Anton Chekhov: A Life by Donald Rayfield

 The description 'definitive' is too easily used, but Donald Rayfield's biography of Chekhov merits it unhesitatingly. To quote Michael Frayn: "Without question the definitive biography of Chekhov, and likely to remain so for a very long time to come. Donald Rayfield starts with the huge advantage of much new material that was prudishly suppressed under the Soviet regime, or tactfully ignored by scholars. But his mastery of all the evidence, both old and new – a massive archive – is magisterial, his background knowledge of the period is huge; his Russian is sensitive to every colloquial nuance of the day, and his tone is sure. He captures a likeness of the notoriously elusive Chekhov which at last begins to seem recognisably human – and even more extraordinary."

Chekhov's life was short, he was only forty-four when he died, and dogged with ill-health, but his plays and short stories assure him of his place in the literary pantheon. Here is a biography that does him full justice, in short, unapologetically to repeat that word 'definitive'.

 "It is hard to imagine another book about Chekhov after this one by Donald Rayfield."– Arthur Miller, Sunday Times

"Donald Rayfield's exemplary biography draws on a daunting array of material inaccessible or ignored by his predecessors.' – Nikolai Tolstoy, The Literary Review

"Donald Rayfield, Chekhov's best and definitive biographer." – William Boyd, Guardian

This is a new, revised and expanded edition of the 1997 biography of Chekhov that was highly praised by Arthur Miller, Michael Frayn and many Russian critics.

Hardback