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At a time when the Russian theatre was dominated by formulaic melodramas and farces, Chekhov created a new sort of drama that laid bare the everyday lives, loves and yearnings of ordinary people. Ivanov depicts a man stifled by inactivity and lost idealism, and The Seagull contrasts a young man's selfish romanticism with the stoicism of a woman cruelly abandoned by her lover. With 'the scenes from country life' of Uncle Vanya, his first fully mature play, Chekhov developed his own unique dramatic world, neither tragedy nor comedy. In Three Sisters the Prozorov sisters endlessly dream of going to Moscow to escape the monotony of provincial life, while his comedy The Cherry Orchard portrays characters futilely clinging to the past as their land is sold from underneath them.
About the Author
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian physician and writer of short stories and plays.
Peter Carson learnt Russian during his National Service and works in London publishing.
Richard Gilman is Professor Emeritus of Playwriting and Dramaric Literature at Yale University's School of Drama. He has been drama critic for Newsweek and is the author of 'Chekhov's Plays' (Yale, 1996) and 'The Making of Modern Drama' (Yale, 2000).
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The garden of Ivanov's country estate. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The garden of Ivanov's country estate. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First rate drama,
This review is from: Plays: "Ivanov", "The Seagull", "Uncle Vanya", "Three Sisters", "The Cherry Orchard" (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
For anyone who doesn't know Chekhov, I recommend you get acquainted with his work immediately. His short stories are superb, and his five plays are masterpieces of theatre. It is such a shame that he died when he was only 44 - like Mozart, you really wonder what on earth he would have produced by the time he was 60.
As always with Chekhov, I am amazed at the fact he is able to create tension and high drama from absolutely nothing - boredom, loss of zest for life, inability to move on, hopeless incompetence, arrogance, etc etc. Characters are absolutely pared down to the minimum necessary to dissect a psychological state, atmosphere, general state of affairs etc., and the language is an exercise in economy - it functions only as a vehicle for creating dramatic effect. If the penguin translation is faithful, then there is little, if any, superfluous imagery, and nothing that digresses from the function of each moment of dramatic intensity. The tone and themes of each play - as with his short stories - are always ambiguous: bittersweet, tragicomic, sad and joyful, generosity and miserliness, adultery vs sterile faithfulness etc. In this lack of commitment to a stable reality Chekhov was well ahead of his time and it is easy to see how his plays have exerted such an influence on the development of the modern play.
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
five by Chekhov,
By lowell duluth "lowell duluth" (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Plays: "Ivanov", "The Seagull", "Uncle Vanya", "Three Sisters", "The Cherry Orchard" (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
I re-read Chekhov - the stories as well as these plays - regularly. These recent translations are as good as, if not better, than any I`ve read, even the superb, natural-sounding ones by Frayn. This book benefits too from a masterly, uncompromising and authoritative introduction by Carson.I find new things in The Seagull, Three Sisters, etc every time I renew my acquaintance with them. The Seagull is a limpid, sad comedy with - as one could say of all Chekhov - a deceptively tough core. Uncle Vanya (his `easiest` play to approach at first?) is one to fall in love with; Three Sisters is a world masterpiece...oh, I could go on about this amazing man. He was a great influence on the precise, humane Raymond Carver, which I think is a testament to both writers. I believe Chekhov to be perhaps the most important writer since Shakespeare. Like the latter, he invariably keeps himself, and his writer`s ego, out of his writing - unlike, say, Shaw. Nothing can beat seeing a good, un-reverent performance of these aching-to-be-acted plays, but this is a fine collection to add to one`s library. Incidentally, I am tired now of finding reviews on Amazon which are talking about books other than the one under review. My predecessor here is reviewing the Frayn versions. Why does this keep happening, usually with translated literature? Get with it!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Chekov - Plays (Penguin Classics),
By
This review is from: Plays: "Ivanov", "The Seagull", "Uncle Vanya", "Three Sisters", "The Cherry Orchard" (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
I purchased this book, in preparation for drama school and in the end I didn't use it, but for anyone who does or doesn't know Chekov, these are some of his finest plays, my favorite being 'The Seagull'. It has some great biographical information about Chekov himself and the history of Russia at the time when he was writing and some of his lovely personal quotes. I was very inspired while reading this book. I hope you enjoy it and yes, I would highly recommend it, to anyone.
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