18. Reading. Anton Chekhov

 

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is one of the greatest Russian playwrights and writers. He was born in \(1860\), in Taganrog to a family of a grocer. Young Chekhov moved to Moscow and entered a medical school. He supported his family by writing humorous short stories.

 

He practiced as a doctor and started to write serious works. His 'The Steppe' was a success. Chekhov is famous for his plays — they balance on the fine line of tragedy and comedy and show deep understanding of human nature.

 

Chekhov wrote many of his greatest works in the last years of his life. He concentrated on the characters in his plays — the slight shades of their emotions, feelings. There is not much action, events in Chekhov's plays, but he reveals the depths of inner conflicts through ordinary, insignificant events. His greatest plays are The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.

 

The last years of his life he was seriously ill with tuberculosis. He died at the age of \(44\).

 

Anton Chekhov is one of the major literary figures in Russian literature. He had heavy influence not only on the Russian literature of the XX century, but on the writers abroad, such as Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams and James Joyce.

 

  

1. Young Chekhov moved to Moscow and entered a medical school.

 

   

 

2. He practiced as a doctor and started to write serious works.

 

   

 

3. There is lot of action, events in Chekhov's plays, he reveals the depths of inner conflicts through major events.