Anton Chekhov

1860 – 1904 · died at about 44^[1][2]

Literature

Fun Facts About Anton Chekhov

• Anton Chekhov was a physician by profession who once said, "Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress."^[1]
• The storytelling rule known as "Chekhov's gun" comes from his advice that a rifle hanging on the wall in the first chapter must go off later, or it shouldn't be there.^[1]
• In 1890 Chekhov traveled across Siberia to the penal colony on Sakhalin Island and spent three months interviewing thousands of convicts and settlers for a census.^[1]
• The first night of The Seagull in 1896 was a fiasco that made Chekhov renounce the theater, but Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre revived it to acclaim two years later.^[1]
• To support his family as a student, Chekhov wrote humorous sketches under pseudonyms such as "Antosha Chekhonte" and "Man Without Spleen."^[1]
• At his villa in Yalta, Chekhov kept dogs and tame cranes and received guests including Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky.^{[1][3][4][5][6]}
• Anton Chekhov was alive at the same time as Abraham Lincoln — their lives overlapped for 5 years (1860–1865).^[1][2][7][8]
• Anton Chekhov shares a birthday with Oprah Winfrey: both were born on January 29.^{[1][2][9][10]}

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian playwright, short story writer, and physician. Widely considered one of the greatest writers of all time, his career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. Chekhov was a physician by profession. "Medicine is my lawful wife," he once said, "and literature is my mistress."^[1]

Contemporaries

Susan B. Anthony

44 yr overlap

Florence Nightingale

44 yr overlap

Harriet Tubman

44 yr overlap

Jules Verne

44 yr overlap

Leo Tolstoy

44 yr overlap

Dmitri Mendeleev

44 yr overlap

Mark Twain

44 yr overlap

Andrew Carnegie

44 yr overlap

John D. Rockefeller

44 yr overlap

Claude Monet

44 yr overlap

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

44 yr overlap

Thomas Edison

44 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Anton Chekhov

When was Anton Chekhov born?

Anton Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860, and died on July 15, 1904.

How old was Anton Chekhov at death?

Anton Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860, and died on July 15, 1904, at age 44.

What was Anton Chekhov known for?

Anton Chekhov was known for: Russian playwright and short-story master. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian playwright, short story writer, and physician. Widely considered one of the greatest writers of all time, his career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. Chekhov was a physician by profession. "Medicine is my lawful wife," he once said, "and literature is my mistress."

Who was alive at the same time as Anton Chekhov?

Anton Chekhov's closest contemporary was Susan B. Anthony. Their lives overlapped for 44 years.