Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Russian: Анто́н Па́влович Че́хов,pronounced [ɐnˈton ˈpavləvʲɪt͡ɕ ˈt͡ɕexəf]; 29 January 1860[1] – 15 July 1904)[2]was a Russian physician, dramaturge and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history.[3] His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.[4][5] Chekhov practised as a medical doctorthroughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress."[6]
Chekhov renounced the theatre after the disastrous reception of The Seagullin 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters andThe Cherry Orchard. These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble[7] as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text."[8]
Chekhov had at first written stories only for financial gain, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations which have influenced the evolution of the modern short story.[9] His originality consists in an early use of the stream-of-consciousness technique, later adopted by James Joyce and other modernists, combined with a disavowal of the moral finality of traditional story structure.He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them.

Chekhov now assumed responsibility for the whole family.[31] To support them and to pay his tuition fees, he wrote daily short, humorous sketches and vignettes of contemporary Russian life, many under pseudonyms such as "Antosha Chekhonte" (Антоша Чехонте) and "Man without a Spleen" (Человек без селезенки). His prodigious output gradually earned him a reputation as a satiricalchronicler of Russian street life, and by 1882 he was writing for Oskolki(Fragments), owned by Nikolai Leykin, one of the leading publishers of the time.[32]Chekhov's tone at this stage was harsher than that familiar from his mature fiction.[33][34]
In 1884, Chekhov qualified as a physician, which he considered his principal profession though he made little money from it and treated the poor free of charge.[35] In 1884 and 1885, Chekhov found himself coughing blood, and in 1886 the attacks worsened; but he would not admit tuberculosis to his family and friends,[15] confessing to Leykin, "I am afraid to submit myself to be sounded by my colleagues."[36] He continued writing for weekly periodicals, earning enough money to move the family into progressively better accommodation. Early in 1886 he was invited to write for one of the most popular papers in St. Petersburg, Novoye Vremya (New Times), owned and edited by the millionaire magnate Alexey Suvorin, who paid per line a rate double Leykin's and allowed him three times the space.[37] Suvorin was to become a lifelong friend, perhaps Chekhov's closest.[38][39]
Before long, Chekhov was attracting literary as well as popular attention. The sixty-four-year-old Dmitry Grigorovich, a celebrated Russian writer of the day, wrote to Chekhov after reading his short story The Huntsman,[40] "You have real talent—a talent which places you in the front rank among writers in the new generation." He went on to advise Chekhov to slow down, write less, and concentrate on literary quality.
Chekhov replied that the letter had struck him "like a thunderbolt" and confessed, "I have written my stories the way reporters write up their notes about fires—mechanically, half-consciously, caring nothing about either the reader or myself."[41] The admission may have done Chekhov a disservice, since early manuscripts reveal that he often wrote with extreme care, continually revising.[42] Grigorovich's advice nevertheless inspired a more serious, artistic ambition in the twenty-six-year-old. In 1887, with a little string-pulling by Grigorovich, the short story collection At Dusk (V Sumerkakh) won Chekhov the coveted Pushkin Prize "for the best literary production distinguished by high artistic worth.