Who Was Anton Chekhov?

Michael MakinAnn Arbor Public Library,

22 March 2010

Anton Chekhov from TaganrogBorn 1860 in southern city of Taganrog – northern tip of

Sea of Azov, very provincial, very Southern (many non-Russians in population)

Early life One of seven children; father, str

uggling, then bankrupt, shopkeeper; mother of minor merchant stock

His paternal grandfather was a serf,who had bought his freedom

Anton Chekhov born in modest rented house

Later lived above the store(on it perhaps based businessin late story “In the Ravine”)

Father strict, pious (butpoor businessman), forcedchildren to sing in church choir, etc – mature Chekhov perhaps ambivalent about religion, but his work full of references, markers of knowledge of Orthodoxy

School, adolescenceAt age of eight entered local gimnaziya

(equivalent of English Grammar School, French lycée, German gymansium) – by later C19th gimnazii important instruments of upward social mobility

Quality of education good, opened world for Anton and siblings

There was also a local library and a theatre (Chekhov in love with theatre at early age, staged home theatricals)

Family CrisisBy 1876 older brothers Aleksandr and Nikolai in

Moscow, in higher education (and in debt), but also painting (Nikolai) and writing (Aleksandr)

Father – bankrupt; left town hidden in cart to catch Moscow train further up the line (and to avoid creditors)

Adolescent Anton left with mother, young siblings, to defend and fend for

Later rest of family left for Moscow, Anton and one brother finished school in Taganrog alone, supported in part by charity

Chekhov already writing (for school magazines, trying out drama…)

Chekhov’s birth, childhood and youth…Very obviously completely different from the early

biographies and social background of almost all major Russian writers of the C19th up to this period:

Pushkin – long-established noble family, connections with Court

Count Lev TolstoiTurgenev – wealthy landowning gentryGoncharov – landowning familyDostoevsky – father had achieved noble status through

army serviceAll of these families could have owned Chekhov’s

grandfather

ApprenticeshipMay 1879 passed school-leaving exams, August – left for

Medical Faculty of Moscow University. Completed his medical degree, practiced as a doctor intermittently all his life

Worldy-wise, shaped by experiences, wry, ironic view of world, practical

Began to write comic sketches for publication while a first-year med. student, helped to find publishers by brother Aleksandr

Early literary apprenticeship – comic sketches, very short stories for (new) popular periodicals

And, again, not the early adulthood of his great successorsOut of this early experience emerges, by mid-1880s the

perhaps greatest master of the short storyBy early 90s recognized as a great prose writer, major success

as playwright yet to come

Ivanov, The Wood DemonIn 1887 hastily wrote Ivanov, his first major play

to be performedA modest success, with much that anticipates

later plays (set in decaying gentry estate; capricious, dying heroine; hypocritical hero torn by inner conflict…) …

… but clumsy, and Chekhov unhappy with it.The pattern for his early big plays -- failure

(although the short vaudevilles were succeeding), was confirmed with the disastrous premiere of The Wood Demon in 1889

The Seagull EmergesAfter the disaster of The Wood

Demon Chekhov had, as usual, foresworn the theatre …

… while continuing to think about new plays (and actresses…)

At Melikhovo, the estate he bought in 1891, he started to write in 1895 The Seagull in a little guest house on the estate

First of his four “great plays”, that would eventually make him the second-most- performed playwright in the world

Initial receptionAt read-throughs, play was disliked – the apparent parody

of the fashionable Rostand (La Princesse lointaine, etc) in Treplev’s play-with-the-play caused distress

Première – catastrophe; benefit night for comic actress, who had no role in play; her fans angry and displeased

Chekhov walked from Alexandrinskii Theatre in Pbg to apartment of his friend and publisher Suvorins, went to bed and covered his head with a blanket, through which he announced to friends that he would never write another play

In fact, performances improved as cast came to terms with play, although only with the formation of the Moscow Arts Theatre would Chekhov’s mature drama find an appropriate arena

The Seagull as landmarkVery unlike his previous plays (dialogue that

doesn’t communicate, role of the ordinary, failure to resolve issues)

Although also somewhat unlike future plays (artistic milieu, discussions of art by practitioners, significant and even melodramatic action)

Definitely a new kind of theatre, and aspects of it lead to Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard

A difficult play (like the next 3)Chekhov explicitly saw himself as “breaking all the

rules” in The Seagull, as he would in later plays:Told Suvorin that he was writing “contrary to all the

rules of dramatic art”As with earlier plays, called it a “Comedy”The same effects that intrigued and delighted many

readers of his prose caused huge problems for the first performers of his plays, and for early audiences

Only with the Moscow Arts Theatre and Chekhov’s gradual absorption into canon, did his plays become easily “readable”, even if still hard to produce

