“There is still no satisfactory book on Anton Chekhov,” wrote the great Irish storyteller Frank O’Connor in 1963, and in 1988 the statement remains true, despite three distinguished recent attempts to ...

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860 – 1904) was a Russian playwright and writer, whose plays received international acclaim, and who as a short-story writer is still regarded as virtually unmatched. Along ...

I adore biographies, especially literary ones. There is always something to be learned from the lives of geniuses but, more immediately, reading about them reminds me that they were, after all, just ...

FROM THE DUST JACKET: To illuminate the mysterious greatness of Anton Chekhov’s writings, Janet Malcolm takes on three roles: literary critic, biographer, and journalist. Her close readings of the ...

From the introduction: “To indicate instances of Chekhov’s imagination at work and at play, I quote at length from his stories and letters and provide continual biographical commentary. It’s possible, ...

In the summer of 1884, shortly after qualifying as a doctor in Moscow, Anton Chekhov began working at a district hospital. “I am in fine fettle, for I have my medical diploma in my pocket,” he ...

Anton Chekhov - Writer ...