Chekhov, the Hidden Ground: A Biography

Callow, Philip

ISBN 10: 1566631874 / ISBN 13: 9781566631877

Published by Ivan R. Dee, 1998

About this Item

Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned.

Seller Inventory # wbs5326356772

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Chekhov, the Hidden Ground: A Biography
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1566631874
• ISBN 13: 9781566631877
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 945.5 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Philip Callow's new biography of Russia's greatest dramatist and storyteller is a major achievement. By examining Chekhov's life within the context of the evolution of his art, Mr. Callow makes the reader acutely aware of the hidden ground from which Chekhov's work sprang and on which his divided life stood. Arthur Miller calls Chekhov "in nearly every way our contemporary." His irony is as modern as Beckett's; as a letter writer he is as natural and irresistible as D. H. Lawrence. In his personal life he is as understated as in his work. But the love theme that is central to his biography and his art is profoundly convincing and humane, but in his own life he holds back coldly and perhaps fearfully from real commitment. He constantly surprises us: a modest genius who finds the whole nature of fame unseemly; a man furious at injustice who is apolitical; a humorist in despair before the mediocrity, stupidity, and cruelty of the world; a generous spirit unable to stop working to improve the lot of others, incapable of turning anyone away, who remains stubbornly apart and hidden. Readers of Mr. Callow's Chekhov will find it a supremely satisfying biography, beautifully told.

About the Author

Philip Callow's biographies of D. H. Lawrence, Son and Lover and Body of Truth, were widely praised. Mr. Callow, himself a novelist, poet, and biographer, has also written lives of Van Gogh, Cézanne, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Walt Whitman, all published to critical acclaim. Mr. Callow lives and writes in England.