Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich

Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich (1860–1904), Russian dramatist and short story writer. Among the greatest of his mature stories are ‘A Dreary Story’ (1889), ‘Ward No. Six’ (1892), ‘My Life’ (1896), ‘Ionych’ and the trilogy ‘The Man in a Case’, ‘Gooseberries’, and ‘About Love’ (all 1898), and ‘The Lady with the Little Dog’ (1899). Chekhov's first successful play was Ivanov (1887), but his status as a dramatist rests on his four late plays: The Seagull (1895), Uncle Vanya (1900), Three Sisters (1901), and The Cherry Orchard (1904).

Chekhov's success and influence in England has been immense. Since 1903 most of his work has been translated. The first major translation is that by C. Garnett, The Tales of Tchehov (1916–22) and The Plays of Tchehov (1923–4). The major modern translation is that by Ronald Hingley, The Oxford Chekhov (9 vols, 1964–80). The Incorporated Stage Society's 1911 London production of The Cherry Orchard was much admired by Arnold Bennett, E. M. Forster, V. Woolf, Gerhardie, J. M. Murry (who placed him above Joyce and Proust), and especially K. Mansfield, whose stories are held to be the main channel through which his work influenced England. G. B. Shaw declared that reading Chekhov's plays made him want to tear up his own, and he went on to write Heartbreak House as a tribute to him. He is also held to have influenced E. Bowen, S. O'Faolain, Maugham, H. E. Bates, Rodney Ackland, and others. Chekhov's work is characterized by its subtle blending of naturalism and symbolism; by its sympathetic, humane, but acutely observed portraits of a threatened upper class stifled by inactivity and ennui; and above all by its unique combination of comedy, tragedy, and pathos, and the sensitivity of its movement from one mode to another.