Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov was a notable Russian short-story writer, novelist, and playwright. He was writing at the time of the golden age of Russian literature.
Books by Anton Chekhov
“You learn much more about Russia before the revolution by reading The Cherry Orchard than you will by studying the tsar and his land reforms or other decisions made in St Petersburg by the leadership.” Read more...
Peter Frankopan, Historian
“You can feel Chekhov on every page, watching, listening, noting, feeling for the people he meets.” Read more...
Yiyun Li, Memoirist
“Well, like much of Chekhov, it’s powerful in part because, although there is a moral undertone, no moral arguments are made, he’s not a moraliser. It’s about this guy who gets drawn into a duel so ridiculous that it’s impossible, even if you’ve just read the story, to remember exactly what it was they were duelling about. It’s often true of duels that people are prickly and they think their honour is being abused and they end up fighting. What happens is this man who is leading a rather meaningless life, fights a duel and doesn’t get killed and that turns him around and he pulls himself together. It’s just so marvellous, the description of these professional-class Russians, far, far away from Moscow in the provinces, and their preoccupation with status and all that, and these two guys in a completely pointless duel. It’s not just Chekhov creating an interesting narrative moment; it really was so common with these duels that it was extremely difficult to say in a short paragraph exactly what they were about.” Read more...
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Philosopher
“Gusev is probably Chekhov’s most lyrical story, set on a ship at sea. The rhythms of the story gently rise and fall like Gusev’s bunk in the ship.” Read more...
The Best Russian Short Stories
Rosamund Bartlett, Translator
“His stories are mould breaking in the sense that nobody wrote short stories like Chekhov and now everybody writes short stories like Chekhov.” Read more...
William Boyd on Writers Who Inspired Him
William Boyd, Novelist
Interviews where books by Anton Chekhov were recommended
William Boyd on Writers Who Inspired Him
The novelist William Boyd tells us about the authors, from Chekhov to Heller, who most influenced his own development as a writer – and reveals the secret to a well-crafted sex scene
The Best Russian Short Stories, recommended by Rosamund Bartlett
In Russia, it’s often fallen to writers to challenge conventions and speak the truth, says the translator and biographer Rosamund Bartlett. She makes a personal selection of some of the most exhilarating Russian short fiction.
The best books on Honour, recommended by Kwame Anthony Appiah
The Princeton philosophy professor tells us about the meaning of honour, how it’s won and lost, and what role it has played in the history of moral change
Yiyun Li on the ‘Anti-memoir’
Yiyun Li, author of Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, on the sheer messiness of life, the irrelevance of ‘I’, and why brutal honesty is often the truest way to capture the people we love the most
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Five Plays: Ivanov, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard
by Anton Chekhov -
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De Administrando Imperio
by Constantine Porphyrogenitus -
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The Alexiad
by Anna Komnene -
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Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North
by Ibn Fadlan -
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Landscapes of Power
by Caterina Franchi (Editor), Maximilian Lau (Editor) & Morgan Di Rodi (Editor)
Peter Frankopan on History
Peter Frankopan on History
What kind of books should we read to get a broader sense of history? Peter Frankopan, professor of global history at Oxford University, talks us through the books that inspired him.
