most active creative activity, chasing two birds with one stone - medicine and literature. The fact is that he and his parents, four brothers and a sister lived in a small apartment in Moscow. Moreover, relatives who arrived suddenly were often constrained by Chekhov, who was eager to write.
His humorous stories were compiled by The Shalopai and the Good-Spirited (1882), which was not published for reasons of censorship. The first failure only inspired the novice writer. Later, in a characteristic concise wording, he will say about his personal motivation to work: "Idle life cannot be pure."
Then this intense rhythm of life will lead to an exacerbation of the disease. In 1884, twenty-four-year-old Chekhov complained of fever and the inability to engage in further medical practice from letters to the publisher of the Shards. He focuses entirely on literary activity. In 1884, his collection âTales of the Melpomeneâ was published under the pseudonym Antos Chekhonte, and in 1886 - âColorful Talesâ. In the second book Chekhov placed humorous stories, more precisely - parodies. Here his talent manifested itself in the genre of comic detective story. The author tries himself in many genres. He is experimenting. And the wish is successful: his parodies of popular books are a success.
However, the future classic is still interested in serious literature. That is how Chekhov wrote the following story. "Vanka" (1886) tells of a nine-year-old orphan, an apprentice of the shoemaker Alakhin, an exploited and discriminated child who calls on his grandfather Konstantin Makarych to take him from this "science of craft." The elder apprentice is mocking the boy, an orphan, the shoemaker himself beats and pulls him by the hair. The boy writes on Christmas Eve. Memoirs and hopes, drawn by his imagination, vividly informs readers of Chekhov. Vanka is a child, and he sends his letter with children's touching naivety "to the grandfather's village." Accordingly, the reader understands that Konstantin Makarych will never read it, and nothing will change in the difficult life of the boy.
Held writer Chekhov
Since 1885, serious literary publications began to collaborate with him: âRussian Thoughtâ, âNorthern Heraldâ. The stories âName Dayâ, the novels âSteppeâ, âBoring Storyâ, âChestnutâ by Chekhov are published. In 1887, two collections of short stories and short stories were published (Innocent Speech and Twilight), in 1888, Stories, and in 1890, Gloomy People. Recognition comes to him. In 1888, the writer was awarded the Small Pushkin Prize (half).
It is characteristic that most of the works of this author, even the extra-genre, talent of the author is ensured that their level of popularity is ensured. For example, Chekhov's âChestnutâ is loved by many generations of children. She is repeatedly filmed. It would seem that it might be simpler than the story of how a dog (a cross between a dachshund and a mongrel) initially lost its owner, and then, having almost become a circus, suddenly found it. Everything is simple in Chekhov's style: there are no wizards or mermaids. However, the story is invariably loved by children.
Travel to Sakhalin
It is noteworthy that the biography and work of Chekhov show him a person not only highly observant, but also very active and inquisitive. In 1890 he went on a trip to Sakhalin. He displays his impressions of the almost three-month journey through Siberia in the series of essays âFrom Siberiaâ. Then the writer spends another three months on Sakhalin, where he tries to understand the psychology and life of convicts, and finally returns to Odessa by sea, visiting the ports of Hong Kong, about. Ceylon, Singapore, Turkey. Based on travel materials, he begins four years of work on the book of essays Sakhalin. Having sailed to his homeland, he buys in the Moscow province the picturesque estate of Melikhovo.
Melikhovo - comprehension of Sakhalin observations. A new stage of worldview
The biography and work of Chekhov, as recognized by literary scholars, is decorated with a very special period, called consonantly with his estate "Melikhovsky." At that time, with a special flair for the classic, Anton Pavlovich felt the changes in society associated with the suppression of feudal bourgeois relations, and also realized the ugliness of the reactionary policy pursued. However, Anton Pavlovich is working not only on the Sakhalin collection, but he has finally become wealthy in his newly acquired painting estate.
The popularity of a truly democratic writer is enormous. Buyers literally sweep books with the inscription A.P. Chekhov âStories and Talesâ from the shelves. In the first year of the Melikhov period of creativity, the conceptual story âWard No. 6â was completed. A powerful unique Chekhov image of a terrible gray leper town, where everything creative has been strangled for a long time, where the "sights" are only a hospital and a prison, fell upon the readers with all the merciless truth, making you think: "Why, we are such ...". Lawlessness, the stronghold of which in the hospital is Dr. Ragin, who rejected the principles of humanism, his death (retribution by faith) makes one think about how people should actually live.
Chekhov's new works convincingly testified to a clearly progressing unique writer who had risen to a new stage in his work.
