Product Description

"What makes his work great is that it can be felt and understood...by anybody," said Leo Tolstoy of Chekhov's plays, which express life through subtle construction, everyday dialogue, and an electrically charged atmosphere.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #656273 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

Customer Reviews

human nature
The five masterpieces in this collection deal with the dizzying pace of an industrializing world. Although the plays were written a hundred years ago, they are still very relevant to our modern existence. Chekov's questions about the place of class in a world in which class boundaries rapidly shift, the value of money in a world in which life has no meaning, and the meaning of existence in which experience is absurd still open our eyes to the many layers of existence which we uncover (or choose not to) every day.

In today's world, which, like Chekov's, is changing every day, it would behoove all of us to sit down for a while every day and ponder the infinite wisdom of "The Cherry Orchard" (which is in this collection) and try to understand ourselves.

The best Chekov translation for actors.
This is a wonderful translation and it happens to be the translation reccomended to me by Miss Joan Potter. (Voted one of the five utmost speakers on Chekov) She has traveled all over and has all the translations ever. It's an easy read compared to most translations and very actable.

Splendid Translation of Chekhov
Van Itallie's translations of Chekhov have been around since the late 1970s, but are now in a fine paperback version by Applause Books. His translation of Chekhov is right up there with those of Paul Schmidt's. I have been using Van Itallie's translations with my senior English students and they have found a lightness and clarity in Chekhov's plays (especially The Seagull) that is sometimes missing in earlier translations (Fen's, Dunnigan's, and Garnett's). I highly recommend this translation.