Memories of Chekhov by Peter Sekirin is a new biography of the author, based on his diaries, essays, and memories of his friends and family. Here are a couple of snippets:
He told Ivan Bunin, ““It seems to me that when you write a short story, you have to cut off both the beginning and the end. We writers do most of our lying in those spaces. You must write shorter, to make it as short as possible.”
He told Peter Gneich of a visit to Tolstoy: “He was bedridden due to illness. Among other things, he spoke about me and my works. Finally, when I was about to say goodbye he took my hand and said, ‘Kiss me goodbye.’ While I bent over him and he was kissing me, he whispered in my ear in a still energetic, old man’s voice, ‘You know, I hate your plays. Shakespeare was a bad writer, and I consider your plays even worse than his.’”
Chekhov is one of the most frequently quoted authors in my new book (out in January 2012), “Your Creative Writing Masterclass.” Anybody doing any kind of writing will find a lot of value in his advice.
