A Chekhov You Did Not Know

[mipco]

A new book just came out in famous series "Russkaya Potayennaya Literatura".

M.N. Zolotonossov. A Chekhov You Did Not Know. On the Other Side of 
the Principle of Gynophobia. Moscow. «Ladomir», 2007. 336 p. ISBN 
978-5-86218-478-5
http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/3386244/

The author concentrates on the life and literary activities of the 
Russian author Anton Chekhov, who was sex-obsessed in his youth, and 
later became consciously gynophobic. The purpose of such behavior was 
reasonable saving of libido. As a result, regardless of numerous love 
affairs with virtually all women he met, the writer developed a 
narcissistic fixation and fear of lasting sexual relations with one 
woman, of long-standing attachments, and of married life, which, in 
his opinion, could divert and waste the energy necessary for creative 
work. He destructs the image of family like no one else in Russian 
literature before or since.
Parallel to that line there is another, that of the struggle with an 
overbearing and suppressive Father, whose features Chekhov transfers 
to "dreadful women," following the model of Leopold von 
Sacher-Masoch, the most influential foreign writer at the time when 
Chekhov made his first steps in literature. Just as Masoch, Chekhov 
uses his prose to depict his own traumas and psychological problems. 
Hence the latent masochism, which can be inferred from his writings, 
and particular importance of Sacher-Masoch in Chekhov's literary 
world, reflected in inter-textual relations, adaptation of 
characters, and their shift to new plot shells.

You  may contact Ladomir at ladomir at mail.compnet.ru.

Michael Peltsman

-- 
M.I.P. Company
P.O.B. 27484
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55427 USA
http://www.mipco.com
mp at mipco.com
phone:763-544-5915
fax: 612-871-5733

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------