DISCUSSION ON THE LATEST BIOGRAPHIES OF CHEKHOV IN “CHEKHOV HERALD” (1990-2010s)
Abstract
https://doi.org/10.18522/1995-0640-2025-1-40-47
The paper points out the main directions of the discussion on the latest biographies of Anton Chekhov that (discussion) takes place in “Chekhov Herald” since its founding in 1997. The author describes the content of the main areas of discussion concerning such issues as the specifics of the difficulties that arise in working on the biography of Anton Chekhov; the tasks of writer's biography as a genre; the content and degree of study of Chekhov's archives and the specifics of working with them, etc. The paper presents different points of view of leading contemporary Chekhov scholars on each of these issues. The vast majority of contemporary Chekhov scholars acknowledge the importance of Chekhov's biography (especially his childhood and youth in Taganrog and his medical education at Moscow University) for understanding the features of his poetics, but they argue about how exactly Chekhov's biography should be presented: what facts are most important in it, what types of documents should be used and how exactly, what the biographical narrative itself should be like. Thus the discussion touches on both very specific issues of the life and work of Anton Chekhov, as well as general theoretical problems of biographical literary criticism and biographies in general.
Key words: Anton Chekhov, biography, chronicle of the life and work, “Chekhov Herald”, Chekhov studies
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