Chekhov: The Hidden Ground [Hardcover]

Philip Callow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1998 | ISBN-10: 1566631874 | ISBN-13: 978-1566631877 | Edition: 1St Edition

Philip Callow’s new biography of Russia’s greatest dramatist and storyteller is a major achievement. By examining Chekhov’s life within the context of the evolution of his art, Mr. Callow makes the reader acutely aware of the hidden ground from which Chekhov’s work sprang and on which his divided life stood. Arthur Miller calls Chekhov “in nearly every way our contemporary.” His irony is as modern as Beckett’s; as a letter writer he is as natural and irresistible as D. H. Lawrence. In his personal life he is as understated as in his work. But the love theme that is central to his biography and his art is profoundly convincing and humane, but in his own life he holds back coldly and perhaps fearfully from real commitment. He constantly surprises us: a modest genius who finds the whole nature of fame unseemly; a man furious at injustice who is apolitical; a humorist in despair before the mediocrity, stupidity, and cruelty of the world; a generous spirit unable to stop working to improve the lot of others, incapable of turning anyone away, who remains stubbornly apart and hidden. Readers of Mr. Callow’s Chekhov will find it a supremely satisfying biography, beautifully told.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Callow, a novelist and author of biographies on D.H. Lawrence, Cezanne, Walt Whitman and Van Gogh, has not been as thorough as Donald Rayfield in his recent biography of the great Russian playwright and short story writer. And this is rather a blessing. Callow draws equally on Chekhov's (1860-1904) own writing and smartly culls from secondary sources?taking valuable critical insights from V.S. Pritchett's Chekhov: A Spirit Set Free, or using Rayfield's important discovery of previously censored passages in Chekhov's letters, while casting doubt on the same author's characterization of Chekhov's relationship with early editor Nikolai Leykin. Chekhov's life was filled with romantic, professional, familial, political and philosophical complications, and most biographies leave Chekhov either elusively unfinished or unsatisfactorily psychologized. Callow allows his subject these complexities, presenting Chekhov as neither saint nor misogynist (two proffered views) and never tries to apprehend the unknowable. "When we attempt to clarify his feelings about love we are soon faced with ambiguity," he writes. But what is knowable he clearly connects to Chekhov's writing, making for a cohesive whole. While Callow does a good job of contextualizing Chekhov as a private figure, he is not so successful in giving him a social context: more, for example, on the Russian stage, on its penal system and on the roiling political atmosphere that spawned Chekhov, Tolstoy and Gorky would have shed great light without imputing more to Chekhov's life than the facts will bear. (May) FYI: Everyone knows Chekhov's four great plays, but few are familiar with the humorous one-act plays he wrote in his 20s. To correct this, Smith and Kraus will release Chekhov: The Vaudevilles and Other Short Works, trans. by Carol Rocamora. ($19.95 224p ISBN 1-57525-127-2; May)
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Callow's biographies are a joy to read. Deeply involved with his subjects, whether he's writing about Cezanne, as he did in his last biography, Lost Earth (1995), or about Walt Whitman, as in the book before that, he is as comfortable with the inner progression of an artist's life as with its outer trappings and expressions. As Callow traces Chekhov's swerving path from medicine to literature, from pragmatic concerns to creative revelations, he presents a man split between duty and pleasure, the need for solitude and a taste for society, and a great love of women and the sharp fear of intimacy. Callow describes Chekhov as "astonishingly modern," and, indeed, this elusive artist has emerged from behind his brilliant creations as a figure more attuned with our time than with his own, an alignment that also inspired a major biography by Donald Rayfield earlier this year. Both books are excellent; each reaches different conclusions, and Callow's is the more concise and expeditious. Donna Seaman

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 443 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee; 1St Edition edition (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566631874
• ISBN-13: 978-1566631877
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,629,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So full of details!, July 14, 2002

By 

Ferne Squiers (Hartford City, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chekhov: The Hidden Ground (Hardcover)

My interest in Russian literature began 35 years ago with the discovery of a Russian writer whose work was so very different from Tolsoy, Turgenev, and Gogal,...Anton Chekhov. I own, and have read many times, four different author's views on the life of Antosha. Philip Callow's book gives so many new details about Chekhov, that one comes away with a new perspective into the personality of this magnificent writer. If you are enjoy reading Chekhov and about Chekhov, I heartally recommend this book!

1.0 out of 5 stars Hero-worship rather than scholarship, August 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Chekhov: The Hidden Ground (Hardcover)

To some extent, the act of writing a biography is inherently celebratory. But Callow's worshipful attitude towards his subject creates a bland, two-dimensional representation of the man. It reads less like scholarship than hero-worship (or to put it less graciously, "propaganda").

Callow's appreciation of Chekov's genius and his praise for the artist are not unseemly, but the too-facile manner in which he deflects the many criticisms leveled against Chekov make us lose sight of the "other Chekov," the inglorious one, who is equally as important, if often less attractive, than the idealized man Callow presents.

In addition--and almost an afterthought in light of the failings described above--Callow's analyses of Chekov's work are often obtuse and, almost without exception, unoriginal.

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine biography of Russia's dramatist, January 13, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chekhov: The Hidden Ground (Paperback)

Philip Callow's Chekhov: The Hidden Ground provides a fine biography of Russia's dramatist, examining his life within the context of his work and considering his divided world and achievements. Plenty of titles have analyzed his works: this provides essential clues to understanding his personality.