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CHEKHOV FOR THE 21st CENTURY. Edited by Carol Apollonio and Angela Brintlinger. Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2012; pp. 384.
The works of Anton Chekhov are still vital and alive over 150 years after his birth, and their impact is still felt strongly both in his native Russia and the English-speaking world. This superb collection fea- tures essays written by twenty-one Chekhov schol- ars, many of them participants in a 2010 meeting of the North American Chekhov Society. The authors are both Russian and Western scholars, and their essays approach Chekhov's life and works from the five perspectives that encompass the major sections of the book: "Space," "Time," "Person," "Word," and "Transpositions." With enough new and accessible material to interest both casual Rus- sophiles and theatre scholars, Chekhov for the 21st Century provides a new and engaging explication of Chekhov's central position in contemporary literary and theatrical discourse, a position that has become stronger even as the field has moved further away from the author's own era.
The contents of Chekhov for the 21st Century are varied, and editors Carol Apollonio and Angela Brinthnger have succeeded in placing the various perspectives into context with their introductions. The editors argue that Chekhov's very accessibility has opened up his works to readers and players in a variety of contexts undreamt of by the author, and this collection celebrates both the breadth of Chekhov's influence, and the depths of his literary output (2). The essays here read like Chekhov's own work-simple on their face, but deeply nuanced and meaningful in their assessment of the author's works and influence. They are both articulate and communicative, and together they provide a deeply informed perspective on Chekhov, particularly...