Avilova, Lidya (c. 1864–1943)

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Avilova, Lidya (c. 1864–1943)

Russian memoirist and short-story writer. Name variations: Lidiia Alekseevna Avilova or Lidiia Alekseevna Avílova; Lydia Avilova; L.A. Avilova. Born Lidiia Alekseevna, c. 1864, in Russia; died 1943; married; children: daughter.

Tutored by Anton Chekhov, published 1st collection of stories (1896); stories received praise from Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Bunin but judged uneven by many critics; lived with daughter in Czechoslovakia (1922–24); published other story collections, 1906, 1913, and 1914; best-known work, Chekhov in My Life, published posthumously (1947).