Anton Chekhov wrote that "narrative is my legal wife and drama a flamboyant, rowdy, impudent, exhausting mistress." At a time when the Russian stage was dominated by farces, formulaic melodramas, and vaudevilles, Chekhov created plays that focused on characters grappling with moral questions. His works baffled his audiences, but his sensitive explorations of love, loss, and time as well as his portrayal of complex characters and ambiguities, revolutionized the theater with an exhilarating new form of drama.

This volume includes new translations, full explanatory notes, a chronology, suggestions for further reading, and a glossary, as well as an introduction by eminent Chekhov scholar Richard Gilman.