Remembering Chekhov on his 150th birthday

In this column, we focus on the life and times of Anton Chekhov and his overarching influence on literature in general and on Sri Lankan writers in particular.

As we celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of a great Russian literary giant; Anton Chekhov, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge and many changes have taken place in the field of literature and literary criticism. However, the universal value of Chekhov's work has remained constantly throughout the world.

Chekhov is considered as one of the greatest short-story writers in the history of world literature and he was also an accomplished playwright.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in the small seaport of Taganrog, Ukraine on January 29 in 1860. Today he is remembered as a playwright and one of the masters of the modern short story. He was a son of a grocer and the grandson of a serf who had bought his freedom. Chekhov spent his early years under the shadow of his father's religious fanaticism while working long hours in his store. Chekhov's life straddled two landmarks of Russian history. He was born one year before the formal liberation of the Russian peasantry from feudal serfdom. He died (on July 15, 1904) months before the first Russian Revolution of 1905.

Chekhov worked for the theatre much: a drama etude "Kalhas" ("Swan Song",1887), plays "Ivanov", "Leshy" ("The Wood-goblin", 1889, was altered later in the play "Uncle Vanya"), vaudevilles "About a Harm of Tobacco" (1886), "The Bear", (1880), "Proposal" (1888-89), "Anniversary" (1891-92), "The Seagull" (1896), "Uncle Vanya", "The three Sisters" (1901), "The Cherry Orchard" (1903).

The plays such as 'The Sea Gulls', 'Uncle Vanya', 'Three Sisters' and 'The Cherry Orchard' are still famous and they are either adapted or translated into numerous languages including Sinhala. His farces which Chekhov himself called "vaudevilles' such as 'The bear', 'The Proposal', 'A Tragic Role', ' The Wedding', ' The Anniversary' and the farcical monologue ' Smoke is bad for you' have been widely acclaimed and still immensely popular throughout the world.

Chekhov liked theatre all his life. The first theatrical impressions were carved in his mind in his youth at Taganrog. On the success of vaudevilles, Chekhov wrote, "When I've written myself out I am going to write vaudevilles and live on them. I think I could write about a hundred of them every year. Vaudeville's subjects gush out of me like oil from the wells of Baku. ".

At first, Chekhov wrote stories for money. As his talents grew, he wrote for pleasure. He experimented with the genre of short stories and is credited with the early use of the technique stream of consciousness even before James Joyce used it in his famous novel Ulysses.

Early works

Chekhov began to write short stories very early in his life when he was studying Medicine at the University of Moscow. It is well-known that he began writing stories and comic sketches to support him and his poverty stricken family. After graduating as a medical doctor in 1884, he began to write to newspapers as a freelance journalist. At an early stage of his career as playwright, he mastered one-act plays. Among his one-act plays, 'The Bear' (1888) and 'The Wedding' (1889) were famous.

In 1887, Chekhov wrote his full-length play 'Ivanov'. His play 'The Wood Demon' which was subsequently revised and titled 'Uncle Vanya' was produced in 1899. However, 'The Three Sisters' (1901) and 'The Cherry Orchard' (1904) became extremely successful and are considered as masterpieces in modern theatre.

Chekhov considered his mature plays to be a kind of comic satire, pointing out the unhappy nature of existence in turn-of-the-century Russia. Chekhov described it as: "All I wanted was to say honestly to people: 'Have a look at yourselves and see how bad and dreary your lives are!' The important thing is that people should realize that, for when they do, they will most certainly create another and better life for themselves. I will not live to see it, but I know that it will be quite different, quite unlike our present life. And so long as this different life does not exist, I shall go on saying to people again and again: 'Please, understand that your life is bad and dreary!'"

In his final days, Chekhov was compelled to live in exile from the intellectuals of Moscow and also due to his fast growing illness tuberculosis.

After a long association Chekhov got married to Olga Knipper who worked at the Moscow Arts Theatre. Although their marriage lasted only five years due to his untimely death both Chekhov and Olga Knipper spent their five-year friendship and marriage apart as he had to live in Yalta due to his illness, and Knipper in Moscow. However, they kept their love and association through regular correspondence which is now translated by Jean Benedetti and titled Dear Writer, Dear Actress: The Love Letters of Anton Chekhov and Olga Knipper.

His influence on Sinhala writers

Following his death, Anton Chekhov's work became popular among diverse audiences throughout the world. His works such as 'The Cherry Orchard' became extremely popular through translations and adaptations. Martin Wickremasinghe was one of the Sinhala literati of the day who was greatly influenced by Chekhov's work. Wickremasinghe's short stories and novels which are still widely read and studied in Sri Lanka have been influenced by Russian literary works in translations. Gunadasa Amarasekara's early short stories also reflect an influence from Chekhov's work.

For instance, Wickramasinghe's celebrated literary work 'Gamperaliya' which was recently translated into English and also made into a film by Lester James Peries is in some respect similar in theme of Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard". In 'The Cherry Orchard', Chekhov portrayed the fall of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism through the ups and downs of a feudal family. Martin Wickremasinghe explored a similar theme in 'Gamperaliya' and in no way is an adaptation or imitation of Chekhov's work.

The fall of Kaisaruwatte Muhandiram (landed gentry) and rise of Piyal as a successful businessman is not a mere family saga but the uneasy transition of Sri Lankan society from feudalism to the emergence of market economy. The both literary works are in some respect similar in theme though they are set against diametrically different backdrops. What is important here is not the fact whether Martin Wickremasinghe had adapted 'The Cherry Orchard' into Sinhala as 'Gamperaliya' or not but the fact that Anton Chekhov, as many other writers of the era, influenced by his work. Like Chekhov, Wickremasinghe also liberally used technique of stream of consciousness in his literary works. Considering the contemporary Sri Lankan writers both in Sinhala and English, Anton Chekhov relevance in shaping the form and content of their literary work, particularly in the genres such as novel and short story, is felt more than ever before.

There is a lot they, surely, can learn from Chekhov's work before graduating into the use of literary techniques such as non-linear narrative and application of de-construction in their literary works.

Chekhov had a Sri Lankan connection! On his way from a trip to Sakhalin, Chekhov visited Colombo on his way home. During his brief stopover in Colombo, he visited Kandy. Martin Wickremasinghe's booklet, Chekhov Ha Lankava (Chekhov and Sri Lanka, 1970) provides some useful information on his brief journey to Sri Lanka. It is well-known that his famous short story Gusev which is set in a ship's infirmary, where five soldiers and sailors are returning to Russia after serving in the Far East was conceived on his way from Colombo to Leningrad in 1890.

Unfortunately some of the contemporary Sri Lankan writers' works sound more lop-sided and derailed in terms of their narrative than in non-linear narrative as they often claimed to be. It may be useful for them to read Chekhov again provided they can find time to do so.