January 29, 2009, was the birth sesquicentennial of the great Russian writer, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, who has impacted the course of world literature.

by Vladimir VASILYEV, RAS Corresponding Member, RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture", deputy president

Anton Chekhov made his start as the author of feuilletons, satirical sketches, burlesques and short stories which he signed Antosha Chekhonté. The key motifs of his works concerned the ideological quests of Russian intellectuals, the intelligentsia, and people's soul searchings: some chafing at philistine modes of life, and others gulping down the hard way the trivial and vulgar little nothings of life. His drama pieces and plays are remarkable for peerless ingenuity suffused with the poignant drama effect, down to the expressionist grotesque. Their level of social and artistic typification is truly staggering. His research and public activities were rewarded: in 1900 Anton Chekhov was elected honorary member of the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Sciences.

The significance of his works is indisputable. We can only wonder how prescient, forward-thinking he was. Today, many decades after, his writings are still relevant, they still have a topical ring responding to the live issues of our days. They are still modern. This idea keynoted the jubilee meetings and functions commemorating the lifework of our classic. It was voiced at symposia and conferences... at festivals and new stage performances... at museums, libraries and archival expositions... in radio and television broadcasts.

His grateful descendants cherish the memory of their great compatriot; acting with a willing spirit, year after year, on what Chekhov wished as he told his friends and fellow writers, and as it was recorded by Pyotr Bykov (1843-1930), an eminent man of letters and bibliographer: "In time all my works shall see the light..."

Still in Chekhov's lifetime, between 1899 and 1902, the first ten-volume* collection of his works saw the

* The final, eleventh, volume of long and short stories written in Chekhov's last years came out posthumously, in 1906.—Ed.

Literary Heritage. -M.: USSR Academy of Sciences Publishers, 1929.-Vol. 68: Chekhov / edit. V. Vinogradov. -1960. Literary Heritage. -M.: USSR Academy of Sciences Publishers, 1929.-Vol. 100: in 2 booksbooks. Book 1: Chekhow and World Literature / edit. F. Kuznetsov; cotp. Z. Paperny, E. Polotskaya.-1997.

light of day in a free supplement to Niva, the first popular Russian weekly published in St. Petersburg. Its publisher was Adolf Marx. It was not a complete edition, though the author said it was. Chekhov insisted that his writings should be brought together under these titles: Stories, Long and Short Stories, Plays. The author picked out just a part of his writings for the press, and he thoroughly revised them before. Kept in his papers are bits and pieces from magazines and newspapers as well as short burlesques that he marked up, "Not for the complete edition." Chekhov withdrew his imprimatur from many little stories, about twenty in all, even after he had revised them in galley proofs. Niva was advertised as a weekly for "family reading"; from 1894 on it started publishing collected works of Russian and foreign authors in a free supplement. The number of subscribers soared to 250,000 copies overnight! Incidentally Nauka Publishers have brought out the book A.P. Chekhov and His Publisher A.F. Marx" (author, I.P. Viduetskaya).

And yet we cannot say that the composition of the first collection of Chekhov's works quite complied with the author's will: Chekhov, bound "hand-and-foot" by the letter of agreement, had to reckon with the interests of his publisher, Marx, and the demands of government censorship. Besides, the author was unable to collect what was published by various journals and newspapers in the 1880s. So the first edition did not include nearly half of what he had created in twenty-five years.

A complete collection of Chekhov's works was not realized in his lifetime.

In 1903 Adolf Marx began publishing a second edition of Chekhov's works-this time, in sixteen volumes. That collection appeared in a supplement to the literary almanac Niva again. Chekhov could authorize (i.e. give his approval to) only the twelfth volume with long and short stories not included into the first collection; created in the last years of his life, these works did not make up a standard volume of ten quires as required by the publisher. Those were eight stories, including such masterpieces as The Lady With the Little Dog, In the Ravine, The Man in a Case, Gooseberries, About Love...

Another six volumes of Chekhov works, edited by Pyotr Bykov, were added in 1911 in a new literary supplement to Niva; yet another one, the twenty-third, appeared in 1916. A substantial addition, it was not a complete edition yet.

In 1918 the Literary Publishing Department of the Commissariat (Ministry) for Public Education had another edition, not revised, printed from the mats of the Marx publishing house (full name, A.F. Marx Publishing and Printing Co.). The first attempt to check the texts with the original was undertaken as yet another Chekhov edition in twelve volumes was being prepared for the press; its editors were Anatoly Lunacharsky (elected to the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1930) and Sergei Balukhaty (elected corresponding member of the Academy in 1943). This edition came off the press in 1929, it was timed for the twenty-fifth anniversary of Chekhov's death. It appeared in the literary supplement to the Moscow-published popular weekly magazine Ogonyok. Next, between 1930 and 1933, the same editors prepared for the press a twenty-volume edition of Chekhov works and letters, and it was printed simultaneously by the State Publishers in Moscow and Leningrad.

