Anton Chekhov

He is definitely one of my favorite authors, THE pioneer of stream of consciousness writing.

Some links:

Wikipedia entry on Anton Chekhov

Gutenberg Project of Chekhov's works

Amazon.com list for Anton Chekhov

Glad to see a thread for Chekhov, SFG75. Just finished The Overcoat earlier tonight and it has put me in the mood for some Chekhov stories.

But thinking on it now a few minutes later- and whisking in under the editing timeout- I would never think to associate Chekhov with stream of consciousness. For me, two of his hallmarks are clarity and warmth. Mmm, will snooze on this a bit and try to whip through a bit of Chekhov in the coming days.

SFG75 said:

He is definitely one of my favorite authors, THE pioneer of stream of consciousness writing.

Click to expand...

Forgive me, but I somehow fail to see in what way dear ol' Anton is "THE pioneer of stream of consciousness writing". To my knowledge that title(?) belongs to the French writer Édouard Dujardin, from whom the great stream-of-consciousness-ologist James Joyce adapted (i.e. learned, was inspired to/by/from) parts of his own narrative experimentation as evident in Ulysses. Dujardin's famous work (which, according to Wikipedia, has never been out of print) is Les Lauriers sont coupés (1888).

If Chekhov is a pioneer of anything (and indeed he is) it is the modern short story.

I like his short stories and plays a lot.Has anyone seen his plays or films based on his plays? they are so warm and tender, despite the strength of the conflicts and characters.

In an era when authors were writing ever greater and longer books to depict social change in all its entirety... Chekhov managed to take just a few pages and grasp the entire human conflict... the purest predicament of mankind. And hit the nail on the head.

He just has to be your favourite....