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Contributor(s): Chekhov, Anton (Author), Fen, Elisaveta (Translator), Briggs, A. D. P. (Introduction by)
ISBN: 184022617X     ISBN-13: 9781840226171
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
OUR PRICE:   $7.64  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: May 2007
* Not available - Not in print at this time *
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Classics
Dewey: FIC
Series: Wordsworth Classics of World Literature
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 4.9" W x 7.7" (0.55 lbs) 352 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Translated, with an introductory essay, by Elisaveta Fen, and with an Introduction by A.D.P. Briggs.

Anton Chekhov's popularity in the west is without parallel for a foreign writer. He has been absorbed into our culture, and accepted as one of our own. His plays lend themselves easily to the stage, calling for actors with intelligence and common sense rather than a dramatic voice or histrionic skills. He takes from everyday life themes of frustration which apply to us all - the difficulty of carving out a happy existence, the problems of love, the fading of hope, the universal feeling that time passes and we never quite get things right.

This seems pessimistic, and yet Chekhov claimed he was writing comedy. Readers, actors and directors must decide for themselves which way to play these pieces. They are full of sadness, but a sadness described as the 'darkness of the last hour before the dawn'. Whether tragic or comic, however, they are works of the first importance. The Cherry Orchard has been described as 'the best play since Shakespeare', Three Sisters as 'the best play in the world'.