Melikhovo. Awareness of the situation of the peasantry
Anton Pavlovich, thanks to the many hours of daily work, turned into a really insightful master. He learned to see the very essence of what was daily before the eyes of millions of his compatriots, but was not realized by them.
Russia was essentially a peasant country. It was in Melikhov that he managed to notice what the gentlemen-Narodniks were silent about. Inquisitively follows the life of the factory villages Kryukovo and Ugryumovo A.P. Chekhov. The stories âCase from practiceâ, âIndian kingdomâ, according to eyewitnesses, depict in detail real people, including world-eaters - merchants Khrymins, who in reality were âeven worseâ.
Chekhov opened peasant Russia to the reading public. Behind demagogy, covered by a lie about the love of the Narodniks and their understanding of the aspirations of the peasants, there was a conspiracy of silence. He was hacked by Chekhov with his story "Guys." In it, the classic declared publicly that peasants often "live worse than cattle." They are terribly "poor, groomed, drunk, dirty." Their spiritual qualities are underdeveloped, they are often âafraid and suspectâ of each other. And these people suffer from their violated human rights, from their degraded human dignity. They need to be educated, their rights must be protected!
Chekhov inspiredly created. Contemporaries recall that the light in his office in Melikhov often burned all night.
A diverse palette of classics
How diverse the palette of this master is, is illustrated by the fact that in a series of serious works Chekhov suddenly writes for children the story âWhite-facedâ. Actually, none of the literary critics expected that the âengineer of human soulsâ would suddenly create an extra-genre story. And the answer is simple: he loved children. Tragedy did not close him: the great writer, suffering from tuberculosis, could not have his children. However, he cared for the children of peasants, erecting schools for them at his own expense.
He is a versatile writer. A convinced realist, under the influence of a nervous shock caused by his terrible dream, suddenly creates an exciting and romantic work âThe Black Monkâ, where the problems of genius and creation are subtly interwoven.
In addition to hard realistic ones, Chekhovâs works are created with elements of autobiography (the novel âMy Lifeâ). In the story âA House with a Mezzanineâ and âGooseberryâ, the classic tells about diametrically different sides of the capitalization of villages: the ruin of ânoble nestsâ and the lack of spirituality of the new âmasters of lifeâ, merchants. The last mentioned story together with âThe Man in the Caseâ and âAbout Loveâ make up the trilogy.
About several "Melikhov" plays
In Melikhov, Anton Pavlovich creates the ingenious play âUncle Vanyaâ. How capaciously he expresses in it human ingratitude and the hopelessness generated by it! Uncle Vanya faithfully serves the owner of the estate, a professor, receiving meager salaries from him. The owner decides to sell it, not caring about the fate of the man âwhom he tamedâ (the last phraseology is from Exupery's âThe Little Princeâ).
Reflections on the ways of art lead the playwright to create a new masterpiece - the play "The Seagull". In it, Anton Pavlovich on the storylines of different heroes leads the viewer to understand what real art is: a path of hard work of the soul, deeply unique for his adherent, full of disappointments and sacrifices. He is found by the heroine of the play Nina Zarechnaya, steadily following her vocation and becoming an actress. It is characteristic that the images of this work are real people, guests of Melikhovo, and the plot lines of the play largely overlap with their fates.
Yalta period of creativity
In 1898, the classicâs disease worsened, and he and his family moved to Yalta. Until November 1899 (while the house is being built) Anton Pavlovich leaves for Moscow, where he rents an apartment. The constructed summer house has one essential drawback for a sick person: it is cold in the winter. The builders laid the stove wrong. Entries in the diary of the writer indicate that in the winter in his office the temperature was 11-12 degrees.
The writer clearly did not like Yalta. In addition, here he was deprived of fresh agricultural food familiar to Melikhovo. Things got better when my sister Maria Pavlovna came from time to time. However, this did not happen often.
The classics were written in Yalta, according to his own recollections, much worse than in Melekhovo. In 1901 he wrote the play âThree Sisters,â the stories âThe Lady with the Dog,â and âThe Bishop.â According to Melikhovâs impressions, the final work of the âengineer of human soulsâ was created in 1903 - the play âThe Cherry Orchardâ. It is characterized by visualization of the future of Russia in the form of a cherry orchard.
In the last years of his life, the disease intensified. The writer died on July 2, 1904 in the German spa town of Badenweiler.
Conclusion
From childhood, Chekhovâs books have entered our lives. These are the creations of a dreamer who at the end of the 19th century managed to convincingly show his compatriots with his works that life should be different. He was a staunch opponent of all discrimination and at the same time a unique master of the word. Anton Pavlovich called for building a new life, fragrant and beautiful, like a cherry garden.