On Chekhov's Short Story Art

mm92712 Hello, my friend. The following are the relevant information about the works and characteristics of Russian writer Chekhov:

At the end of 19th century, Russia was a great critical realist writer, a humorous satirist with meaningful interest and sharp writing style, a master of short stories and a famous playwright. He added two immortal artistic images to the gallery of world literary figures with his outstanding satirical and humorous talent. His famous saying "Simplicity is the sister of genius" has also become the motto of later writers.

His novels are short and pithy, concise and simple, compact in structure, vivid in plot, humorous in style, lively in language, full of musical rhythm and profound in meaning. He is good at discovering people and things with typical significance from daily life, making artistic generalization through humorous plots, and shaping a complete typical image to reflect the Russian society at that time. His representative works "The Chameleon" and "The Man in the Trap" are exquisite and perfect art treasures in the history of Russian literature, and the former has become synonymous with have it both ways, who is good at disguised form and profiteering; The latter became the symbol of the conformist, timid and afraid of change.

The following is the relevant information about Chekhov's life:

Chekhov, ап. (антонпавловии. Born on January 29th, 186 in Taganrog, Rostov province. Grandfather was a redeemed serf. My father opened a grocery store, went bankrupt in 1876, and the whole family moved to Moscow. However, Chekhov stayed alone in Taganrog, making a living and continuing his studies as a tutor. In 1879, he entered the medical department of Moscow University. After graduation in 1884, he practiced medicine in Zweinigorod and other places, and gained extensive contact with civilians and learned about life, which had a good influence on his literary creation.

In Russia in the 198s, the reactionary censorship of books and periodicals was unprecedentedly strict, and vulgar and boring humorous publications were all the rage. Chekhov often contributed to this kind of magazines (such as Dragonfly and Fragment) under the pseudonym Antonsha Chekhon. What are the most common short stories "A Letter to a Learned Neighbor" (188) and humorous sketches "in novels such as novels and novellas? "(188) is his first published work. Before the mid-198s, he wrote a large number of humorous sketches and short stories, many of which were jokes and funny stories of little value, but there were also some excellent works, which inherited the fine democratic tradition of Russian literature and criticized the ugly phenomenon of society at that time, such as writing about petty officials who bullied others (On the Nail, Death of an Official, Victory of the Winner, all in 1883). However, due to his livelihood and lack of experience, he mainly wanted to be quick and productive at that time. In March 1886, the famous writer Grigorovic wrote to ask him to respect his talent. He was deeply inspired and began to take his creation seriously. Wanka, Distress and Thirst for Sleep, written in 1886, show the writer's deep sympathy for the poor workers. Prairie, a famous novella published in 1888, depicts and praises the nature of the motherland, ponders the fate of farmers and expresses people's desire for a happy life. Naming Day (1888) and The Duchess (1889) exposed such habits as hypocrisy, vanity and vulgarity. These works have made remarkable progress in ideological content and artistic skills. However, Chekhov, influenced by the petty-bourgeois environment, did not ask politics at this time, but only "wanted to be a free artist" and wanted "the most absolute freedom". Since 1886, he has been writing for the New Times published by Suvorin, a reactionary scholar. Although he was advised by the critic Mihailovski, he still kept in touch with it. In October 1888, Chekhov won half of the Pushkin Prize. At this time, he was the author of five collections of short stories (The Story of Merbomeni, 1884; Colorful Stories, 1886; In the Dark, 1887; Naive words, 1887; Collection of Short Stories, 1888). With the increasing reputation and status, he is strongly aware of his sense of social responsibility as a writer and seriously thinks about the purpose of life and the significance of creation. He said: "Conscious life, without a clear world outlook, is not life, but a burden and a terrible thing." This kind of ideological image is reflected in the novella "The Boring Story" (1889).

from this period, Chekhov began to write plays. One-act plays Marriage (189) and On the Harm of Tobacco (1886), Fool (1888), Proposal (1888 ~ 1889), An Involuntary Tragic Role (1889 ~ 189) and Memorial Day (1891 ~) The script Ivanov (1887 ~ 1889) criticized the "redundant people" who lacked firm belief and could not stand the test of life in the 198s.

From April to December, 189, the frail Chekhov made a long journey to Sakhalin Island, where the czar government placed convicts and exiles, and investigated all the residents there and "nearly 1, prisoners and immigrants" one by one. The trip to Sakhalin Island improved his ideological consciousness and artistic conception. In 1891, he said in a letter: "... if I am a writer, I need to live among the people ... I need at least a little social life and political life, even a little." He began to realize that writing for the New Times brought him only "harm" and finally broke off relations with this publication in 1893. He had a deep understanding of Russian autocratic system, and wrote Sakhalin Island (1893 ~ 1894) and In Exile (1892), and the most important one was the shocking Sixth Ward (1892). This novella accuses the prison-like czarist Russia of being gloomy and terrible, and also criticizes Tolstoy's doctrine of "Don't fight evil with violence" that he was once obsessed with not long ago. Lenin was strongly infected after reading it, saying that he "felt terrible", so that he "couldn't stay in the room" and "felt as if he was locked in the sixth ward".

