Anton Chekhov-Russian dramatist and author

Anton Chekhov-Russian dramatist and author

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (pseudonym – Antosha Chekhonte) was born in the Russian seaport city of Taganrog on the 17th of January 1860. His father, Pavel Egorovich Chekhov, was a grocery store owner, and mother, Eugenia Yakovlevna, devoted all her life to the family and their 6 children. In young years Anton with his brothers and sisters worked in the father’s store after school, but after their father’s business had failed, the family had to move to Moscow.

In Moscow Chekhov’s father worked as a labourer and mother did part-time sewing work. Anton entered the medical faculty of Moscow University and did some whiting work that later became a source of income for not only him but his family also. Chekhov started with writing for humour magazines, and his first story was published in Dragonfly magazine in 1880.

In 1881 his stories were published in the Alarm Clock and later – in the Spectator magazine. In 1884 Chekhov released his first book – a collection of six humorous stories called The Tales of Melpomene. In 1886 another book, Motley Stories, release took place and was a success. Shortly after the book had been published, Chekhov was recognized as a new talented writer and in February 1887 he was elected to the Literary Fund. In August of the same year he released a collection of short stories called In The Twilight and in November 1887 produced his first completed play called Ivanov. After that Chekhov quitted writing for humour magazines switched to writing drama and serious fiction.

In 1888 he wrote a story called The Steppe that not only opened a new phase in his writing carrier but was also noticed and praised by famous writers, published in the high-class Northern Messenger magazine, and brought him a good amount of money. In October of the same year Chekhov won the Pushkin Prize by Academy of Sciences. The year 1888 was very fruitful for Chekhov: he also released such works as The Lights, The Name-Day Party, An Attack of Nerves.

In 1889 Anton wrote A Dreary Story, a collection of short stories called Children, The Wood Demon play that was rejected by the Theatrical Committee in St. Petersburg which wounded the author a lot. In 1890 Chekhov released another collection of short stories called Gloomy People and later – a work called Sakhalin Island that was inspired by his visit to Sakhalin.

Apart from writing short stories Chekhov also released a number of successful plays, such as, for instance, The Sea Gull, Uncle Vanya, a new version of The Wood Demon, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard…

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a philatelist and for a long time had been collecting stamps. In his collection there were stamps of many countries of the world. Including Russia, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Finland, Britain, Greece, Japan, the United States, Belgium, Italy and Sweden.

In 1898, after Chekhov had fallen ill seriously with tuberculosis, he met the actress Olga Knipper and in 1900 they got married. In 1904 his health got worse and he was taken to hospital. In June of the same year he left for Germany where he died on the 2nd of July 1904. His body was returned to Moscow and buried there.