Anton Chekhov must be regarded alongside Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Turgenev as one of the great names of 19th century Russian literature. Stanislavsky, Thomas Mann, Virginia Woolf and Vladimir Nabokov have all paid homage to the artistry of his short stories and plays. This celebration of the life and work of Chekhov examines his career and beliefs, and analyzes how the grandson of a former serf became an altruistic doctor who drew on his experiences of Russian society to create enduring theatrical masterpieces, self-revealing characters and over 600 short stories. V.S. Pritchett is perhaps best known as a short story writer, but he has also published novels, essays, travelogues and biographies of Balzac and Turgenev. He is the author of The Other Side of the Frontier, Man of Letters and Dead Man Leading.