Tutta la Russia è il nostro giardino

Anton Chekhov lived in a tumultuous period that strongly influenced the future of Russia: he was a conscious and careful observer of this changing political landscape. Parallel examination of Chekhov’s drama and short stories yield the most complete understanding of his realism. The contents of his short stories are explicitly connected with the subject matter of his later plays. Gorky disagreed with the critics who, after the first productions of Chekhov’s plays, had characterized Chekhov’s as a ‘simbolic realism’. He saw in the playwright’s approach a unique ability for capturing and communicating universal meaning.