May 18, 2016

Wednesday Writing Wisdom (47) Anton Pavlovich Chekhov



“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

 Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

  (January 1860- July 1904)
         Fun facts 


Anton Chekhov was one of Russia's most beloved writers. He wrote plays, short stories, novellas, non-fiction, and one novel: The Shooting Party (1884). At the time of his death Anton was second only to Leo Tolstoy in literary celebrity.

Long a bachelor, he had a number of vivacious, pretty, and talented women friends but none for whom he felt "love, sexual attraction, being of one flesh" in terms strong enough to propose marriage. But in 1898, when he was 38 and seriously ill, he met the actress Olga Knipper. By the time they married in May 1901, he not only was one of Russia's leading literary men, having been the first writer elected to honorary membership in the Academy of Sciences (January 1890), but was also engrossed in the theater, madly in love, and gravely tubercular.

Although Anton Chekhov became a physician he often treated patients for free and earned money from his writing.
 

6 comments:

  1. How extremely interesting that he met his future wife when he was seriously ill, and also that as a doctor he treated patients for free. I learn so much from your "Wednesday Writing Wisdom" Carmen!

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    1. I read a lot of Russian literature. Chekhov and Esenin are among my favorites from it. You know, regarding his late meeting his wife, there's a saying here -"When the hour struck..." meaning it was only then the right time in his life.

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    2. I like that saying!

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  2. I always loved Chekhov, especially Uncle Vanya. Can you imagine performing doctor work for free and making a living writing??! You have such good writer posts, Carmen.

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    1. Yes, mine, too, Flossie. In a way my poems are related to the melancholic mood of his play.Russian literature is dark, gripping. Characters in novels and plays consumed with lethargy, boredom, and regret over their unsatisfactory lives. I admit I had a bit of prejudice against it, giving our neighborhood and what we had and still have to suffer because of it, but, still, the writing was great!

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    2. I can certainly understand that feeling after all your country went through.

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