The Life of Chekhov

This admirable biography, at once intimate and precise, reveals the author of The Seagull in his luminous truth, his sufferings, and his hopes. A childhood “without a childhood,” as Chekhov himself called it, the violence of his father—a son of serfs—, writing to support his family, the acute awareness of a miserable condition, a career in medicine, and the desire to alleviate pain… In the life of the Russian writer, as in his work, the sublime goes hand in hand with the insignificant. The Life of Chekhov, which is also an essay on Russian literature, seals the encounter of two curiously kindred souls.