This collection gathers letters Anton Chekhov wrote to family and friends, selected and translated by Constance Garnett, with a brief memoir adapted from his brother Mihail’s sketch. The letters illuminate Chekhov’s life, character, and opinions, offering an intimate view of the man and his Russian world. Listen for the personal voice behind his stories and plays.
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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
LETTERS OF ANTON CHEKHOV TO HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS With Biographical Sketch By Anton Chekhov Translated By Constance Garnett CONTENTS
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE
Of the eighteen hundred and ninety letters published by Chekhov’s family I have chosen for translation these letters and passages from letters which best to illustrate Chekhov’s life, character and opinions.
The brief memoir is abridged and adapted from the biographical sketch by his brother Mihail. Chekhov’s letters to his wife after his marriage have not as yet been published.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
In 1841 a serf belonging to a Russian nobleman purchased his freedom and the freedom of his family for 3,500 roubles, being at the rate of 700 roubles a soul, with one daughter, Alexandra, thrown in for nothing. The grandson of this serf was Anton Chekhov, the author; the son of the nobleman was Tchertkov, the Tolstoyan and friend of
Tolstoy.
There is in this nothing striking to a Russian, but to the English student it is sufficiently significant for several reasons. It illustrates how recent a growth was the educated middle-class in prerevolutionary Russia, and it shows, what is perhaps more significant, the homogeneity of the Russian people, and their capacity for completely changing their whole way of life.
Chekhov’s father started life as a slave, but the son of this slave was even more sensitive to the Arts, more innately civilized and in love with the things of the mind than the son of the slaveowner. Chekhov’s
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