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Its a polemic really. The terseness and immediacy of Chekhov's stories and plays made them 'modern' and set them in contrast to older art. It was a very powerfu
by twelvechairs 5y ago
Its a polemic really. The terseness and immediacy of Chekhov's stories and plays made them 'modern' and set them in contrast to older art. It was a very powerful shtick at the time.
Of course today's times are very different. Our lives have so much content and immediacy now that is beyond Chekov's experience that people seek out exactly the opposite.
Still I think the way he carefully and deliberately constructed things has a lot to teach us. In the software world he'd be a builder of lean core libraries and a hater of the bloatware apps that use them.
- ineedasername 5y agoAgreed, But: Wikipedia cites it as a "dramatic principle", not merely a style. I've seen it advocated as "the way things should be done". That's why I think the contrast is important to note: it's not a principal of good writing, it's merely one style of telling a story.