The messages - Anton Chekhov

Author's name: Anton Chekhov Publisher: Al-Jamal Publishing and Distribution Year of publication: 2022 Literary classification: Epistolary literature Book summary: Chekhov - Letters 1875-1904 by Anton Chekhov ... Each publisher of correspondence tends to become a biographer and defend their interests, disregarding others' interests. Are we compelled here, to understand the essence of this book, to first seek to reveal its negative aspects? Should we prove that Baudelaire's correspondence lacks the variety of George Sand's letters and their density, and that, unlike Saint-Beuve's correspondence, it is not the literary record that describes half a century? And that, unlike Saint-Beuve's correspondence, it is not the unique reference for understanding the poet's works, just as Balzac's letters about human comedy are. And that it does not document, like Merimee's correspondence, news of political and social life, nor does it offer, like Flaubert's letters about the era, man, and art, ideas worthy of an ethical writer. And that it does not possess the biting mystery characteristic of Stendhal's letters, nor the wonderful contempt reflected in Fénelon's letters, nor the passionate delirium or astonishing indifference overflowing from Chateaubriand's letters. And that it does not give the satisfying image of the self, reflected in Victor Hugo's letters. The letter writer loves writing them, and isn't Baudelaire himself the one who says he is "not skilled" at writing them? And "a letter costs me more to write than a book," or he writes it in his imagination, which delays its completion even more. The pleasure of writing a letter stems from a clear conscience, nourished by the small vanity we feel to give awareness to an unexpected event for someone still unaware of it.