Chekhov's Prose Research Articles

A.P. Chekhov: Selected stories (1905): the first collection of Anton Chekhov's novellas and stories in Croatian

The purpose of the study is to analyze the reception of the first collection of stories and short stories by A.P. Chekhov, translated into Croatian and published in 1905. The preface of this edition, written by journalist and translator Martin Lovrenčević, holds particular importance. In his endeavor to provide a more detailed biography of the Russian writer, Lovrenčević compiles scattered information that had been regularly published in essays and articles by well-known and anonymous critics in Russian and Croatian periodicals between 1886 and 1904. Lovrenčević also relies on data published in the Russian press in 1904-1905, recollections of Chekhov's friends and relatives, and introduces Croatian readers to previously unknown facts of his personal life. The analysis showed that the biography compiled by Lovrenčević, along with his translations of novellas and stories featured in the collection, as well as his consideration of Anton Chekhov's prose and drama, represents a continuation of the efforts made by the first creative intermediaries, who since the mid-1880s introduced Croatian readers to the Russian writer and his works.

Америка в творческом сознании А.П. Чехова

This paper focuses on American motifs and imagery, which form a single conceptosphere in the artistic world of Chekhov's prose. The absence of practical experience in knowing America, as well as the enrichment of the Russian world described in the texts with American references, are explored in the context of the writer's world modeling. The primary types of American representation are noted. A comparison of the settings, in which A. P. Chekhov's short stories reference America, exposes not only the consciousness of the perceiving character, but also helps to demonstrate the author's non-judgmental attitude toward ethnic stereotypes.

Chekhov's prose in the opera of the late XX-beginning. XXI centuries .

As the world theatrical practice of the last decades shows, it is the legacy of A.P. Chekhov that is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for many directors and composers. There is a huge number of works devoted to the topic "Chekhov and music". The musicality of Chekhov's prose is one of the most frequent topics in philological and musicological studies. Plays, novels, and short stories by the author have more than once become an occasion for new creations in the opera house. In this article, the author examines the famous operas of composers of the turn of the XX-XXI centuries based on the prose of A. Chekhov. The works are arranged according to the principle of differences between the plot plot and the libretto of operas from the literary source. In foreign musicology, the genre transformation of opera, in which the literary component becomes the main factor of centralizing unity, has been called literary (the term of K. Dahlhaus). In the most general sense, this genre should be understood as a reliable musical version in accuracy or in the abbreviation of the literary source. In Russian musicology, literary opera is a little-studied area of music history, which allows us to speak about the scientific novelty of the presented material. Thus, in the article the author comes to the conclusion that operas based on A.P. Chekhov stand apart in the implementation of the genre of literary opera in the domestic theater of the selected period. Based on the analysis, the author identifies three types of literary opera, which allow to characterize the method of composers' work with the literary source.

Medical Prescription as a Microtext of A. P. Chekhov’s Prose and Drama (Based on His Notebooks)

The article is based on the material of the writer's notebooks, and primarily on the material of the recently published Chekhov’s “Notebook Containing Medical Prescriptions”. The text of this notebook let us clarify some passages from Chekhov's prose and drama. Special attention is paid to the symbolism of Chekhov's prescriptions, which, as noted by A. P. Chudakov, is generally inherent in the writer's “ordinary objects of the household environment”. Chekhov’s stories “From the Diary of the Assistant Accountant” and “Means from a Binge”, his tale “The Duel”, his plays “Fatherless”, “Seagull”, and “Three Sisters” are touched upon in the article. As far as Chekhov’s drama is concerned it is possible to speak not only about the symbolism of such microtexts, but about its optional “implications”, or its cryptographical character.

