Weekly journal-miner. [volume] (Prescott, Ariz.) 1908-1929, 1921-12-14
THE publication by B. w.


of the final volume in Mrs. Con-
stance Garnett's translation of Anton
/ Chekhov's works, OF these two vol
umes devoted to the life and mind
of the great Russian master OF the
short story, is particularly appro-
pirate, and should prove of real
value and interest to those who
know and enjoy his writings.
Anton Chekhov energies from
these portraits of him by three Rus
sian men OF letters who knew him
well, as a lovable and great-hearted
gentleman The memoir OF him by
Maxim GorIy is animated with the
life-like quality which made the
same writer's "Reminiscences of
Tolstoy" "the finest piece Of impress
sionistic biography of the century"
After reading the present book, one
understands why Tolstoy loved"
Chekhov more than any other of the
younger Russian writers. The sig
nificance of Chekhov's art and life is
summed up beautifully by Gorky as
follows:
Reading Anton Chekhov's stories,
one feels oneself in melancholy day
of late autumn. when the air is
transparent and the outline of naked
trees, narrow houses, grayish people,
| is sharp There passes before
one long file of men and women,
slaves of their love, of their stu
pidity and idleness, of their greed
for the good things of life; there
walk the slaves of the dark fear of
life; they struggle anxiously along,
filling life with incoherent words
about the future, feeling that in the
present there is no place for them
In front of that dreary, gray
crowd of helpless people there
passed great, wise and observant
man; he looked at all these dreafy
inhabitants OF his country, and, with
sad smile, with tone OF gentle
but deep reproach, with anguish in
his face and in his heart, in beau
tiful and sincere voice, he said to
them: You live badly, my friends.
1t is shameful to live like that"
The memoir by Kuprin tells inti-
mately of Chekhov's life at Yalta;
how, in spite of illness and the
stress of work, he would often get
up in the night to go to see a sick
peasant. (Chekhov was a doctor by
profession before he became known
as writer.) In this memoir,
Kuprin refers to Chekhov's myster-
lious notebooks, to which he whis-
lpered all his secrets. Where" asks
Kuprin, did he forge his superb lam
guage. unique in Russian literature?
He confided in nobody, never reveal
cd his creative methods. Many note
books are said to have been left by
him; perhaps in them will in time be
found the keys to those mysteries
:" l. A. Bunin tells OF Chekhov's
kindness to young writers, and re-
ports many interesting conversations
with him about literature and art.
1t was the habit of Anton Chekhov
to jot down in his notebook the
ideas which appealed to him as OF
fering possibilities for future artistic
development. That the greatest art
lists have had recourse to this method
for fixing in their minds ideas which
they might otherwise have forgotten
lis attested by the copious notebooks
left by certain supreme artists
notably the notebooks OF Leonardo
da Vinci in the Aldinc collection il
London, the notebooks of Beethoven
and Ibsen. Hawthornc's notebook:
are familiar to all lovers OF literature
E Chekhov's notebook was for hin
more than mere collection of idea;
containing the potentialities for fic
ticnal development: it was sort o
spiritual diary. His mind was al
alembic wide and deep, in which al
sorts OF emotions and ideas wer,
stirring, and this notebook, the pub
lication of which has been eagerl,
awaited. presents their distillation.
Chekhov-whom Tolstoy ranked a
. writer OF short stories greater thai
: Maupassant - kept this note-bool
t from 1892 to 1904, the year of hi
death. The volume is divided int
three parts: the notebook proper
some fragments of his diary and
section headed: Themes, thought:
+ notes and fragments" The latte
t was found among Chekhov's paper
|. with a special inscription. The sig
nificance which he attached to til
material found in the note-book-an
it is this which forms the larger par
( 81 the present volumc-may b
lgathcred from the fact that Chekho