CHEKHOV, Anton Pavlovich

CHEKHOV, Anton Pavlovich (17.1.1860 in Taganrog — 2.7.1904 in Badenweiler Commune, Germany, buried in Moscow) was a Russian writer. Merited academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1900—02). Author of the following collections of stories: Tales of Melpomena (1884), At Twilight (1887), Frozen People (1890); a book of essays titled The Sakhalin Island (1893—94); plays: Seagull (1896), Three Sisters (1900—01), Cherry Garden (1903—04), etc. Ch. refers to the Bashkir theme in the feuilleton Thoughts of the Reader of Newspapers and Magazines (1883), in which he criticizes the Ufimskiye Vedomosti newspaper for its deliberate hushing the facts of the Bashkir lands plunder. In the summer of 1901, Ch. came to Bashkortostan for kumys therapy in Andreyevskaya kumys therapy hospital, where he was engaged in a creative activity and communicated with the local population. Kumys healing properties, horseback riding and walking in the surroundings, as well as the Bashkir nature uniqueness had a favourable influence on the writer. The mountain, where Ch. liked to sit and admire the Bashkir landscape beauty, is now called the Chekhov Mountain. Z.A.Biisheva, M.Karim et al. translated the creative works by Ch. into the Bashkir language. Numerous performances are based of Ch.’s creative works were staged in the Bashkir Drama Theatre, National Youth Theatre, Russian Drama Theatre, Nur theatre, etc.