Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov ”The artist of life”: the 155th birth anniversary of Anton Chekhov

On January 29th, 2015, is the 155th anniversary of Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) – a man who won fame in not only Russian but also world literature.

His writing is a mirror in which a man recognizes himself. Within the bounds of a short story Anton Chekhov showed a complex world of human mutual relationships, in few words described the nature in all its variety and beauty. Lev Tolstoy compared the Chekhovian style to the work of an artist-impressionist: ”... He throws, as though randomly, words and as an artist-impressionist reaches with these strokes surprising results” .

The anniversary book exhibition ”The artist of life” includes over 100 documents and consists of three thematic sections.

The section “A literary vernissage” includes the rare first volume of the Complete Set of Works (a lifetime editions of 1903), the Complete Set of Works (1974–1980), selected works, a collection of plays, single editions of short stories, plays, vaudevilles, correspondence, translations of Chekov’s works into Belarusian, Ukrainian, English and other languages.

The writer’s artistic discoveries exerted a huge influence on literature and theatre of the XX century, and his works became an integral part of the world theatrical repertoire. It can be difficult enough to catch a special emotional tone of Chekhovian plays and to transfer it on the stage. The Moscow Art Theatre became the best interpreter of Chekhov’s plays. On December, 17th, 1898, a triumphal premiere of Chekhovian “Seagull” took place. Various aspects of Chekhov’s theatrical activity are covered in the exhibition section “The seagull flight”.

The interest for Chekhov’s works is great today, which denies his own assumption that he would be forgotten in seven years. The writer’s biography is still the object of research, his creativity is still discussed. The section ”Etudes about creativity” presents both traditional views on Chekhov’s literary heritage, and fresh and new approaches in studying his uncommon talent and outlook. The exposition contains an acyclic series of scientific papers “Chekoviana” which has been published since 1990 by the Chekhovian Commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Chekhov’s genius is that his stories and plays exist in time as not historical relics but live satellites of mankind, being reflected in a varying consciousness of new generations and reflecting their changes in itself.

The last exhibition section “Existing in time” includes editions about the writer’s talented family, the milestones of Chekhov’s life, his milieu and eminent contemporaries, collections of scientific papers and a bibliography of works devoted to Anton Chekov.

The exhibition will be interesting to both researchers and amateurs of Russian literature.