Breaking the rulesLanguage doesn’t communicate, but obstructsNo clearly dominant characterAction take place off stageFull of inartistic “ordinariness” – people talking about

their salaries, about everyday details of the estate (cf UV)Full of ordinary, but shocking details: Masha drinks, takes

tobacco (cf Astrov and vodka in UV)Not plot-driven – there seem to be many redundant

characters and eventsEven the censor was upset (frank admission of Arkadina’s

relations with Trigorin, and discussion of them by her son)The way forward for Chekhov’s drama (and the world’s) …

From The Wood Demon to Uncle Vanya

Probably returned to The Wood Demon in Aug/Sept 96

Disastrous première of The Seagull October, Chekhov forswearing theatre (again), but probably by then transforming The Wood Demon into Uncle Vanya

Again – Chekhov determined to succeed as a playwright, fascinated by the theatre

Transformation of The Wood Demon It had been a disaster on the stage (supposedly, one of leading ladies too corpulent to embrace lover on stage, as

required…) But it contains many of same characters as UV: Serebryakov, Elena, Sonya; eponymous hero – Dr Khrushchov,

has much in common with Astrov; Georges Voinitskii → Vanya; Mar’ya Vonitskaya; Dyadin →Telegin Two other pairs Zheltukhin, bro. and sis.; Orlovskii, fthr and son Zheltukhin courting Sonya; Orlovskii jr’s half serious pursuit of Elena, which is ended by his engagement to the

Zheltukhin sister Time and place of action spread much more (Act I at Zheltukhins’ house; Act IV at water mill) Much more action: Georges commits suicide because Elena does not love him; Elena, depressed by rural idiocy,

runs away, but only as far as mill, to reappear and suffer husband’s judgement when the rest picnic at the mill… Khrushchov brash and young , but finally accepted by Sonya as appropriate suitor Play ends (two weeks after suicide) with double engagement Much action contrived: a diary is discovered posthumously, revealing that George had not been Elena’s lover (as

“whole county” thought); Elena’s sudden reappearance clumsy Some motivation sketchy – problems between Sonya (no university degree) and Khrushchov (a political

populist) mentioned, never to re-surface, but Yuliya Zheltukhina tells us that she is unmarried in her late 20s because she is uneducated…

Modulates uncomfortably between melodrama and comedy –final scene very typical (characters hide to watch engagement of one of the couples, then celebrate double engagement when they emerge)

So why return to it?Apparently the key conflicts (generational,

romantic, socio-political) mattered to Chekhov – his ecology-minded doctor important; the strains of estate life (now familiar to him as a landowner); the problems of resolving the romantic entanglements?

Maybe, too, desire to “get things right”The comparison of The Wood Demon with

Uncle Vanya gives us a vivid demonstration of what Chekhov’s mature drama could do

The result – The Wood Demon becoming Uncle Vanya

Melodrama stripped – no suicide, just ridiculous attempt at suicide; the “murder” attempt equally ridiculous

No resolution – no engagements, no secrets revealedFar fewer plot lines, fewer charactersNo scenic divisionsNew play full of interrupted conversations, dialogues

without interaction, etc (characteristic of the “great plays”, radically different from earlier plays)

Ne w play, like future plays, makes extensive use of rather disconcerting sound effects – the watchman beating time (always a key and complex theme in later plays), Telegin strumming on his guitar…

SimilaritiesThe country estate settingSecondary characters again prominent

(always significant in later plays, here: Nurse, with whom action begins, Telegin)

Monologues, near monologues (for example, Astrov on forests, Act I)

Interconnecting stories

SpeechNote, btw, how monologues work: rhythmic alternation,

but semantic shift is sharp – monologues often ending with trivial dialogue

Important exchanges take place in trivial contexts:Vanya cries, seeing late sister in SonyaSonya and Astrov in Act II (drunk doctor making light promises, talking to Sonya as to a child, hunting for snacks in sideboard, discussion of Serebryakov; relationship of Astrov and Sonya tentatively explored, interrupted by Astrov remembering death on operating table)

Then the key exchange between Sonya and Elena (built around drinking ritual and a pronoun)

Drinking bruderschaft SONIA. He has gone. [A pause.]

ELENA. Sonia! SONIA. Yes? ELENA. How much longer are you going to sulk at me? We have not hurt each other. Why not be friends? We have had enough of this. SONIA. I myself—[She embraces HELENA] Let us make peace. ELENA. With all my heart. [They are both moved.]SONIA. Has papa gone to bed? ELENA. No, he is sitting up in the drawing-room. Heaven knows what reason you and I had for not speaking to each other for weeks. [Sees the open sideboard] Who left the sideboard open? SONIA. Dr. Astrov has just had supper. ELENA. There is some wine. Let us seal our friendship. SONIA. Yes, let us. ELENA. Out of one glass. [She fills a wine-glass] So, we are friends, are we? SONIA. Yes. [They drink and kiss each other] I have long wanted to make friends, but somehow, I was ashamed to. [She weeps.] ELENA. Why are you crying? SONIA. I don't know. It is nothing.ELENA. There, there, don't cry. [She weeps] Silly! Now I am crying too. [A pause] You are angry with me because I seem to have married your father for his money, but don't believe the gossip you hear. I swear to you I married him for love. I was fascinated by his fame and learning. I know now that it was not real love, but it seemed real at the time. I am innocent, and yet your clever, suspicious eyes have been punishing me for an imaginary crime ever since my marriage. SONIA. Peace, peace! Let us forget the past. ELENA. You must not look so at people. It is not becoming to you. You must trust people, or life becomes impossible.

