In this luminous book of criticism, Chekhov's foremost Russian interpreter offers to Western readers a remarkably clear and commanding appraisal of the master's work. With ringing authority and critical common sense, Vladimir Kataev examines Chekhov's major tales, stories, and plays, pointing out patterns of development in Chekhov's approach to characters and themes, and tracing the roots of Chekhov's ideas as expressed through his plots. No one who has endured tortuous explanations of Chekhov will fail to welcome Mr. Kataev's lucid criticism. With his careful arguments, he quietly undermines many conventional (and persistent) approaches to Chekhov, Western as well as Russian, and establishes a radically new position of his own.