Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short story writer widely considered one of the greatest writers of all time; his four major plays are considered classics and his short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics alike. Trained and practicing as a physician, he once said, Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg he is often named one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in theatre, and though he renounced the stage after the poor reception of The Seagull in 1896, its revival by Konstantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre in 1898 led to further productions of Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.