num_pages: 61
description: Uncle Vanya is credited as one of Chekhov's masterpieces and a significant precursor of modern drama. Set on a country estate in late nineteenth century Russia, Uncle Vanya is in part a study of the enervation of Russian middle-class provincial life. The major dynamics between the characters themselves are centered on two obsessive love affairs that lead nowhere and a flirtation that brings disaster. Mixing the tragic and the absurd and dealing with a form that allows for ambiguity and contradiction, Uncle Vanya has been deemed "the first modernist play". (David Lan) "It is the element of might-have-been in Chekhov's characters that makes their sense of waste so tragic ...I know of no more moving climax in world drama." Stark Young (1881 – 1963) was an American teacher, playwright, novelist, painter, literary critic and essayist. Young taught at the University of Mississippi in 1905-1907, and then moved to the University of Texas at Austin. There he established the Texas Review and became involved with theater. In 1915 he moved to Amherst College where he taught English until 1921. He resigned to pursue other interests and moved to New York City, New York. In New York he was appointed as an editor of Theater Arts Magazine and as drama critic for The New Republic. Young worked at The New Republic until his retirement in 1947. During this period he was involved with the theater in New York and wrote several plays. Young's plays include: Guenevere, Addio, Madretta, At The Shrine, The Star In The Trees, Twilight Saint, The Dead Poet, The Seven Kings and the Wind, and The Queen of Sheba, to name a few. Young received the Order of the Crown of Italy for a series of lectures on American theater. He served on the board of New York University and was a critic for the New York Times.
language: English
title: Uncle Vanya
titlecomplete: Uncle Vanya
genres: Fiction, Plays, Russian Literature, Theatre, Classics, 19th Century, Drama, Russia, Literature, School
ratings_count: 25613
places: Russian Empire
awards: awardedAt: 1357027200000
name: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Play
publisher: Samuel French, Inc