Signet Classics: The Major Plays by Anton Chekhov

基本信息

系列: Signet Classics

Mass Market Paperback: 432页

出版社: Signet; Reprint (2006年12月5日)

语种： English

ISBN-10: 0451530373

ISBN-13: 978-0451530370

产品尺寸及重量: 105 x 172 x 33.02mm | 210g

书籍简介

包括契诃夫后期的主要戏剧作品，《伊凡诺夫》、《海鸥》、《万尼亚舅舅》、《三姊妹》、《樱桃园》，都曲折反映了俄国大革命前夕一部分小资産阶级知识分子的苦闷和追求。

Anton Chekhov

The Major Plays

Ivanov * The Sea Gull * Uncle Vanya * The Three Sisters * The Cherry Orchard

“Let the things that happen onstage be just as complex and yet just as simple as they are in life,” Chekhov once declared. “For instance, people are having a meal, just having a meal, but at the same time, their happiness is being created, or their lives are being smashed up.” So it is that his plays express life through subtle construction, everyday dialogue, and an electrically charged atmosphere in which even the most casual words and actions assume great importance in his characters’ lives. This principle sets his plays apart from the rest, steering them clear of melodrama, and draws the audience into the lives of Chekhov’s colorful characters. Because of his adherence to realism, the playwright has been called an “incomparable artist of life.”*

“What makes his work great is that it can be felt and understood not only by any Russian but by anybody in the world.”—*Leo Tolstoy

With a Foreword by Robert Brustein and an Afterword by Rosamund Bartlett

作者简介

契诃夫，世纪末俄国伟大的批判现实主义作家，情趣隽永、文笔犀利的幽默讽刺大师，短篇小说，戏剧作家。契诃夫出生于小市民家庭，父亲的杂货铺破産后，他靠当家庭教师读完中学，1879年入莫斯科大学学医，1884年毕业后从医并开始文学创作。他的小说短小精悍，简练朴素，结构紧凑，情节生动，笔调幽默，语言明快，极富于音乐节奏感，寓意深刻。他善于从日常生活中发现具有典型意义的人和事，通过幽默可笑的情节进行艺术概括，塑造出完整的典型形象，以小见大，以此来反映当时的俄国社会。其代表作《变色龙》、《套中人》堪称俄国文学史上精湛而的艺术珍品，前者成爲见风使舵、善于变相、投机鑽营者的代名词；后者成爲因循守旧、畏首畏尾、害怕变革者的符号象征。

他一生创作了七八百篇短篇小说，还写了一些中篇小说和剧本。作品大多数取材于中等阶层的“小人物”的平凡生活，揭露了反动统治阶级的残暴，抨击了沙皇的专制制度。代表作有短篇小说《变色龙》《胖子和瘦子》《凡卡》（《万卡》）《套中人》《小公务员之死》等等。

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904) was born in Taganrog, Russia, on the Sea of Azov, the son of a small shopkeeper and the grandson of a serf. At sixteen, he was left to fend for himself while his father fled with the rest of the family to Moscow, escaping debtors’ prison. After finishing school in his native town, Chekhov went to Moscow, where, with the aid of a scholarship, he entered the University to study medicine. To help with the family finances, he started publishing tales, anecdotes, jokes, and articles. By the time he took his medical degree in 1884, writing had become his main interest and occupation. His literary reputation grew with the publication of the book Motley Stories (1886). That same year, he made the acquaintance of Alexei Suvorin, owner of the newspaper New Time, who invited him to contribute longer tales at a higher rate. In 1888, he was awarded the Pushkin Prize for the collection In the Twilight. This and the publication of the long story The Steppe marked the beginning of Chekhov’s recognition as one of Russia’s leading writers. In the years following, he produced his first serious full-length play, Ivanov (1887), as well as a steady stream of short stories. The first production of his famous play The Sea Gull (1896) was a miserable failure. But in 1898, the play was revived at the Moscow Art Theater and proved a resounding success, as did the Theater’s productions of The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. In 1901, he married the actress Olga Knipper. He died of tuberculosis.