Chekhov’s Inspirations

Anton Chekhov denied that any of his stories were autobiographical fiction, yet much of his work clearly grew out of his own experiences. From “An Attack of Nerves” to “Three Years,” different aspects of his life were incorporated throughout his stories. Each stage of Chekhov’s life made an impact in the tales he told.

Chekhov’s childhood was documented in great detail when he penned the story “Three Years.” The main character Laptev could have been Anton or any one of his brothers. In the tale, Chekhov had Laptev telling his wife:

He [his father] used to thrash me with a birch, pull my ears, and hit me on the head… We had to go to morning service and to early mass...at home we had to sing hymns…and when I pass a church I remember my childhood, and am overcome with horror (Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, xiv).

When he was a child Anton endured daily beatings by his father, was forced to attend church, and sing in the choir his father directed. Egov ruled every aspect of his life and Chekhov stated to friends “I had no childhood” (Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, xv).

In “Vanka,” Chekhov told of an orphan who wrote to his grandfather to save him from his master and the beatings that were forced upon him. Vanka looked to him as a savior; someone who would be able to “Take [him] away from [there]” (The Portable Chekhov, pg 38). His memories of his beloved grandfather provided him with joy and hope during his dreary days.

Just as his character Vanka did, Chekhov held his grandfather Pavlovich in the highest of regards. Pavlovich used what little money he had saved to buy his family freedom from a life of slavery. Had the sacrifice not been made, Anton would have been forced into slavery himself. If he had lived his life as a serf, Chekhov may never have written a single story or have become a doctor.

As a young medical student, Anton frequented the red light districts. He once wrote to a friend “I love people who go there, although, I go as rarely as you do” (Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, xix). During one of his visits he realized how the women were being degraded and began writing letters to his editor, Suvorin; also the editor of the local newspaper. In one he noted “Why do they write nothing about prostitution in your paper? It is the most fearful evil, you know. Our Sobolev Street is a regular slave-market” (Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, xix). His rendezvous’ down Sobolev Street inspired the story “An Attack of Nerves.” It is the account of a law student, Vasilyev, who visits such a street and is driven to a breakdown with the thought of the way the women are treated. When trying to leave his friends at one of the houses he states “They [the women] are all like animals than human beings, but of course they are human beings all the same, they have souls” (The Portable Chekhov, pg 234). Chekhov and the character he created in his own image were both “Fully aware of social evils and [they each] had a strong sense of civic responsibility” (The Portable Chekhov, pg 10).

After medical school, Chekhov’s writing became influenced by his skills as a physician. He once noted to a friend “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress. When I get fed up with one, I spend the night with the other one” (The Portable Chekhov, pg 5). Anton was able to write medical literature that surpassed his fellow Russian novelists. With his knowledge he was capable of delving deep into the psychological aspects of the human mind for his work. At times he thought that his training restricted him, yet he decided that his “Medical training helped… [it gave] him a more perceptive and penetrating knowledge of men and women, guarding him against the pitfalls of subjectivity” (The Portable Chekhov, pg 5).

When Chekhov was not writing stories he gave his time to treating patients for free. Many were mentally ill patients with schizophrenia, depression, and other illnesses. Some of his patients were likely the inspiration when he developed Belikov in “Man in a Shell.” Belikov was a man afflicted with antisocial disorder and OCD. “His face was always hidden in a turned up collar…the man showed a constant and irrepressible inclination to keep a covering about himself; to create for himself a membrane…which would isolate him from outside influences”(The Portable Chekhov, pg 355). Although Anton was able to cure some of