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Extension
Chekhov’s Style
Chekhov: Representative of Modern Naturalism
Modern critics consider Chekhov one of the masters of the
short-story form. He was largely responsible for the modern type of
short story that depends for effect on mood and symbolism rather
than on plot. His narratives, rather than having a climax and
resolution, are a thematic arrangement of impressions and ideas.
Using themes relating to the everyday life of the landed gentry and
professional middle class, Chekhov portrayed the pathos of life in
Russia before the 1905 revolution: the futile, boring, and lonely
lives of people unable to communicate with one another.
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Chekhov's Style
Chekhov’s Style
He developed a new dramatic technique ("indirect action"), and he
concentrated on subtleties of characterization and interaction
between characters rather than on plot and direct action. In a
Chekhov play important dramatic events take place offstage.
(Chekhov's) own influence on Western literature has been immense.
The author's masterful handling of prose, as well as his
sensitivity towards character, mood, and setting, impressed authors
as diverse as E. M. Forster and Virginia Woolf. Indeed, his
economical use of language and ambivalent style—Chekhov weaves
humor with pathos to magnify the inconsequential details
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Lesson 9 – A Dill Pickle
of people's lives—helped redefine the short story genre. He also
developed a technique of ending stories with what have been termed
"zero endings"—or anti-climactic conclusions. This technique makes
the stories seem more realistic, and often more pathetic, because
readers are left to guess what will happen next. However, Chekhov
also employs "surprise endings" to confound our expectations, and
we can never be sure how a tale will end. Consequently, over a
hundred years after his works were written, readers still marvel at
Chekhov's freshness and originality. Although the author sketches
his characters with compassionate good-humor, he never abstains
from highlighting their
Chekhov’s Style
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Chekhov’s Style
faults, foibles, and human weaknesses. Chekhov's stories are thus
deeply humane works of fiction: In detailing life's poignant
trivialities, they are unrivalled in their sense of
authenticity.
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Said by Chekhov
"All I wanted was to say honestly to people: 'Have a look at
yourselves and see how bad and dreary your lives are!' The
important thing is that people should realize that, for when they
do, they will most certainly create another and better life for
themselves. I will not live to see it, but I know that it will be
quite different, quite unlike our present life. And so long as this
different life does not exist, I shall go on saying to people again
and again: 'Please, understand that your life is bad and
dreary!'"
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Chekhov’s Famous Plays
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Katherine Mansfield (author of "A Dill Pickle") was greatly
influenced by Anton Chekhov, sharing his warm humanity and
attention to small details of human behavior in her short story "A
Dill Pickle".
Lesson 9 – A Dill Pickle
Chekhov’s Style
Chekhov’s Influence
Oral Work
Oral Work
Dramatize the whole story, and pay special attention to the
psychological movement of the main character.
Activity
Why did women marry at the time when Vera lived?
How different was Vera from other common women?
Why Vera broke off with her lover six years ago and how did she
realize that it was impossible for them to pick up their romantic
relationship when they met again?
Lesson 9 – A Dill Pickle
Oral Work
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Write a short essay of about 160—200 words on the changes Vera
found in her former lover when they met again six years
later.
Lesson 9 – A Dill Pickle
Writing
Quiz
Can you help me fix a time to meet him?
He survived the car accident, but his car was damaged beyond
repair.
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Quiz
Brilliant career unfolded before him.
In many ways, children live, as it were, in a different world from
adults.
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Quiz
The books are not supposed to be taken out of the library. We
cannot stretch the rules.
What Bill did is totally beyond my comprehension.
The door snapped shut behind us.
The end of Quiz.
This is the end of Lesson Nine.
Part Five