Chekhov's epistolary heritage was first selected and evaluated by his sister Maria, a competent text critic, for a six-volume collection brought out between 1912 and 1916. Subsequently it was substantially augmented and published in an edition of twenty volumes by the State Belles-Lettres Publishing House (GOSLITIZDAT) in 1944 to 1951 (Moscow): twelve volumes comprised works of fiction, and eight, letters. Supplied with copious commentaries, this edition was a major event, justly regarded as the most complete collection for that time. Looking back, we do not think its textual level was high enough. There were errors and misprints in some volumes, and arbitrary cuts and deletions in letters.

In the next editions (12 volumes in 1954 to 1957, and in 1960 to 1963) GOSLITIZDAT Publishers abandoned the previous practice of ranking the Chekhov works into two parts—those included and those not included in the Marxian edition. The texts were revised and checked with the original, the errors were corrected, and sundry distortions made by censors, editors and printers, removed.

Meanwhile, a Literary Heritage volume timed for the Chekhov birth centennial (Vol. 68, 1960), published by the USSR Academy of Sciences as well as the later publications showed that the writer's total literary heritage was not yet grasped in full, for other, yet unknown works were detected in the process. This research work continued between 1974 and 1982, when the first thirty-volume edition of Anton Chekhov's writings (Complete Works) was being prepared for the press by the Gorky institute of World Literature (Academy of Sciences of the USSR). The editorial board included such eminent literati and the Academy's corresponding members as Nikolai Belchikov (Editor-in-Chief) and Dmitry Blagoy, among others. It was the first scholarly edition of the writer's literary heritage. Nauka Publishers (Moscow) were in charge. A panel of experts delved into archival stocks, and perused all kinds of periodicals where Chekhov could have published his works—signed by his own or pen name, or printed anonymously. The newly recovered manuscripts were likewise taken account of: the autographs of the stage piece The Three Sisters, burlesques in The Jubilee, the stories The Wedding, The Grosshopper, The Lady With the Little Dog, The Swedish Match, An Incident... Another version of the drama piece Ivanov was also retrieved, together with the unpublished materials of the author's notebooks and diaries. The Complete Works carried all that in an exhaustive body of original variants.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Council  "History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission.-M.: Nauka, 1990. Articles, Publications, Essays / edit. V. Lakshin.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission. -M.: Nauka, 1990. Chekhov and France / edit. J. Bannamour, V. Katayev, T. Knyazevskaya, V. Lakshin.-1992.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission. -M.: Nauka, 1990. Chekhov in the 20th-century Culture: Articles, Publications, Essays / edit. V. Lakshin.-1993.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission. -M.: Nauka, 1990. Melikhovo Works and Days: Articles, Publications, Essays/ edit. Ye. Streltsova.-1995.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission.-M.: Nauka, 1990. Chekhov and His Environment / edit. A.Turkov.-1996.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission. -M.: Nauka, 1990. Chekhov and the "Silver Age"/ edit. A. Chudakov.-1996.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission.-M.: Nauka, 1990. Chekhov and Pushkin / edit. V. Katayev.-1998.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission.-M.: Nauka, 1990. Flight of the "Seagull"/ edit. V. Gulchenko.-2001.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission.-M.: Nauka, 1990. "The Three Sisters"-100 years.-2002.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Counci l"History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission.-M.: Nauka, 1990. "The Sound of a Broken String": to the centennial of the play "The Cherry Orchard"/ edit. V. Gulchenko.-2005.

Chekhoviana / RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture", Chekhov Commission.-M.: Nauka, 1990. From the 20th to the 21st Century: Results and Expectations / edit. A. Chudakov.-2007.

A, Chekhov. At Dusk: Essays and Stories / edit. G. Berdnikov, A. Grishunin; Hon. Chairman of the edit, board, D. Likhavhev.-M.:Nauka, 1986.

A. Chekhov. The Steppe: History of One Trip/ edit. M. Gromov; Hon. Chairman of the edit. board, D. Likhachev.-M.: Nauka, 1995.

A. Chekhov. Complete Academic Collected Works and Letters: in 30 volumes. Works: in 18 volumes. Letters: in 12 volumes / A. Chekhov; editor-in-chief N. Belchikov.-M.: Nauka, 1974-1982.

