A Tragic Man Despite Himself: The Complete Short Plays

Well known through the world for his late 29th and early 20th century plays "Uncle Vanya," "The Three Sisters," "The Sea Gull" and "The Cherry Orchard," Anton Chekov also wrote numerous short dramatic works-one act plays, dramatic sketches, faces, burlesques, and dialogues.

In this volume, George Malko has newly translated all of these dramatic writings, nineteen works dating from 1883 to 1902, six of which have apparently never before been translated into English. The works include the more well-known one-act plays such as "The Bear," "The Proposal," "The Wedding," and two of Chekhov's six versions of his monologue "On the Injuriousness of Tobacco," along with forgotten and unknown writings such as "On the Moon," "In the Spring," "The Voice of the People," and "Before the Eclipse."

As translator George Malko notes, this gathering reminds us again that despite a life of tragedy, pain, and disappointment, Anton Chekhov believed in life's enduring comic humanity.