A NON-ENTITY IN A VACUUM ? (C S Lewis)
There was a great but short piece on Chekhov in one of the weekend papers. IMHO, Chekhov is the greatest short story writer in any language, of any time. THe journo writes "Like certain great pieces of music, his stories repay constant revisitings". The Norton Anthology series is a great edition, if you can get hold of it. The translation is highly rated and there's a section at the back with critical essays. Anyhow, under 'F' for faith (remember, this is from a newspaper) we have the following:
Faith: Chekhov's personal world was a godless one: despite his orthodox religious upbringing, he asserted, in 1892 that "I have no religion now". He wrote about religious folk, indeed one of his greatest stories is entitled "The Bishop". But intelligent people who believed in God seemed baffling to him. "I squandered away my faith so long ago and never fail to be puzzled by an intellectual who is also a believer".
Way to go, Chekhov!
Under 'K', the entry reads, Koumiss: a fermented mare's milk that was believed, in the 1890s, to be a defence against tuberculosis, as a source of "good" bacilli. In 1901, Chekhov undertook a koumiss cure, drinking four bottles of the milk daily. He gained 12lb in a fortnight. A month later he was still coughing up blood.
'No one gives more than he who gives hope', I suppose. I don't know who wrote that (it wasn't Chekhov, who died at 44. His lungs had been ravaged by TB).
There was a great but short piece on Chekhov in one of the weekend papers. IMHO, Chekhov is the greatest short story writer in any language, of any time. THe journo writes "Like certain great pieces of music, his stories repay constant revisitings". The Norton Anthology series is a great edition, if you can get hold of it. The translation is highly rated and there's a section at the back with critical essays. Anyhow, under 'F' for faith (remember, this is from a newspaper) we have the following:
Faith: Chekhov's personal world was a godless one: despite his orthodox religious upbringing, he asserted, in 1892 that "I have no religion now". He wrote about religious folk, indeed one of his greatest stories is entitled "The Bishop". But intelligent people who believed in God seemed baffling to him. "I squandered away my faith so long ago and never fail to be puzzled by an intellectual who is also a believer".
Way to go, Chekhov!
Under 'K', the entry reads, Koumiss: a fermented mare's milk that was believed, in the 1890s, to be a defence against tuberculosis, as a source of "good" bacilli. In 1901, Chekhov undertook a koumiss cure, drinking four bottles of the milk daily. He gained 12lb in a fortnight. A month later he was still coughing up blood.
'No one gives more than he who gives hope', I suppose. I don't know who wrote that (it wasn't Chekhov, who died at 44. His lungs had been ravaged by TB).
