r/Chekhov • u/[deleted] • Dec 18 '25

Where's the love for Chekhov on Reddit?

I just joined this subreddit, and I'm surprised at how small this group is. On secondment to Russia a decade ago, in Moscow I bought the multi-volume set of his translated works brought out by Raduga publishers and during a long and cold Russian winter read through them all. Fantastic! The whole set was really inexpensive too. I bought it from a guy who had a street stall of books.

Educated Russians I met in Moscow (particularly women) would often refer to him as "my beloved Chekhov" or similar, and I found that one of the best ways to get ​into a conversation with a Russian was to make a comment about him. They were really proprietary about Chekhov, in a good way.

It was much more interesting to discuss him than money and how to spend it in the most vulgar and conspicuous way, which had become the obsession of the Moscow elite, to be honest.

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u/Nahbrofr2134 Dec 19 '25

It’s not like a lot of classic writers get particularly large subreddits, just the popular few that younger people still read. Most of the Russian literature fans online only tune in to Dostoevsky & Tolstoy

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u/[deleted] Dec 19 '25

It's strange, because in many ways Chekhov is a more modern writer than either Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. I don't mean just chronologically, but also in his themes and beliefs and writing style.

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u/Nahbrofr2134 Dec 19 '25

I’d say one of the issues is he didn’t write any “big” masterpieces like a novel. However I’d argue that his 4 great plays could go toe-to-toe with most 19th century masterpieces.