ABSTRACT
Why do the people in this masterpiece of poetic drama seem so real to us?. . . because Chekhov leaves so much of their history vague and inconclusive. We pick up fragments of their story as we go along, but what we know of them is always much less than what we do not know. Though they speak persistently of themselves, and of their feelings, they remain mysteries. But living mysteries that always seem to be true because they never seem to be finite. It is in this taking truth for granted that much of the mastery of Chekhov lies.