Этностереотипы и их роль при изображении иностранцев в прозе А.П. Чехова

Этностереотипы и их роль при изображении иностранцев в прозе А.П. Чехова

Гносеологическая концепция чеховской прозы В.Б. Катаева в свете субъективации чеховского повествования

Гносеологическая концепция чеховской прозы В.Б. Катаева в свете субъективации чеховского повествования

DYNAMICS OF THE COSTUME IN CHEKHOV'S PROSE

The article is addressed to the poetics of costume in Chekhov's prose. This aspect of prose has not been studied and gives material for research, which adds relevance to the article. The author shows how in anecdotal plots the costume is represented as a characterological ("Once a year"), "metaphysical" ("The Station") and psychologically stressed detail ("Man"). Dynamics of the costume is indicated by a change in its semantics and functions. The romantic shawl in "The disgraceful story (something like a novel)" encompasses a coiled story about the peril of a "bookish" concept of life. The metamorphoses of the characters changing their clothes turn an archetypal plot upside down ("Living Goods"). Intertextuality item allows you to turn the story into a parody ("Green Spit"). In Chekhov's later prose a complication of costume features can be observed: in the novel "My Life" the costume, while existing in a tangle complex of the visual, the acoustic, the tactile and the olfactory, traces the story in the interplay of text overtones.

Образ священнослужителя в прозе А.П. Чехова в контексте русской и английской традиции (Н.С. Лесков и Дж. Элиот)

Образ священнослужителя в прозе А.П. Чехова в контексте русской и английской традиции (Н.С. Лесков и Дж. Элиот)

Сюжетная ситуация ухода в творчестве А.П. Чехова

Сюжетная ситуация ухода в творчестве А.П. Чехова

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: Poetics - Hermeneutics - Thematics by J. Douglas Clayton (review)

108 SEER, 87, I, JANUARY 200g Clayton, J. Douglas (ed.). Anton Pavlovich Chekhov:Poetics Hermeneutics Thematics . The Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, 2006. [v] + vii + 319 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $25.00 (paperback). The eighteen essays in this volume derive largely from papers read at an international conference held at theUniversity ofOttawa inDecember 2004. Participants from Canada, Russia, the United States, Germany, Ukraine, Sweden, Israel and Poland discussed a wide variety of issues, and the volume's editor, J. Douglas Clayton, has arranged their reflections into two parts, the firstdevoted to Chekhov's prose (eleven essays), the second ? to his plays (seven articles). In such a modey miscellany, the one unifying theme is 'the art ofAnton Chekhov'. As is customary in most collections, several items appear prolix, predictable or inessential. However, a number of useful articles examine Chekhov's prose. Thus, Valerii Tiupa meditates upon the 'communicative strategy of Chekhov's poetics', challenging at times the views of Andrei Stepanov and Aleksandr Chudakov. Whenever he manages to liberate himself from the fettersof ponderous theoretical terminology,Tiupa writes maturely and sensitively, observing, for instance, thatChekhov 'leaves the conclusive act ofmeaningful completion (the answer to the "correctiy asked question") to the reader, calling upon his communicative, aesthetic and moral responsi bility. [...] Indeed, it isnot simply the reader who is reading Chekhov's story, but the story itself that is "reading" its reader: the textworks as a test' (P- I7)? Concerning Chekhov's prose there are also solid contributions by J. Douglas Clayton (a debatable piece on self-expression, communication and the 'emptiness' of speech), Irina Gladilina (reflections on a possible diction ary of Chekhov's language), Vladimir Markovich ('archaic' constructions in 'Palata No. 6'), Anatolii Sobennikov (a somewhat disjointed, compressed essay on 'Palata No. 6', which could be developed into a much longer study), Cathy Popkin (a thoughtfulbut wordy article on 'Pripadok'), IuriiDomanskii (an inventive but excessively long exploration of 'Ionych the decadent', with special reference to Baudelaire and Bal'mont), and Julie W. de Sherbinin (a well-informed, sensitive, although not wholly persuasive consideration of 'the poetics ofmiddle ground' and 'Dama s sobachkoi'). The most outstanding essay in the entire volume is provided by Robert Louis Jackson, who offers a precise, ingenious, incisively subtle analysis of Chekhov's story 'Meliuzga', revealing the significance of itsEaster time-frame, the role of church bells and the tarakan, and the theme of resurrection and fall. Professor Jackson concludes that, in this tragi-comic tale,Chekhov 'has given evidence of his awareness of the astronomical distance that separates man from the ideal' (p. 73). Of the items devoted to Chekhov's plays themost substantial and stimu lating is Wasilij Szczukin's article 'On Calculability and Incalculability inThe Three Sisters'.This original and basically convincing studyof the role of numer als in Tri sestry seeks to demonstrate the constant alternation and juxtaposition of two contrasting realms ? the 'calculable', everyday world of numbers, reviews 109 time, objects, prose, and the 'exalted' world of 'incalculable essences' (p. 236), dreams, yearnings, aspirations, lyricism. 'It is as hard to livewithout arith metic and clocks as it iswithout faith, hope and love' (p. 242). Szczukin is mistaken, however, in claiming thatAct IV of Tri sestryis set 'in the spring', that 'the entire action lasts, as itwere, four years and two hours', and that in Act III Irina 'is twenty-four' (p. 234). Chekhov's textunambiguously states that Act IV is set in the autumn, and that Irina is aged twenty-three inAct III ? factswhich Szczukin seems to recognize elsewhere (pp. 239, 242). In another substantial piece Elena Siemens writes informatively (if discursively) about three highly diverse adaptations of Chaika at the School of Contemporary Play Theatre on Moscow's Trubnaia Square, and there are also essays by, among others, Vladimir Kataev (on Chekhov's rejection of happy endings and his existential irony),Yana Meerzon (a thoughtful piece on 'defamiliarization', weighed down by literary theory), and Natalia Vesselova (a somewhat mechanical piece on the flora and fauna in Vishnevyi sad). Throughout the volume theoretical obfuscation periodically rears itsugly head (see, for instance, pp. 7, 54, 156-57, 172, 208, 268, 270-73). One wonders how Chekhov (a writer...

Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama

This work is designed to enhance the understanding of those who read Chekhov's stories or watch his plays. It reveals the levels of meaning and intention, the interpretations that author, reader, theatre director or critic can make, and brings out Chekhov's many connections to European prose and drama. It is a systematic study, in chronological order, showing how Chekhov was formed by his own literary models and cultural background. It places stories and plays in context with each other as well as with Chekhov's reading and his public's and publishers' expectations. Early work receives special attention as the crucible in which later fiction is smelted; each of the major plays has a chapter devoted to it. Chekhov's own elusive intentions are elucidated, as well as the critical reactions of his contemporaries and of posterity. This study concentrates on Chekhov's innovations in both the story and in drama: the use of inconsequentiality, the avoidance of denouements, non-verbal effects (eg. smell and light), intertextuality. Much new archival material, private and family, is drawn on to show the origins of Chekhov's ideas and source of his motifs. Attention is paid to Chekhov's influence on the short story and on drama in Europe and America, as well as in Russia.

Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama (review)

Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama (review)

Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama by Donald Rayfield (review)

Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama by Donald Rayfield (review)

Understanding Chekhov: a critical study of Chekhov's prose and drama

Donald Rayfield. Understanding Chekhov. A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama. London: Bristol Classical Press, 1999. 295 pp., L15.95, paper. Donald Rayfield's latest book on Chekhov is written in the traditional format of life and Its approach is structural, inter-textual, and biographical. book eliminates footnotes and refers to the works by titles without page numbers. book begins with biographical details and discusses the significance of Chekhov's two professions: medicine and writing. need to support himself and his family resulted in the publication of Chekhov's first humorous pieces, which were written between 1880-85 and were infused with irony and/or parody. Once his financial burden decreased, Chekhov was able to devote himself to serious works. By 1888 Suvorin enabled Chekhov to write only what the author was artistically interested in portraying. One can discern Tolstoy's morality penetrate his writings. Rayfield says that in 1886 Chekhov wrote stories that could be classified as (1) those in which right clashes with wrong and reaches a synthesis and (2) those in which contemporary, philosophical problems are taken up. In 1887 with Suvorin's help Chekhov revisited the towns, countryside, farms, and monasteries that he had known as a boy. That year he wrote the remarkable story, The Steppe. In the stories that followed in 1888-1889 psychological analysis, along with Tolstoy's technique of monitoring and analyzing every twitch of character's bodies, became a trend in Chekhov's stories. Chekhov had a more turbulent career as a playwright than as a storywriter. Most of the plays that he wrote later can all be seen as variations on one play (now called Platonov) written in his youth. Chekhov also wrote the plays Ivanov and Wood Demon, which were failures. He did not get back to writing a play for seven years; instead, he absented himself from the literary forefront by going to in 1890. In 1895 Chekhov produced his monumental The Island of Sakhalin in which he emphasized the potential for goodness in every individual and evil in every hierarchy. On his return from Sakhalin, Chekhov settled on his estate in Melikovo (1893-1899). According to Rayfield this was a time of both contentment and frustration. Chekhov started showing the ambivalence in his attitude towards other people, which was to continue through his later years. He feared loneliness and at the same time complained of lacking privacy. Women played a greater role in his life. Chekhov's reading at this time was unexpectedly varied. He became familiar with Hauptman, Ibsen, Strindberg, and Maeterlinck. He was fascinated with the stream of innovations employed in their plays. This helped him overcome the trauma of failure in the play Wood Demon. With this new surge of interest came Seagull, which broke the traditional canons and argued for two possible approaches: conservative and experimental. …

Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama. By Donald Rayfield. London: Bristol Classical Press, 1999. xvii, 295 pp. Bibliography. Chronology. Glossary. Index. $22.95, paper.

Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama. By Donald Rayfield. London: Bristol Classical Press, 1999. xvii, 295 pp. Bibliography. Chronology. Glossary. Index. $22.95, paper. - Volume 59 Issue 2

Chekhov and Russian Religious Culture: The Poetics of the Marian Paradigm

A study of the Virgin Mary and the saintly harlots - Mary of Egypt and Mary Magdalene - as a cultural paradigm encoded in Chekhov's prose. The author establishes the authority of the Marian paradigm in 19th-century Russian culture with an overview of salient religious and literary texts, then offers critical readings of more than 15 Chekhov stories, including key works such as Peasants, Peasant Women, and My Life. De Sherbinin argues that Chekhov inverts and displaces the Christian meanings of Marian texts in order to reveal a vast array of problematized relationships to the canonized figures. This semiotic reading of Chekhov explores questions of female identity as it probes the mindset of Russian Orthodox popular culture.

Chekhov’s “Easter Night” and the Ornate Style

Easter is story about the art of religious writings and about master of this art. In Easter Night we find portrait of an artist who had gift for writing hymns of praise (dar akafisty pisat', as it is expressed with sense of melodious rhythm).1 This story sheds much light on Chekhov's poetics. It includes a story within story, which is devoted to the description and illustration of aesthetic principles that are close to the ornate style (pletenie sloves weaving) that flourished in fifteenth century Russian religious literature.2 Paradoxically, Chekhov's prose, which is known both for its clarity and unique ability to create certain mood, is rooted in the tradition of old Russian religious literature. The ornate style was used primarily in Russian hagiographie writings and is associated with Epiphanius the Wise (Epifanii Premudryi [?-ca.l420]), the author of The Life of St. Sergius ofRadonezh and The Life of St. Stefan of Perm. The style derived from the unique integrality of the author's vision of the world. For Epiphanius, who was strongly influenced the Athonite tradition of Hesychasm, apprehend the world, in the words of the Russian scholar Dmitrii Likhachev, was to express it by means of the language. To name thing properly was equal to comprehending it because the word and the phenomenon (or object) were inseparable. By meticulously chosen means of