The Sea Gull (Dover Thrift Editions) [Paperback]

Anton Chekhov (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Thrift Editions | Publication Date: October 20, 2011

In this tragic masterpiece portraying the inner anguish of a tormented artist who burns with unrequited love, the Russian playwright uses the death of a sea gull to symbolize the ruined hopes and dreams of his characters. Universally acclaimed as a prototype of 20th-century drama, the play pioneered a new form of impressionistic realism.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (October 20, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486406563
• ISBN-13: 978-0486406565
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,061,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Chekhov's REAL Masterpiece, October 28, 2000

By 

Damon Navas-Howard (Santa Rosa, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sea Gull (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

I still can never figure out why "The Cherry Orchard" is hailed as his masterpiece and put in all the Drama anthologies to represent his work. To me "Ivanov", "The Sea Gull" and "Uncle Vanya" are his great works. "The Sea Gull" however ranks on the top of my list as his best work. A tragic tale of the meaning of love and being an artist with comic tones and timeless characters. All of the emotions and situations are realistic to real life. The play is more personal and has more meaning than average Realism. The first time I saw "The Sea Gull" I fell in love with it so much I saw it the next day again. It's one of the rare four act plays that I can enjoy the whole performance and not be bored. Anyone who wants to see Chekhov's brilliance should read this play and the others I mentioned.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elaborate and Realistic: crown of Chekov, April 23, 2000

By 

Shirley Li (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sea Gull (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

Inspired by a real-life incident of the death of a sea gull, this is hailed as the best written play by Chekov, The Sea Gull tells a poignant love story centered on literaray nonentity Konstantin's tragic quest for a burgeoning actress Nina. Swirling around the country estate are characters who reflect Konstantin's pain and suffering in their own harshly realistic ways. In this famed play, Chekov introduces a brand new form of literature as to emphasize characters other than plot. Instead of placing characters beneath a steady frame, Chekov lets his characters guide the subtle movement of the sad tale of devastated dreams and hopes. The dying sea gull symbolizes the emptiness of defeat and further stressing the beauty of life. The fullness of being simply alive comes beaming with power and touches life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece, August 19, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Sea Gull (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

This is such a rich and deep work. Its exploration of human longings and relationships is powerfully poetic. One of its predominant notes is longing and disappointment in life. The Masha who opens the play telling of her unhappiness seems to signal what is to come, a series of lonely cries from characters each of whom fails to attain what they most want. The estate owner Sorin laments never having fulfilled his dream of being an author, or his dream of having been married, and now even his dream of living out his last years in the City, in Moscow. His sister the actress is in one sense a typically Russian character filled with passionate contradictions, generous in helping the misfortunate but unbelievably vain in regard to her own status as actress. Her son Constantine frustrated by the love of the actress Nina is too troubled by the sense of inferiority which comes from his having spent a childhood in the company of his mother's successful friends. Nina herself madly in love with the writer Trifonov with whom she runs off with, only to be abandoned by , is too another broken character who nonetheless persists and fights on, as she goes out to the provinces to renew her acting career. Fame and success too do not provide the key to happiness as is demonstrated in the life of Trifonov.
This play demonstrates Chekhov's incredible capacity for creating living characters, and the tremendous emotional richness of his work.
A masterpiece