Anton Chekhov’s Plays

This course will explore Anton Chekhov’s major plays, from Ivanov to The Cherry Orchard. We will examine the features of Chekhov’s theater that still elicit the most criticism and praise: plotlessness and the absence of a central hero, the emphasis on mood, and the role of subtext. Is it the case that Chekhov’s characters do not develop but rather reveal themselves, that his dialogue is gratuitous, and that the events in his plays are determined by contingencies of day-to-day living rather than the plot? We will also discuss the role of symbolic devices, such as the seagull and the orchard, why Chekhov subtitled his plays comedies, and the ways in which Stanislavsky determined how Chekhov is perceived and staged today. Counts as a course in literature.