Donald Rayfield

Travels with My Uncle Vanya

Reading Chekhov: Critical Journey

By

Granta Books 210pp £13.99 order from our bookshop

IF JANET MALCOLM has a pet cat and a pet ferret, I wouldn’t mind betting that the cat has been declawed and the ferret has lost its scent glands. Her reading of Chekhov (the man as much as the stories and plays) is affectionate, attentive and acutely intelligent, but she renders a Chekhov familiar to us hm V S Pritchett or Ravmond Carver – a gentle. understated. well-trained pus\y cat, treading elegantly through the world.

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'I was dumbfounded by the view of the Berlin Wall from the eastern side. It seemed inconceivable that in under thre… ,
    • RT : Danger for ‘local’ staff, access in exchange for silence (and logos) - all sounds familiar in this fascinating look… ,
    • 'He has long been eclipsed by Vermeer, though his interiors are arguably more ambitious.' David Gelber on the Dutc… ,
    • 'The wicked are truly revolting and the rage is wholly understandable' on new thrillers by John Le… ,
    • In @aaciman's sequel to 'Call Me By Your Name', 'Erotic urgency has merged with middle age’s frugality of heart', s… ,
    • 'The repression of free speech in Uganda is common. Reporters Without Borders’ 2019 Press Freedom Index ranks Ugand… ,
    • RT : The Topeka School is out today! I reviewed it for and I'm psyched to see him talking at the Tate tonigh… ,
    Follow Us