I am apparently the first "ordinary reader" to review this book, and I want to encourage anyone with an interest in Chekhov, or indeed in Russia, its people (from Tsars to artists and writers, to commissars and to peasants) and places, to read it.Rosamund Bartlett succeeds in bringing to life not only Anton Pavlovich and his family, but also the history of such places as Taganrog, the steppes, the Crimea, Sakhalin, Moscow and many others, in a way which is never sentimental and at the same time never strays from their relevance to her subject.
A refreshingly original approach to literary biography, and a description of the all too short and finally sad life of one of the few unaffected human beings to achieve popularity and serious artistic depth at the same time.
It's mostly in England that Chekhov has been considered gloomy or melancholy. "Laughter through tears" is not quite adequate to describe the most telling moments, from the point of view of the human condition, in his works, but few western writers have created both comedy and profound insight, at the same time, with material which relies not on "stream of consciousness" or other such literary devices, but on ordinary, momentary life-stoppers such as the twanging of a breaking rope in a distant mine-shaft.
This book has got me scuttling back to my own little Chekhov collection (and adding to it)! I heartily urge others who have known his works to do the same, and those who think he lived a long time ago and can't be relevant today to read some of his short stories or see one of his plays (almost any will do) and then read this book.
