Platonov by Anton Chekov [FIRST U.S. PAPERBACK PRINTING] 1964 • Hill & Wang

Platonov by Anton Chekov [Translated by David Magarshack]

FIRST U.S. PAPERBACK PRINTING [1966] HILL AND WANG • MERMAID DRAMABOOKS

Scarce 1st softcover printing of Chekov's debut play, discovered posthumously, and first published in the U.S. in 1964.  Features identical cover to the english language first edition's dust jacket.

Vintage trade paperback in excellent reading condition.  Cover does show some tan spotting to edges (possible mild water stains) 

Interior, pages are clean, bright and unmarked.  Reads good as new!

Chekhov wrote Platonov, his first major dramatic work, in his early twenties. Discovered in manuscript after his death and with its title-page missing, it was published for the first time in Russia in 1923 as A Play Without a Title.

While it is true that Platonov lacks the compactness and technical virtuosity of Chekhov's last plays, it makes up for it by freshness and spontaneous impact, and is remarkable for revealing the early development of his genius. But what is really so astonishing about Platonov and what makes it so indispensable for any serious student of Chekhov's dramatic art, is that it contains in embryo almost all of the great themes of his famous plays. There are anticipations not only of the central theme of The Cherry Orchard - the passing of an old family estate into the hands of rich businessmen - but of the important themes that occur again and again in all his plays: the concern with the meaning of life, the problems of leisure, or idleness, and work, the desire for a "new life," for improved social conditions, for justice and fair play, as well as the complexity of the relationships between men and women.

Platonov, now published for the first time in an unabridged English translation by David Magarshack, is so alive and so remarkably modern in spirit and contains such a brilliant assortment of characters that, if cut as is suggested in the text, its success on the stage should be as assured as that of any of Chekhov's great plays.