Anton Chekhov, full name Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904) is regarded as the finest representative of the late 19th-century Russian realist school. The son of a grocer and grandson of a serf, he began his writing career as the author of sketches for humorous journals and moved on to more serious writing. An accomplished playwright and master short story writer, this doctor-turned-writer believed that “in one’s work one should be truthful and simple to the point of asceticism.” Chekhov’s literary output is characterised by objectivity, clarity, and realism. He portrayed the lives of ordinary people in Russia of his time using a deceptively simple technique shorn of elaborate literary devices. Steering clear of complex plots in his plays and stories, he explored the grimness, beauty, and comical aspects of the human condition with consummate skill.
Russian writer Anton Chekhov, full name Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904) is one of the greatest short story writers of world literature. Influenced by the venerated Russian masters, Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky, Chekhov wrote hundreds of stories and novellas, tracing the trajectory of ordinary lives, capturing the vastness and backwardness of remote Russian provinces, shining the spotlight on bureaucratic apathy and corruption and the Russian obsession with rank, poignantly evoking a specific time and place through meticulous observation and telling detail. In Chekhov’s stories, an overt plot often hints at hidden stories, giving readers plenty of room to make use of their imagination. Chekhov displays deeply felt empathy and compassion for those who suffer misfortunes while managing to find human traits in the ones he dislikes. His canvas is wide – encompassing everything from happiness and intense suffering to slapstick humour. This collection includes some of Anton Chekhov’s finest stories including ‘The Dual,’ ‘The Lady with the Dog,’ ‘Betrothed,’‘Gooseberries,’‘TheKiss,’‘Fatand Thin,’and ‘The Trousseau’.
