The Sea-Gull

by Anton Chekhov

Overview

When it opened in St Petersburg in 1896, The Seagull survived only five performances after a disastrous first night. Two years later it was revived by Nemirovich-Danchenko at the newly-founded Moscow Art Theatre, with Stanislavsky as Trigorin, and was an immediate success, changing for ever the nature and possibilities of drama. Chekhov's description of the play was characteristically self-mocking: 'A comedy - three f., six m., four acts, rural scenery (a view over a lake); much talk of literature, little action, five bushels of love'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781512113563
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	05/08/2015
Pages:	60
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.12(d)

About the Author

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian author of plays and short stories. Although Chekhov became a physician and once considered medicine his primary career, he gained fame and esteem through writing, ultimately producing a number of well-known plays, including The Seagull and Uncle Vanya, and a large body of innovative short stories that influenced the evolution of the form.

Table of Contents

	Anton Chekhov: 1860-1904	v
	Plot	xi
	Commentary	xx
	The Seagull in context	xx
	The seagull and the enchanted lake	xxv
	The play-within-the-play	xxviii
	Time and memory; youth and age; sleep and dream	xxxiii
	Art and life; love and destruction	xxxvi
	Comedy or tragedy?	xxxix
	Problems of translation	xli
	Critical perspectives	xlvi
	The Seagull in production	liv
	Further Reading	lxxvii
	Translator's Introduction	lxxix
	A Note on the Translation	xciii
	Pronunciation of the Names	xcvii
	The Seagull	1
	Notes	68