契诃夫(1860～1904年)
Chekhov, Anton (Pavlovich)
俄国剧作家和短篇小说家。父亲以前是农奴，在莫斯科就读医学系时，就以写通俗短篇喜剧来养家。他在当实习医生时，写了第一部长篇戏剧《伊凡诺夫》（1887～1889），但不受人欢迎。後来改写严肃的主题，作有《草原》（1888）、《凄凉的故事》（1889）等短篇故事，之後还有《黑衣教士》（1894）和《农民》（1897）等短篇小说。契诃夫转而撰写第二部戏剧《木魔》（1889）以及《万尼亚舅舅》（1897）。他的剧作《海鸥》（1896）刚开始演出时并不理想，一直到1899年由史坦尼斯拉夫斯基导演和在莫斯科艺术剧院演出後，才大为成功。後来他因罹患结核病而迁往克里米亚疗养，在那里写完最後两部剧本《三姊妹》（1901）和《樱桃园》（1904），这是为莫斯科艺术剧院写的。契诃夫的戏剧采取悲喜剧的观点来描述乡下生活的陈腐和俄罗斯乡绅的没落，这些作品在译成英文和其他语言後，使他扬名国际。现今大家还认为他是短篇小说大师，地位无人可及。
English version：
1860～1904年
Chekhov, Anton (Pavlovich)
Russian playwright and short-story writer. The son of a former serf, he supported his family by writing popular comic sketches while studying medicine in Moscow. While practicing as a doctor, he had his first full-length play, Ivanov (1887), produced, to a disappointing reception. He took up serious themes with such stories as “The Steppe” (1888) and “A Dreary Story” (1889); later stories include “The Black Monk” (1894) and “Peasants” (1897). He converted his second long play, The Wood Demon (1889), into the masterpiece Uncle Vanya (1897). His play The Seagull (1896) was badly received until its successful revival in 1899 by Konstantin Stanislavsky and the Moscow Art Theatre. He moved to the Crimea to nurse his eventually fatal tuberculosis, and there he wrote his great last plays, Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904), for the Moscow Art Theatre. Chekhov's plays, which take a tragicomic view of the staleness of provincial life and the passing of the Russian gentry, received international acclaim after their translation into English and other languages, and as a short-story writer he is still regarded as virtually unmatched.