Picked this up after seeing Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, in which Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya plays a crucial role - it seemed to fit right in with my ongoing 19th century Russian literature tear. I will say that from the get-go I felt a different sensibility in Chekhov, something much more modern than all the Gogol and Dostoyevsky I’ve been reading. These plays have no moral agenda, and instead I think are wrestling with questions that we still haven’t answered to this day, questions about life’s purpose, about aging and regret, about idealism and hope that slowly goes rancid as time passes.

I read that Chekhov insisted all of these plays were comedies. I’m not sure how I square that with what I read in the plays, and I’m not the only one, judging by the playwright’s distaste for early productions that he felt over emphasized the tragic elements. And yet, I feel it is the deep tragedy in each of these characters that keeps them from becoming archetypes - there are no heroes and villains here, and in fact, plays like The Seagull and Vanya seem to want us to root for the most depressed, vindictive, and violent characters.

Despite all that, I find these plays to be profoundly anti- pessimist, without verging into anything like optimism. Instead there is a kind of a sense of grace, a stoicism in the face of mortal disappointments and lost futures. I thought of the great British director Mike Leigh, who also sets his stories in the most domestic places, filled with the most human predicaments, and isn’t afraid to verge on the mundane, the granular details of everyday life. This willingness, and creative courage, to forego the sensationalistic in favor of the prosaic, I think, shows deep love for humanity that Chekhov must have carried with him from his writing to his work as a doctor, or vice versa. Beautiful and affecting stuff. ( )

Although I have read so far only three of the plays, I have found them very sensible, funny and enjoyable. They depict the characters in common situations with common feelings. Entanglements, either love or otherwise, give the plays a clear realism,
I am looking forward to reading more of them over thenext few weeks. ( )

Favorites: seagull, cherry orchard, ivanov, bear

This is a lovely edition of Chekhov's Plays that I picked up a few years ago in a charity shop. Amazingly enough, this is the first time I have read a Chekhov play in English (read some in Russian when doing my degree). Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard are definitely my favourites, whereas I thought little of Uncle Vanya and Ivanov. Overall, though, I prefer Chekhov's short stories to his plays. 3.5/5 overall and a few thoughts below on each individual play.

Three Sisters

This is an amusing play, with distinctive characters who quite quickly impress the reader with their individual personalities. There is very much a theme of longing in the play, whether to return to Moscow or to be in love or whatever.

Uncle Vanya

I was less impressed with this one, which didn't seem to get anywhere. And the title character isn't particularly the most important or interesting one.

The Cherry Orchard

Perhaps Chekhov's most famous play, this is a bittersweet piece, with the themes of love and loss between characters reflected in the sale and subsequent destruction of the Orchard. There are also some interesting reflections on the emancipation of the serfs, with the ancient valet Firs having been against it as he valued the certainty of the old life.

Ivanov

I found this one rather tedious and shapeless for the most part.

The Seagull

More complicated love relationships and literary competition, but didn't really resonate for me. ( )

Cherry Orchard, 1/6

I thought this was excellent. I'm just coming off Ibsen, who's sorta punch-you-in-the-face powerful, so I was underwhelmed a bit too, but I think it's a really elegant, subtle play with a lot going on. It's specifically about this huge transition from old to modern Russian culture, right? (I hope so.) An elegy for the old way, and a "Here we go" for the new. I thought it was eloquently done.

Not gonna change my life. Which Hedda Gabler may actually have done, in some small way. But I totally dug it.

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Uncle Vanya, 1/22

I liked this more, and I wonder if maybe it's just because I'm getting a tiny bit more used to Chekhov; I understand his sortof idiosyncratic use of anguished, expository soliloquy better, and his weird sense of humor, and his quiet form of depression. Vanya's cool, anyway. Some remarkably prophetic stuff on the environment here, by the way. (Although I somewhat suspect the translator of politically charging it.)

Nice echo to Dorothea and Casaubon in Middlemarch, too, btw.

"People are freaks, you know? You spend all your time with them, before you know it you're a freak yourself." (Act one)

"I used to think freaks were sick, but I've changed my mind. Now I think being a freak is the normal human condition. I think you're completely normal." (Act four)

Minor confusion: I, ah, I missed the gun in Act One. Where the fuck does that show up? I mainly read this play because of a weird minor obsession with Chekhov's Gun that I've recently developed, and now I didn't even notice it. Can anyone bail me out here? ( )