Russian classics are a vast literary edifice, imbued with pain and concern for the fate of little people. Therefore, they have a universal resonance and remain popular in many countries around the world.
Those of us over forty remember the kaleidoscope as a child's toy. By holding a small cylindrical tube to your eye and rotating it in different directions, you could see ever new crystalline patterns.
Thus, reading and rereading the works of classic Russian literature, we each time discover new facets of reality and seek answers to the complex questions of existence. Such are the stories and novellas of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov! Sincere and deeply ingrained, they make you think…
The satirical story “The Whistlers” is imbued with deep contempt for the lords who delight themselves with touching, well-fed speeches in the Slavophile spirit about the sanctity of the Russian people and at the same time humiliate this very people with the swinishness of serfdom.
In his short story “The Mask,” Chekhov mocks the sycophancy of the service intelligentsia, who consider themselves liberal and “thinking,” yet at the same time fawn over the savage tyranny of a drunken millionaire merchant. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
The rudeness of the “powers that be,” the servility they show toward them, arrogance, parasitism, coarseness, vulgarity, violence against the “little” man, lies, ignorance – these were Chekhov's enemies, the targets of his magnificent satire, inspired by his boundless love for simple, ordinary people.
The stories “The Death of a Government Clerk,” “The Certificate,” “The Chameleon,” and “Unter Prishibeyev” continue and develop the best traditions of Saltykov-Shchedrin and Gogol in a new way. The death of a minor government official from fear after accidentally sneezing on a general's bald head at the theater is a satirical exaggeration, highlighting the sad, shameful, and pitiful truth of life.
The fight against the vices of society was not only in Chekhov’s stories, it was also in the writer’s life.
Anton Pavlovich was born in Taganrog on January 17, 1860, to a former clerk who became the owner of a small grocery store. Pavel Yegorovich, Anton Pavlovich's father, was a “merchant,” as he solemnly called himself, by profession and an artist by heart. His talent was multifaceted. He was passionate about painting and taught himself to play the violin.
Pavel Yegorovich's greatest passion was the church choir he founded, which consumed much of his time at the expense of his commercial affairs. It was this choir, not his trade, that was the true interest of his life. Nevertheless, the positive qualities in Pavel Yegorovich's nature and his attitude toward his children were terribly distorted by eccentricity, tyranny, and bourgeois tendencies, warped by the hardships of life.
In 1889, in a letter to his brother Alexander, reproaching him for his autocracy and lack of balance in his attitude towards his children and wife, A. Chekhov wrote:
“I ask you to remember that despotism and lies ruined your mother's youth. Despotism and lies warped our childhood to such an extent that it's sickening and terrifying to recall. Despotism is thrice criminal…”
The reality surrounding Antosha Chekhov was an attack on his freedom. An even more powerful enemy than family despotism was the school.
The Taganrog Gymnasium was ideal from the perspective of the Tsarist Ministry of Public Education, but it was also a veritable slave factory. The students were to be trained to be slaves just like the teachers themselves, beaten into a state of constant trepidation and servility, and destroy their sense of self-worth.
Reality assailed Chekhov from all sides, seeking to enslave him; violence loomed large. But the more brutal this onslaught, the more conscious and persistent the young Chekhov became in defending his inner freedom and his human dignity.
Years will pass… And already in the late period of Anton Pavlovich's work, new notes will sound—the theme of a renewed and more just life in the future. Chekhov's drama will begin to develop and reach unprecedented heights. From the pen of the great master of Russian literature, plays such as “Three Sisters,” “Uncle Vanya,” and “The Cherry Orchard” will emerge. The apotheosis of this theme of new life will be the play “The Seagull.” Thus, through the darkness of life overcome by the play's heroine, we discern the leitmotif of “The Seagull”—the theme of flight, the theme of victory.
One of the characters in the play “Three Sisters” clearly speaks on behalf of the author:
“The time has come, a huge storm is approaching us all, a healthy, powerful storm is brewing, it is coming, it is already close and will soon blow away indifference, laziness, prejudice against work, rotten boredom from our society… in some twenty-five to thirty years, every person will be working. Every one!”
What can we say from the vantage point of the time that has passed since that era? Some will speak of A.P. Chekhov's utter naivety, others will paint a picture of a world torn apart by political, social, and spiritual contradictions, others will speak of the approaching “end of the world,” and so on… Or perhaps a golden age of humanity lies ahead, and all is not yet lost? These are questions that remain unanswered. The removal of A.P. Chekhov's coffin from the train.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov died on July 2, 1904, in the German spa town of Badenweiler. His body was transported to Moscow a few days later. His funeral took place on July 9. His grave is in the Novodevichy Convent cemetery, not far from his father's.
