Not for nothing did he invent the term 'difficult people' - people are sometimes simply 'difficult' for no apparent reason. In contrast, in his belles lettres, Chekhov was interested in writing of those sides of human existence, not necessarily conditioned by society at large. At the same time, as Ilya Erenburg put it in 1960, 'Chekhov abstained from showing many things,' including 'the energetic, smart and ruthless capitalists the revolutionaries, fanatically loyal to the idea the scientists, who defied the 'general idea' but who worked successfully in their field… Riabushinskys and Sytins, massive strikes, unrest among students, pogroms, the growth of proletarian movement, Pavlov and Mechnikov…' 2 Erenburg's list of Chekhov's omissions consists of the personalities and events that made Russian history at the turn of the century. Needless to say, Chekhov was far from creating a solipsist model of the universe: the Russia that stretches outside the estate is very much relevant to the lives of its denizens. What remains is but a vague dream of a climate where people are happy. 1 Characteristically and sadly, the references to ideal places or places of escape lose their realistic referents in Uncle Vanya. Boris Zingerman, who studied Chekhov's space most productively, created an apt epithet for the space of Chekhov's drama - 'closed-swung open' ( zamknuto-raspakhnutoe). The tension between the place of action and recounted places conveys best the theme of circular existence, life without an outlet, so potently embodied in the character of Uncle Vanya and reflected, to varying degree, in every other character of the play. The evocations of places outside the Voinitsky estate only reinforce its isolation. In terms of its place of action, Uncle Vanya may be characterized by extreme interiority. Marina Madorskaia Overcoming the Resistance of Chekhov's Drama: Academic Electronic Journal in Slavic Studies.

Uncle vanya mamet