I want to present you the book of Alexander Chudakov "Chekhov". Alexander Chudakov, who wrote "A Gloom is Cast Upon the Ancient Steps". The book - the leader of sales for many years, the novel is quite extraordinary, claiming the title of one of the main books of the late 20th and early 21st century written in Russian. No wonder he was awarded the "Booker of the Decade" award, that is, they chose the main, basic text for ten years (from 2001 to 2011).
The author of the novel "A Gloom is Cast Upon the Ancient Steps", in fact, was originally a literary critic. And everyone who is familiar with his biography knows that he is a brilliant expert in the 19th century and therefore his book Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, does not surprise anyone. It was reissued several years ago, but it was published in the Soviet years and, of course, the reader was yearning for such literature.
This is not a scientific monograph, it is a book intended for high school students, students, for a secondary school teacher, for those who would like to update, refresh their knowledge of Chekhov and walk through the main milestones of his biography. After all, the main thing we know, but it's always nice to read a good book on the topic that can not help but worry, and Chekhov is one of the main Russian writers who has not been sufficiently studied.
But more importantly, Chudakov worked on this book in the popular science genre. The book that summarizes all these achievements in the knowledge of Chekhov's biography, in literary criticism, generalises and brings to the general reader, to the unprepared reader, to the reader of the private, and this is very important.
The book "Anton Pavlovich Chekhov", can compare with the best works in this genre, with the books of Yuri Lotman, who remembers his collection "Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol" - this is absolutely amazing thing. Because in this book everything is simple, clear, crystal clear, laconically stated and extremely important things.
When you read the book of Alexander Chudakov, and it is read very easily, leaf through it again, paying attention to what a huge number of facts, names, dates and figures are laid in this text. At the heart of this text, laborious scientific work and this is very felt. Language is figurative, you share the life of the main character, although this book is not fictional.
This is a genre about the life and work of man, but not fictionalized absolutely, here everything is confirmed by Chekhov's correspondence, documents that have come down to us, a lot of rare illustrative material.
But the most important thing in this book is that for all its ease, when you read it, you are amazed at the clarity of judgment and the thinking that the author had. This book is worth many scientific monographs, weighty works that must be overcome before they draw from them an abyss of information and knowledge.
Separate passages, which are devoted to the analysis of creativity, you derive from these trappings for yourself more than from other, full-scale, detailed articles.
I hope that you will agree with me if you read this book. It has not been republished for many years and, of course, such literature, which is not available to a specialist that is intended for the general reader, is very much in demand in our years. When humanitarian education, special education and higher education, need the support of book publishing.