A. Chekhov. Complete Academic Collected Works and Letters: in 30 volumes. Works: in 18 volumes. Letters: in 12 volumes / A. Chekhov-M.: Nauka, 1983-1984.

A. Chekhov. Complete Collected Works and Letters: in 30 volumes. Works: in 18 volumes / A. Chekhov; editor-in-chief N. Belchikov; text prepared by M. Gromov.-2nd edition, stereotyped.-M.: Nauka, 2007.

The new edition was in two parts: volumes 1 to 18 (first part) comprising Chekhov writings proper, and vol. 1-12 (second part), letters. The first part was selected according to genre- and chronology. It had prose fiction, long and short stories, burlesques, essays and literary parodies. All that followed the time sequence of writing or publication. Figure captions were set apart in the third volume for polygraphic reasons. Set off were also the drama pieces (vols. 11-13), the travel notes The Sakhalin Island (vols. 14-15), articles, reviews and notes (Vol. 16), and Varia-entries made in notebooks and diaries (Vol. 17). The concluding volume comprised pieces that Chekhov wrote in his school years as well as album entries, verses and what he did not intend for the press. Published under the title Dubia are works whose authorship could not be attributed to Chekhov for certain, and those co-authored by Chekhov. Other people's texts edited by Anton Pavlovich are also in this volume (only a few MSS have survived).

The historical-literary and textual commentaries in the Complete Works tell how Chekhov created his works and point at censorship amendments; there are data on authorial corrections made in MSS. The footnotes cite judgements and criticisms made by contemporaries still in Chekhov's lifetime. The same volume likewise supplies updates on the creative and stage history of his plays and on the translations of his writings into other languages.

Considering the high demand for the works of the Russian classic, in 1983-1984 Nauka Publishers issued an extra edition of Chekhov's writings in 18 volumes on the basis of the first Collected Works published in two installments (works proper and letters) between 1974 and 1982. No recensions were made thereby.

In keeping with the presidential decree of February 14, 2006 (No. 111), "On the Celebrations of the 150th Birth Anniversary of A.P. Chekhov", Nauka Publishers are working on a second Complete Works edition. Corresponding subsidies have been set aside for the purpose. This edition is reproduced from the first Complete Works published between 1974 and 1982. Besides, in 2007 Nauka Publishers began work on a new 18-volume edition of Chekhov's selected works and on a 12-volume edition of his letters. Each volume of the Complete Works includes title pages of the first one. The additional 31st volume is to include new texts, notebook materials, Sakhalin correspondence and other bits—whatever was not in the first edition.

No major recensions were made in the new Chekhov edition, they concerned mostly the historical and literary commentaries (depending on changes in political and geographical spheres). In the first (1974-1982) and in the additional (1983-1988) edition such commentaries included other recensions and variants as well as bits of evidence on the history of the creation and censorship of Chekhov's works, on the source material, corrections in MMS, etc. The scholarly body in the

T. Shakh-Azizova. Chekhov and Western European Drama of His Time / T. Shakh-Azizova; edit. K. Rudnitsky.-M.:Nauka, 1966.

A. Chudakov. Chekhov's Poetics / A. Chudakov; edit. V. Vinogradov.-M.:Nauka, 1971.

A. Anikst. The Theory of Drama in Russia: From Pushkin to Chekhov / A. Anikst-M.: Nauka, 1972.

In Chekhov's Creative Laboratory: collection of articles / edit. board L. Opulskaya, Z. Paperny, S. Shatalov.-M.: Nauka, 1974.

Chekhov and His Time: collection of articles / edit. board L. Opulskaya, Z. Paperny, S. Shatalov.-M.: Nauka, 1977.

I. Viduetskaya. A. Chekhov and His Publisher A. Marx / I. Viduetskaya; edit. L Opulskaya.-M.: Nauka, 1977.

B. Singerman. Essays on the 20th-century Drama History: Chekhov, Strindberg, Ibsen, Maeterlinck, Pirandello, Brecht, Hauptmann, Lorka, Anui / B. Zingerman; edit. A. Anikst.-M.: Nauka, 1979.

Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy / edit. A. Anikst.-M.: Nauka, 1980.

A. Chekhov. Materials of the Literary Museum of the Pushkin House, USSR Academy of Sciences / comp. I. Grudininaetal.-L.: Nauka, Leningrad Branch, 1982.

M. Mirsky. Doctor Chekhov /M. Mirsky; Institute of History of Natural Science and Technology named after S. Vavilov, Russian Academy of Sciences. -M.: Nauka, 2003.

