Who are you? Anton Chekhov

"Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice"

In one of the classes set before us Rob told us to go away and research into Anton Chekov and that we did.

Anton was a Russian playwright as well as a story teller to many, he was born in 1860 and died in 1904 unfortunately dying early at 44 years of age due to tuberculosis. He had two very interesting stories called: "The Steppe" & "The Lady with the Dog" both these stories were seen as masterpieces of the 19th century. Anton then went on to create plays which would become a sensation throughout the world of acting/writing. The plays were "Uncle Vanya" "The Seagull" "Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard" all of which surprised his audience by the plays moods and themes.

"If you want to work on your art, work on your life"

Chekov alongside his love for writing was also deeply interested by medicine, it was when he embarked on his educational journey that his family begun to struggle with finance which then resulted in Anton writing short stories for magazines in order to support them. Still intrigued by both of his professions he managed to wade through the two keeping them both steady focusing on one then another, his short stories were to be released periodically in this manner they were released on a month-by-month basis. His stories were nothing short of amazing as they drew the attention of many critics and writers who claimed him to be a literary genius, this made way for more stories to be written and paving the way for him in the writing world.
He won the "Pushkin Prize" on the basis of the stories he created, when it came to his plays i.e The Cherry Orchard or Uncle Vanya he was criticised for them even though he got praise for those works, it was a love and hate relationship one would say as the critics of Russia claimed that his plays weren't what they were used to reading as they completely differed from his short stories.

"He also developed a technique of ending stories with what have been termed "zero endings"—or anti-climactic conclusions. This technique makes the stories seem more realistic, and often more pathetic, because readers are left to guess what will happen next. However, Chekhov also employs "surprise endings" to confound our expectations, and we can never be sure how a tale will end. Consequently, over a hundred years after his works were written, readers still marvel at Chekhov's freshness and originality. Although the author sketches his characters with compassionate good-humour, he never abstains from highlighting their faults, foibles, and human weaknesses"

The quote above goes to show how powerful a mark Chekov made in his time of living and storytelling, his works cannot be beat in their originality or how authentic each and every story made was.
Chekov was said that he "mourned in fiction" the people of Russia claimed this due having his brother die as well as the turmoil going on within his own life. Anton projected all of his emotions onto page giving the readers a small insight into the life of the great Russian playwright.