Anton Chekhov: Love and Death in Russian Culture

Catalog description

In this course we will study Anton Chekhov’s short prose and dramatic works exploring the significance of love and death in human experience. The first part of the course will be focused on examining existential, social and cultural aspects of these themes represented in Chekhov’s poignant and humorous short stories, such as "The Student," "The Darling," "About Love," "House with a Mezzanine" and "The Bishop." Then we will attempt a dramatic interpretation of Chekhov using the ideas we discovered while reading his short prose. We will create a stage version of Chekhov's play or produce our own short play inspired by Chekhov’s themes and characters. As a group we will decide on the type of our performance, whether it will be a stage reading or staging a play, and each of the students will choose how to participate in it: whether by acting, directing, writing, project managing or tech work.