Anton Chekhov: A Life [Hardcover]

Donald Rayfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

Anton Chekhov's life was short, intense, and dominated by battles--either with his dependents or with the tuberculosis that was to kill him at forty-four. He was one of the greatest playwrights and short story writers ever born, but he was torn between medicine and literature, as he was between family and friends, between a longing for solitude and a need for company.

Donald Rayfield spent more than five years combing the Chekhov archives all over Russia, uncovering thousands of documents and letters from lovers, friends, and family, most of them never published before. They tell of a life far more entangled and turbulent than we ever previously suspected, and in Rayfield's hands allow us to look past Chekhov's restrained, ironic facade to appreciate the full heroism of his brief but prodigiously creative life. Rayfield's biography combines an extraordinarily rich cast of characters--Gorky, Tolstoy, and Tchaikovsky, to name just three--with a vivid portrait of Russia and Russian society one hundred years ago. He also delves deeply into the emotions, ideas, conflicts, and experiences that Chekhov transmuted from his life into his enduring art.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A noted scholar of the art of Anton Chekhov now turns to his life (1860-1904), with equally revelatory results. Rayfield's densely documented account avoids general statements in favor of quiet accumulation of detail that gradually creates a multifaceted impression of Chekhov's contradictions. Witty, charming, and an ardent lover of women, Russia's greatest dramatist was also coolly detached, capable of capriciousness and considerable cruelty. In Anton Chekhov, Rayfield does not attempt to tidy up a messily complex psyche or to downplay the faults that were as intrinsic to Chekhov's genius as were his merits.

From Publishers Weekly

Gorky said of Chekhov that no one understood as clearly as he did "the tragedy of life's trivialities." Rayfield certainly does. His biography of Chekhov is rife with tiny details that together create a pointillist portrait of Chekhov, his large family and the legion of friends, hangers-on and "Antonovkas," or female admirers. About halfway through the book, there have been enough of these painstakingly applied points to create a nuanced portrait of an intensely Russian man. Chekhov was the grandson of a freed serf, the son of a brutish and sanctimonious father. His elder brothers were irresponsible drunkards while his numerous friends vacillated between braggadocio and desperate neediness. Perhaps because he could maintain a certain emotional aloofness, Chekhov managed to support his menagerie while writing some of the world's great short stories and plays. Rayfield's careful research into primary sources reveals numerous letters that have been ignored or tactfully bowdlerized. The result is a portrayal of a man rather randier, more put-upon and more human than previously betrayed. This does no disservice, but sometimes the sheer bulk of detail does. Do we really need to know that Chekhov's father made his own mustard or that in the winter of 1892, Chekhov bandaged his publishers' governess's leg after she fell off a wardrobe or even the schedule of family members' endless peregrinations? While this will no doubt be a crucial addition for Chekhov scholarship, a few broader strokes and more background into the rapidly changing politics and society of Russia would have made it more useful for the narodni as well. 24 pages of b&w illustrations not seen by PW
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 674 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; First Edition edition (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805057471
• ISBN-13: 978-0805057478
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #825,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Chekhov in Detail, February 17, 2000

By 

Barbara Mackey (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anton Chekhov: A Life (Hardcover)

Review of Anton Chekhov: A Life. Donald Rayfield. NY: Henry Holt, 1997. 603 pp.

There are many good biographies of Chekhov available, and if a person has not read any,I would suggest another before reading Donald Rayfield's Anton Chekhov: A Life. Rayfield says that he has received access to much previously classified information. Unfortunately this loads his biography with an over-abundance of undigested detail, as if we were reading Chekhov's engagement calendar for each year or an encyclopedia of the minutiae of Chekhov's life. The material needs to be pruned down and focused. No where do I feel a biographer's point of view towards his subject -- unless it be to include as many facts as possible. And although it is interesting to read about the lives of those with whom Chekhov was most closely involved, we do not need to learn about every tart he slept with or every family problem encountered by one of his brother's wives. When these influence his writing, they are an interesting bonus, when they do not, a stronger hand at selection would have been appreciated. Indeed, the most interesting parts of the biography to me were those areas which showed how Chekhov transformed the details of his life into his work. However, too little of these connections were shown, and too many details were simply superfluous. I also miss the author's awareness of Chekhov's ironic humor, and I feel disappointed at the lack of discussion of the short farces. I recommend this book for Chekhov affectionados rather than for Chekhov novices.

BARBARA MACKEY, Ph.D. University of Toledo

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sadly, the only comprehensive biography, May 3, 2004

By 

Gulley Jimson (Bethesda, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anton Chekhov: A Life (Paperback)

I say sadly because Rayfield really isn't a very good writer. His style is clumsy, and he has no idea how to maintain any sort of narrative. He just throws facts at you. People are mentioned for a few lines and then reintroduced chapters later as if we're supposed to remember who they are. All over the book sentences crop up that are near impossible to figure out. Also, considering how much of Chekhov's personal writing survives, there aren't nearly enough excerpts from his notebooks and letters. The few quotes that are there are so fascinating that they're worth the slog through Rayfield's masses of detail.

The worst sin that he commits is that he doesn't much seem to like his subject, and invests most of his energy in making Chekhov look bad. To some extent, Chekhov needs some demythologizing, because too many people have made a saint out of him. Rayfield provides plenty of evidence that Chekhov wasn't the kindhearted conscience of Russian literature that people make him out to be - he led on a lot of women, wasn't particularly faithful to the people that loved him, and had a cruel streak. But there are lots of times when Rayfield goes out of his way to push a certain interpretation on the reader. "Chekhov's response was brutal," he insists, without providing any evidence - or, on occasion, actually quoting a letter that doesn't seem to justify his interpretation of Chekhov's bad behavior at all.

In fact, Rayfield really doesn't know how to marshall his evidence to support his statements. He seems also to dislike Olga Knipper, Anton's wife, and keeps insisting that the marriage was unhappy, and that Chekhov really didn't seem to love her, without showing us why this has to be true. Indeed, much of the material that he gives us seems to indicate the opposite.

But now comes the Sadly. This is really the only biography that gives you the entire story about Chekhov. Too much about Chekhov sexual drives is left out of other biographies, and as Rayfield pretty conclusively demonstrates, this drive was a major part of Anton's life and motivations. And, for all of his faults, Rayfield really has dug deeper and found out more than any other biographer. From the teachers at Chekhov's school in Taganrog to, well, a host of other occasionally interesting trivia, Rayfield just has more. Until someone else comes along and tries to animate all this material into a biography that's actually enjoyable to read, Rayfield is all there is. Chekhov's letters provide a better introduction to his life, but anyone that really wants to go behind the mask needs to read this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars How not to write a biography, May 9, 2006

By 

Professor Goatboy (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anton Chekhov: A Life (Paperback)

Rayfield's life of Chekhov is clotted with junk: railway itineraries, sexual details, and relentless speculation. Read his 600 pages and you will not be the better for it. You never get a sense of Chekhov the writer, or how Chekhov, the son of a failed grocer who beat his family daily, made himself into a man. Sure, other biographers are less frank about the sex -- but who cares, really? I recommend Henri Troyat's biography of Chekhov instead.