Very original form, but some very “classical” elementsWhat could be more classical than an old nurse, who knows

everyone and to whom everyone confides?A living man making testamentary arrangements – a rather

familiar theme …… but here in grotesque form (it’s not even his estate, but he

plans to benefit himself, not his child, and, in the end, nothing happens)

That discussion of Serebryakov’s proposal very telling – dispute between Serebryakov (with his ironic use of literary allusion to introduce announcement) and Vanya, during which Sonya is silent – her first words are an appeal to the nurse

As so often, key events have happened before the dramatic time – death of Serebryakov’s first wife; even the arrival of the Serebryakovs on the estate.

Difficult charactersAstrov – do we take his ecology seriously; what

does his pursuit of Elena mean; what does his indifference to Sonya (on paper a good match) mean?

Elena – resists Vanya and even Astrov (while also attracting him); revolted by her husband; does she manipulate Sonya, deliberately emasculate Astrov and thwart Sonya?

What of Sonya and Vanya – what of her silent work, her naïve relations with Astrov and Elena; his hysterical claims, his love for Elena?

Difficult speechWhat do we make of Astrov’s forests?Is his interest like the map of Africa, noted in setting for Act II?

VOINITSKII'S bedroom, which is also his office. A table stands near the window; on it are ledgers, letter scales, and papers of every description. Near by stands a smaller table belonging to ASTROV, with his paints and drawing materials. On the wall hangs a cage containing a starling. There is also a map of Africa on the wall, obviously of no use to anybody. There is a large sofa covered with buckram. A door to the left leads into an inner room; one to the right leads into the front hall, and before this door lies a mat for the peasants with their muddy boots to stand on. It is an autumn evening. The silence is profound. TELEGIN and MARINA are sitting facing one another, winding wool.

Difficult ending SONIA. He has gone.

VOINITSKII. [Adding and writing] Total, fifteen—twenty-five— SONIA sits down and begins to write. [Yawning] Oh, ho! The Lord have mercy. TELEGIN comes in on tiptoe, sits down near the door, and begins to tune his guitar. VOINITSKII. [To SONIA, stroking her hair] Oh, my child, I am miserable; if you only knew how miserable I am! SONIA. What can we do? We must live our lives. [A pause] Yes, we shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live through the long procession of days before us, and through the long evenings; we shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us; we shall work for others without rest, both now and when we are old; and when our last hour comes we shall meet it humbly, and there, beyond the grave, we shall say that we have suffered and wept, that our life was bitter, and God will have pity on us. Ah, then dear, dear Uncle, we shall see that bright and beautiful life; we shall rejoice and look back upon our sorrow here; a tender smile—and—we shall rest. I have faith, Uncle, fervent, passionate faith. [SONIA kneels down before her uncle and lays her head on his hands. She speaks in a weary voice] We shall rest. [TELEGIN plays softly on the guitar] We shall rest. We shall hear the angels. We shall see heaven shining like a jewel. We shall see all evil and all our pain sink away in the great compassion that shall enfold the world. Our life will be as peaceful and tender and sweet as a caress. I have faith; I have faith. [She wipes away her tears] My poor, poor Uncle Vanya, you are crying! [Weeping] You have never known what happiness was, but wait, Uncle Vanya, wait! We shall rest. [She embraces him] We shall rest. [The WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden; TELEGIN plays softly; MME. VOITSKAYA writes something on the margin of her pamphlet; MARINA knits her stocking] We shall rest. The curtain slowly falls.

As with Astrov, work here seems a way to avoid the acute and chronic problems of the characters’ lives, yet, at the same time, in an ironic reversal of the call of the departing Serebyrakov (who had done nothing throughout the play) to work, Vanya and Sonya are engaged in productive work. Yet the future anticipated here is ….?

Uncle VanyaSelf-conscious markers of generic originality (sub-title:

“Scenes from country life”….) …… with many familiar elements (allusions to classical

stories and forms; familiar setting, theme – declining country estate, family matters (Uncle Vanya)

Failure of words, relationships as vehicles of frustration and irresolution…

Almost no story development and very elusive characterization

Result – a remarkable play, and a moment of transformation not only for Chekhov, but also for world drama