Anton Chekhov
Russian · 1860–1904
Russian short-story writer and playwright, widely regarded as one of the greatest practitioners of the modern short story. Trained as a physician — "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress" — Chekhov supported his family with comic sketches before turning to the patient, understated mode he is now known for, writing stories that prefer mood, gesture, and the texture of provincial Russian life over plot machinery. His major plays — The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard — became foundational texts of modern theatre. He died of tuberculosis at 44, shortly after completing The Cherry Orchard.