E. Polotskaya. "The Cherry Orchard": Life in Time/edit. V. Katayev.-M.: Nauka, 2004.

Complete Works is significant. Thus, in Vol. 1 it totaled 110 pages in small print to 484 pages of the authorial text, and 185 to 275 pages, respectively, in Vol. 2.

The Academy of Sciences, in practical terms, has been publishing only Complete Works of Chekhov as a rule. Only twice has it brought out his works apiece, such as At Dusk: Essays and Stories (1986) and The Steppe: the History of One Journey (1995), in the world-famous series Literary Monuments.

As a matter of fact, the Literary Monuments series was founded in 1948 with the active support of Academician Sergey Vavilov, President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Academician Dmitry Likhachev was president of the editorial board of this series, with B. Yegorov and Academician A. Samsonov as vice-presidents. The aim was to acquaint readership with the great literary, historical, philosophical, ethical and sociopolitical book monuments of peoples the world over, characteristic of a given type of culture. In D. Likhachev's words, it embodied the world literary process and instilled respect for all epochs and their values; all this is significant to us, too.

A collection of Chekhov's essays and short stories At Dusk was prepared for this series by G. Berdnikov (executive editor) and A. Grishunin. It reproduced the first edition of this collection published by A. Suvorin in St. Petersburg in 1887. This work merited a Pushkin Prize of the Academy of Sciences in 1888.

The other Chekhovian work published singly by the Academy of Sciences was The Steppe, illuminated with woodcuts and drawings of V Kanashevich (1888-1963). This edition was prepared for the press by M. Gromov and I. Ptushkin, executive editor. The editorial board of the series attached special significance to The Steppe as a truly literary monument that, in Academician Likhachev's words, "anticipated the prose of the 20th century." D. Likhachev was honorary president of the editorial board of the series, its president was PhD B. Yegorov, and vice-president, Academician N. Balashov.

Academy of Sciences publications include a significant body of material on the writer's lifework, his impact on world literature and the theater, and on his biography. Two volumes of the ongoing editions of the Literary Heritage devoted to Chekhov and of the Chekhoviana series deserve special mention.

Literary Heritage was founded by I. Silberstein and S. Makashin in 1931. Their idea was to study and familiarize readership with extensive and deep bonds between Russian literature and world culture, including the perception of works of major Russian authors abroad, as reflected in reviews and evidentiary materials.

Vol. 68, out in 1960, was timed for the Chekhov birth centennial anniversary celebrated worldwide by UNESCO's decision. This volume featured Chekhov's unknown works and manuscripts, newfound and fragmentary letters, autographs on books and photos, reminiscences about Chekhov,  his trips and life abroad, among other things. Included in the volume were 205 illustrations.

Considering the expanding influence of Chekhov on world literature and various ethnocultural environments, the 100th volume of Literary Heritage was published in two volumes in 1997. Titled "Chekhov and World Culture", it incorporated a vast body of documentary material on the role of Chekhov the prose writer and dramatist in the progress of world literature and the theater in the 20th century.

The Chekhoviana series has been published by Nauka under the aegis of the RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture" since 1990. The Chekhov Commission set up by the Academic Council's decision of December 24, 1987, is preparing this series for the press. Taking part have been scholars from the Gorky Institute of World Literature, Moscow State University and other institutions.

The first book in the series Chekhoviana: Articles, Publications, Essays (embracing different spheres and genres of Chekhovian scholarship in this and other countries) was off the press in 1990. By now 11 books have been brought out, including Chekhov and France (1992), Chekhov and 20th-century Culture (1993), Chekhov and the "Silver Age" (1996), Chekhov and Pushkin (1998), From the Twentieth to the Twenty-First Century: Results and Expectations (2007), among other books. The editorial board has been headed by executive editors V Lakshin, A. Turkov, A. Chudakov, V Katayev, V. Gulchenko and M. Goryacheva, each responsible for one particular volume.

Some publications on Chekhov and his work have been contributed by academic institutes and councils and brought out by Nauka: Chekhovian Poetics, In Chekhov's Creative Workshop, Chekhov and His Time, Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy (Gorky Institute of World Literature); A. Chekhov: Materials of the Literary Museum of the Pushkin House (Institute of Russian Literature); Doctor Chekhov by M. Mirsky (Vavilov Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology); The Cherry Orchard: Life in Time by E. Polotskaya (RAS Academic Council "History of World Culture" and its Chekhov Commission), among many other publications.

The interest in Chekhov will never wane. Therefore, Chekhovian scholarly studies shall be carried on even on completion of the present editorial project.