Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study Of Chekhov'S Prose And Drama

by Donald Rayfield

Overview

Of all Russian writers, Chekhov is one of the best liked and most easily appreciated. Yet he is also one of the most elusive. Here Donald Rayfield reveals the layers of meaning on which the great dramatist's stories and plays are built. He examines his brief twenty-year creative life, from medical student supplementing his income by writing comic stories to his rapid rise as the father of twentieth-century drama and narrative prose. Understanding Chekhov is enriched by revelations from previously unexplored archival material, which deepen our understanding of Chekhov's sources, preoccupations, philosophy, and his relations with theater, with fellow writers, and with contemporary ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299163143
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	07/06/1999
Edition description:	1
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Donald Rayfield, one of the foremost Chekhov scholar in the world, is author of the monumental 1997 biography Anton Chekhov: A Life. He is professor of Russian and Georgian, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London.

Editorial Reviews

"An outstanding book. . . . The best introduction to Chekhov, man and work, today."--Robert L. Jackson, Yale University

From the Publisher