From 189 to 19, Chekhov went to Milan, Venice, Vienna and Paris for recuperation and sightseeing. Since 1892, he has settled in the newly purchased Merihovo Manor in Sherpukhov County, Moscow Province. In 1898, Chekhov, suffering from severe tuberculosis, moved to Yalta. In 191, he married Olga Knibir, an actor from Moscow Art Theatre. In Yalta, he often met with Leo Tolstoy, Gorky, Bunin, kuprin and Levitan.

The 199s and the early 2th century were the heyday of Chekhov's creation. At that time, the Russian liberation movement entered a new stage of proletarian revolution. Under the agitation of the revolutionary class, the democratic spirit among students and other residents has gradually become active. Chekhov also gradually overcame the tendency of not asking about politics and actively participated in social activities: in 1892, he helped the famine in Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh provinces; From 1892 to 1893, he participated in the work of fighting cholera in Sherpukhov County; Participated in the census in 1897; In 1898, he supported the just action of the French writer Zola to defend Dreyfus, and thus alienated the relationship with Suvorin; In 192, in order to protest against the decision of the czar authorities to cancel Gorky's qualification as an honorary academician of the Academy of Sciences, he and korolenko gave up the title of honorary academician of the Academy of Sciences obtained in 19; In 193, he sponsored young students who were persecuted for democracy and freedom. His democratic stance is becoming more and more firm, his observation of social life is more profound, and his premonition of the brewing revolution is becoming more and more clear, and he gradually sees a faint "fire" from the dark reality. His creation has entered a new stage. He emphasized that works of art should have clear ideas (The Seagull, 1896); He came into contact with major social problems in a series of works. For example, Farmers (1897) reflects the poverty of farmers' material and spiritual life with sober realism: extreme poverty, ignorance, backwardness and barbarism; "In the Canyon" (19) also depicts the rural bourgeoisie-rich peasants' frantic plundering of wealth and cruel nature. These novels are a powerful refutation to the populists who beautify the life of rural communes. The theme of exposing capitalism can also be found in The Kingdom of Women (1894) and Three Years (1895). The "Visit" (1898) shows that the capitalist "devil" not only crushes the workers, but also tortures the conscience of the descendants of factory owners. They realize that life is meaningless and unreasonable, so they are deeply depressed. The play Uncle Vanya (1897) describes the sad fate of intellectuals who have no real ideals and serious goals, and their honest and selfless work will eventually become meaningless sacrifices. The Woman with a Dog (1899) takes love as its theme, exposing vulgarity and hypocrisy, and arousing readers' "aversion to the muddleheaded and half-dead life ...". The House with an Attic (1896) and My Life (1896) denied the "trivial" theory that prevailed in the 198s and 199s, and criticized the progressive thought of liberals, arguing that a "stronger, braver and faster way of struggle" was needed to get out of the narrow circle of daily activities and influence the broad masses. His creation gradually sounded "can't live like this anymore!" The voice. In Trap Man (1898), it reveals the suppression of society by reactionary forces in the 198s, their conservatism and weakness, and castigates the trap man's habits that existed at that time. In gooseberry (1898) and Yao Neiqi (1898), he portrayed the emptiness and depravity of the mind of a selfish and humble person who crouched in a small world of personal happiness, and pointed out that "what a man needs is not three Russian feet of land, nor a manor, but the whole earth and nature, in which all the qualities and characteristics of his free spirit can be fully exerted".

With the further upsurge of social movements in the early 2th century, Chekhov realized that a powerful and sweeping "storm" was coming, and the bad habits such as laziness, indifference and aversion to labor in society would be swept away. He praised labor and hoped that everyone would prepare for a bright future with their own work (Three Sisters, 19 ~ 191). The Bride (193), written on the eve of the 195 revolution, expressed the desire to "turn over a new life" and go to a new life. The play cherry orchard (193 ~ 194) shows the inevitable decline of the nobility and the historical process of its replacement by the emerging bourgeoisie, and at the same time shows the optimism of resolutely bidding farewell to the past and yearning for a happy future: the axe sound of cherry orchard's logging is accompanied by "Long live a new life!" Cheers. However, because Chekhov's ideological position has never gone beyond the category of democracy, the newcomers in his works don't know the only way to create a new life, and the "new life" they long for is always just a hazy vision.

In June, 194, Chekhov went to Badenville, Germany for treatment because of the deterioration of his condition. He died there on July 15th, and his body was transported back to Moscow for burial.

Chekhov created a lyrical psychological novel with unique style, conciseness and exquisite art. He intercepts fragments of ordinary daily life, makes a true description and depiction of life and characters with exquisite artistic details, and shows important social content from them. This kind of novel is lyrical, expressing his dissatisfaction with ugly reality and longing for a better future, and melting praise and derogatory feelings, joy and pain into the image system of his works. He believes that "the sister of genius is concise" and "the ability to write is the ability to delete poor writing". He advocated "objective" narration, saying that "the more objective, the deeper the impression". He trusts readers' imagination and understanding ability, and advocates that readers should ponder the meaning of their works from the image system.

The theme, tendency and style of Chekhov's drama creation are basically similar to his lyric psychological novels. He does not pursue bizarre and tortuous plots, but describes ordinary daily life and characters, from which he reveals important aspects of social life. There are rich subtext and lyrical flavor in Chekhov's plays. His realism is full of inspiring power and profound symbolic significance. "Seagull" and "cherry orchard" are his original artistic symbols. Stanislavski, Danchenko and Moscow Art Theatre (established in 1898) cooperated creatively with Chekhov and made great innovations in stage festivals.