Anton Chekhov: A Brother’s Memoir (1933, English
version 2010) is the biography of Russian physician and author, most noted for
his short stories. The third of six children (1869-1904), the memoir is written
by the youngest child, Mikhail (1865-1936). Mikhail was 68 years old when he
commenced the memoir, originally called Around Chekhov: Encounters and Impressions.
Like his famous brother, Mikhail was also a writer of short stories, but in
addition he wrote theatre reviews and children’s tales, as well as translating
texts (nicknamed “English Grammar”).
Born in Taganrog, southern Russia, Anton moved to
Moscow in 1879, three years after his family, to join his two eldest brothers,
Alexander and Nikolay, who were studying at University, and the rest of the
family due to financial problems. Their poor financial situation defined their
life in Moscow, where Anton assumed responsibility for supporting his family. Here
the brothers, and Nikolay an illustrator, submitted articles to literary
magazines while Anton completed his medical studies.
Nikolay’s death from consumption (tuberculosis) at 31
years of age (1858-1889) affected Anton deeply – it was the first death in the
family – after which he wrote stories “at a feverish pace” and became more
involved with the theatre. In 1890 he travelled for two months across Siberia
to Sakhalin Island, a penal colony in the north Pacific, where he stayed for
three months interviewing “thousands of people” for his book, which was
published five years later. On his return home he travelled via Ceylon (now Sri
Lanka), which he described as “paradise on earth.” The following year he
travelled widely: to Vienna (Austria), Nice (France), Monte Carlo (Monaco), Paris
and Biarritz (France), Naples and Venice (Italy).
Anton bought a country property in 1892, called
Melikhovo, “575 acres of house, forest, farmland, and meadows” about 65
kilometres (40 miles) south of Moscow, housing the whole family (parents,
aunts, brothers and sisters) as well as boarders and visitors. But from 1884 he
had been getting progressively worse bouts of coughing and ruptured lungs,
leading to tuberculosis. He sought better climates for his health, and in 1898
he uprooted his family and bought a small property in Yalta in southern Russia.
In a trip to Moscow in 1901, Anton surprised his
family by marrying Olga Knipper when he was 41 years old. Mikhail writes, “I
did not even know who his bride was.” Mikhail never saw Anton again. Anton
never returned to his southern property, and he died three years later in
Badenweiler, Germany, at 44 years old.
Mikhail writes of Anton’s humour, his pranks, his
love of French literature and writer Victor Hugo, and that he “never read his
pieces to anyone and criticized authors who did.” The village, Babkino, played
an important role in the development of Anton’s talent, for it was “full of
interesting people.” Intermittently throughout the memoir readers are briefly
told of Anton’s inspirations for his short stories. For example, Anton’s story
“Happiness” was influenced by their nanny’s stories. He modelled the character
of Rassudina in “Three Years” after his sister’s girlfriend who became an
astronomer. And the story “The Death of a Government Official” really happened
at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
Writing and story telling is a family trait for the
Chekhovs. Hence this memoir is well written, with clearly defined periods in
Anton’s life. Occasionally, and briefly, Mikhail gets distracted and writes of
his own life during times when he is not living with his brother. And the
final three years of Anton’s life after his sudden marriage is left
unrevealed. However, it is an interesting memoir, not only of Anton Chekhov,
but also of a close family that lived together and supported each other
throughout periods of debt, poverty, illness, and famine, as well as literary failures
and ultimate successes.
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