ABSTRACT
The year 1892, in which Chekhov moved to Melikhovo, can conveniently be regarded as a literary as well as a biographical turning-point. The period which begins in 1892 shows, apart from a higher literary standard, the emergence of an approach to fiction which was new, though it had been latent in Chekhov for some years. He began to abandon the approach of a comparatively dispassionate observer, and to handle his stories in a manner more consistent with the demands of those who looked to fiction for a comment on life. After stating a general philosophical position in Ward No. 6, Chekhov descended to a more specific level in many of the stories which followed. Among the special problems of Russian society which he illustrated, the first to be considered is the rise of capitalism, on which his chief contributions are contained in three important stories: A Woman’s Kingdom , Three Years and A Doctor’s Visit.
