Plays, series 2

Plays, series 2

Project Gutenberg's Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series, by Anton
Chekhov #30 in our series by Anton Chekhov
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Title: Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series On the High Road, The
Proposal, The Wedding, The Bear, A Tragedian In Spite of Himself,
The Anniversary, The Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard
Author: Anton Chekhov
Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7986] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on June 9, 2003]

Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECOND
SERIES PLAYS ***

Transcribed by James Rusk and Produced for PG by Nicole Apostola

PLAYS BY ANTON CHEKHOV SECOND SERIES
[The First Series Plays have been previously published in etext
numbers: 1753 through 1756]
Translated, with an Introduction, by Julius West
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ON THE HIGH ROAD THE PROPOSAL THE
WEDDING THE BEAR A TRAGEDIAN IN SPITE OF HIMSELF
THE ANNIVERSARY THE THREE SISTERS THE CHERRY
ORCHARD

INTRODUCTION
The last few years have seen a large and generally unsystematic mass
of translations from the Russian flung at the heads and hearts of
English readers. The ready acceptance of Chekhov has been one of the
few successful features of this irresponsible output. He has been
welcomed by British critics with something like affection. Bernard
Shaw has several times remarked: "Every time I see a play by Chekhov,
I want to chuck all my own stuff into the fire." Others, having no such
valuable property to sacrifice on the altar of Chekhov, have not
hesitated to place him side by side with Ibsen, and the other established
institutions of the new theatre. For these reasons it is pleasant to be able
to chronicle the fact that, by way of contrast with the casual treatment
normally handed out to Russian authors, the publishers are issuing the
complete dramatic works of this author. In 1912 they brought out a
volume containing four Chekhov plays, translated by Marian Fell. All

the dramatic works not included in her volume are to be found in the
present one. With the exception of Chekhov's masterpiece, "The Cherry
Orchard" (translated by the late Mr. George Calderon in 1912), none of
these plays have been previously published in book form in England or
America.
It is not the business of a translator to attempt to outdo all others in
singing the praises of his raw material. This is a dangerous process and
may well lead, as it led Mr. Calderon, to drawing the reader's attention
to points of beauty not to be found in the original. A few
bibliographical details are equally necessary, and permissible, and the
elementary principles of Chekhov criticism will also be found useful.
The very existence of "The High Road" (1884); probably the earliest of
its author's plays, will be unsuspected by English readers. During
Chekhov's lifetime it a sort of family legend, after his death it became a
family mystery. A copy was finally discovered only last year in the
Censor's office, yielded up, and published. It had been sent in 1885
under the nom-de-plume "A. Chekhonte," and it had failed to pass. The
Censor, of the time being had scrawled his opinion on the manuscript,
"a depressing and dirty piece,-- cannot be licensed." The name of the
gentleman who held this view-- Kaiser von Kugelgen--gives another
reason for the educated Russian's low opinion of German-sounding
institutions. Baron von Tuzenbach, the satisfactory person in "The
Three Sisters," it will be noted, finds it as well, while he is trying to
secure the favours of Irina, to declare that his German ancestry is fairly
remote. This is by way of parenthesis. "The High Road," found after
thirty years, is a most interesting document to the lover of Chekhov.
Every play he wrote in later years was either a one-act farce or a
four-act drama. [Note: "The Swan Song" may occur as an exception.
This, however,