Chekhov and geographical determinism

Abstract

Literary scholars have recently shown growing interest in interrelation between Chekhov’s worldview and creativity. This article is dedicated to this topic. The question of the writer's worldview has long caused intense debate. There are multiple works dedicated to Chekhov's religious worldview, natural science materialism, and naturalism; however, the topic of Chekhov and geographical determinism is poorly studied. Although the idea of geographical determinism and the impact of vast expanses of Russia upon people’s lives occurs in the correspondence and works of Chekhov at various times. The subject of this research is Chekhov's works that contain the ideology of geographical determinism. The scientific novelty consists in the systematic and comprehensive analysis of the idea of geographical determinism in Chekhov's works. The influence of the opinions of different representatives of geographical determinism upon Chekhov's worldview is established. The author observes a connection between Chekhov and geographical determinism. Apathy, yarn, exhaustion, hopelessness, loneliness and alternation of excitability and fatigue of Chekhov's characters are associated with the geographical peculiarities of Russia, its vast expanses, severe winters, dullness, and monotony. The conducted research confirms the value of analysis of the connection between Chekhov and geographical determinism in the context of studying Chekhov's writing style.