DCD: Dissociative Chekhovs Disorder
Creative writing is no easy task. Coming up with characters, locations, and situations which can relate to audiences is almost impossible without prior experiences to work off of. Without previous knowledge, writing can fall flat and be hard to relate to. While initially Chekhov’s play The Seagull was a flop due to it’s comedic nature, when it was re-worked in a more serious light as opposed to a farce, it garnered great success. This is in part thanks to the fact that Chekhov did what most writers do, which is write what they know. In The Seagull, Chekhov implemented his own life experience and knowledge into his characters, and had a direct relation to their childhoods, personal lives, and careers.
In The …show more content…
In the English translation of The Sea-Gull found on Project Gutenberg, Konstantin explains his predicament, saying: “I have neither money nor brains, and on my passport you may read that I am simply a citizen of Kiev. So was my father, but he was a well-known actor.” (Chekhov) Unfortunately for Konstantin, since his mother married a man from Kiev despite her aristocratic heritage, he became conditioned to high life but had no right to bear it. Similarly, Chekhov’s heritage is void of nobility, as is described by the Encyclopedia Britannica: “Chekhov’s father was a struggling grocer and pious martinet who had been born a serf.” (Hingley) Due to his father’s ancestry, Chekhov grew up in a lower-middle-class home. Chekhov was required to help his family pay for living expenses as soon as he was able to, while still keeping up his passion for writing. Because of his experiences in early childhood living with a father who was not well off, Chekhov was able to channel his feelings of self-dependence and uncertainties into the basis of Konstantin’s …show more content…
Trigorin is another character that draws very similar parallels from Chekhov, especially pertaining to Chekhov’s personal life. Trigorin is a very obsessive-compulsive writer who is originally Arkadina’s lover, but becomes persuaded away by the temptations of Nina’s innocence and optimism. Trigorin also spends a lot of his free time fishing, and this hobby is noted several times in the Project Gutenberg translation of The Sea-Gull, the most relevant being when Trigorin says: “I love fishing. I know of nothing pleasanter than to sit on a lake shore in the evening with one's eyes on a floating cork.” (Chekhov) Though this may seem unimportant and trivial, it should be noted that this is the only other hobby Trigorin speaks of; the rest of his time is devoted to writing. This is especially evident in his quote from the Martin Crimp translation when he says: “And even when I stop working and drag myself off to the theatre, or out fishing, to forget, to empty my mind, I can’t…” (Chekhov 30) Trigorin uses fishing as an escape from the constant drive to write. Unsurprisingly, Chekhov was also a great fan of fishing, as he detailed often in his personal letters, saying: “Every day I row to the mill, and in the evening I go to the islands to fish with fishing maniacs from the Haritovenko factory.” (Chekhov) Even more interesting is Chekhov’s eagerness to fish,
Creative writing is no easy task. Coming up with characters, locations, and situations which can relate to audiences is almost impossible without prior experiences to work off of. Without previous knowledge, writing can fall flat and be hard to relate to. While initially Chekhov’s play The Seagull was a flop due to it’s comedic nature, when it was re-worked in a more serious light as opposed to a farce, it garnered great success. This is in part thanks to the fact that Chekhov did what most writers do, which is write what they know. In The Seagull, Chekhov implemented his own life experience and knowledge into his characters, and had a direct relation to their childhoods, personal lives, and careers.
In The …show more content…
In the English translation of The Sea-Gull found on Project Gutenberg, Konstantin explains his predicament, saying: “I have neither money nor brains, and on my passport you may read that I am simply a citizen of Kiev. So was my father, but he was a well-known actor.” (Chekhov) Unfortunately for Konstantin, since his mother married a man from Kiev despite her aristocratic heritage, he became conditioned to high life but had no right to bear it. Similarly, Chekhov’s heritage is void of nobility, as is described by the Encyclopedia Britannica: “Chekhov’s father was a struggling grocer and pious martinet who had been born a serf.” (Hingley) Due to his father’s ancestry, Chekhov grew up in a lower-middle-class home. Chekhov was required to help his family pay for living expenses as soon as he was able to, while still keeping up his passion for writing. Because of his experiences in early childhood living with a father who was not well off, Chekhov was able to channel his feelings of self-dependence and uncertainties into the basis of Konstantin’s …show more content…
Trigorin is another character that draws very similar parallels from Chekhov, especially pertaining to Chekhov’s personal life. Trigorin is a very obsessive-compulsive writer who is originally Arkadina’s lover, but becomes persuaded away by the temptations of Nina’s innocence and optimism. Trigorin also spends a lot of his free time fishing, and this hobby is noted several times in the Project Gutenberg translation of The Sea-Gull, the most relevant being when Trigorin says: “I love fishing. I know of nothing pleasanter than to sit on a lake shore in the evening with one's eyes on a floating cork.” (Chekhov) Though this may seem unimportant and trivial, it should be noted that this is the only other hobby Trigorin speaks of; the rest of his time is devoted to writing. This is especially evident in his quote from the Martin Crimp translation when he says: “And even when I stop working and drag myself off to the theatre, or out fishing, to forget, to empty my mind, I can’t…” (Chekhov 30) Trigorin uses fishing as an escape from the constant drive to write. Unsurprisingly, Chekhov was also a great fan of fishing, as he detailed often in his personal letters, saying: “Every day I row to the mill, and in the evening I go to the islands to fish with fishing maniacs from the Haritovenko factory.” (Chekhov) Even more interesting is Chekhov’s eagerness to fish,