Four Plays and Three Jokes

This volume offers lively and accurate translations of Chekhov's major plays and one-acts (complete contents listed below) along with a superb Introduction focused on the plays' remarkably enduring power to elicit the most widely divergent of responses, the life of the playwright in its historical and aesthetic contexts, suggestions for reading the plays "under a microscope," and notes designed to bring Chekhov's world into immediate focus—everything needed to examine his drama with fresh eyes and on its own artistic terms. Three Jokes: The Bear, The Proposal, The Anniversary. The Major Plays: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard.

SKU
26907g

Anton Chekhov
Translated, with an Introduction and Notes, by Sharon Marie Carnicke

2009 - 348 pp.

Grouped product items
Format ISBN Price Qty
Cloth (no dust jacket) 978-0-87220-998-5
$35.00
Paper 978-0-87220-997-8
$13.00
Instructor Examination (Review) Copy 978-0-87220-997-8
$3.00

eBook available for $11.50. Click HERE for more information.

This volume offers lively and accurate translations of Chekhov's major plays and one-acts (complete contents listed below) along with a superb Introduction focused on the plays' remarkably enduring power to elicit the most widely divergent of responses, the life of the playwright in its historical and aesthetic contexts, suggestions for reading the plays "under a microscope," and notes designed to bring Chekhov's world into immediate focus—everything needed to examine his drama with fresh eyes and on its own artistic terms.

 

Reviews:

"Carnicke treats Chekhov as a riddle that is solvable only if we understand his career as a humorist. Her decision to juxtapose Chekhov's great dramas with his earlier light farces is purposeful, as the thrust behind her translations and excellent introduction is not only to introduce the reader to Chekhov's early humorous works, but to bring out crucial comic elements in his later ones.
    "Her introduction functions as an essential primer for any student on the works of Chekhov. Its thorough exploration of Chekhov's idiosyncratic use of language is a godsend for directors and performers of English-language productions of these plays.
    "A theatre director and performer herself, Carnicke pays close attention to the details of Chekhov's language, and her translations are geared toward live performance with speech ready-made for the stage. She retains the sense of the originals but adapts them in a colloquial English that is utterly performable.
    "Carnicke's collection is the quintessential starting point for any serious performer of Chekhov, not only because of the playable translations, most of which have already been tested on stage, but for its engaging and enlightening introduction. The volume represents a momentous step toward ridding the American stage of stodgy and dour productions of Chekhov's masterpieces."
     —Brian Johnson, Swarthmore College, condensed from Translation Review 82

 

"These new translations read smoothly and display fidelity to the original. Carnicke has aimed to find a middle path between versions that are too colloquial and versions that sound stilted or too formal to the American ear and has succeeded."
     —Julian W. Connolly, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Virginia

 

"Carnicke's translation of Three Sisters shows her background in the Slavic field to good advantage. Chekhov doesn't emerge as 'the voice of Twilight Russia,' or anything mawkish at all, as he sometimes does, but as a sharp-eyed watcher of some very silly people. Carnicke understands Chekhov and understands Russia."
     —Robert L. Belknap, Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages, Columbia University

 

"Carnicke's Cherry Orchard is direct, easily accessible to young American students and mercifully free of all that blather that mucks up so much of the other versions that I know."
     —James Parker, Late Professor of Theatre, Virginia Commonwealth University

 

"[A]n excellent and very reasonably priced Chekhov anthology. The best feature is the quality of the translations. Carnicke is a renowned scholar of the Russian language, Chekhov, and Stanislavsky. Her translations of the plays are clear, understandable, and extremely actable. They avoid the "stuffiness" of older translations and the excessive "contemporariness" of adaptations like those of Mamet. These translations draw us into Chekhov's world, instead of dragging him into ours.
     "On top of that, this volume has excellent ancillary materials. There's a pronunciation guide to the difficult Russian names and extensive annotations for each script explaining things mentioned in the script. The introduction provides valuable biographical and historical material. I can't wait to use this book in class."
     —Michael King, Northern Kentucky University

 

"[B]eautifully captures the world of Chekhov that continually teeters between human folly and dignified but poignant heartbreak.  I cannot imagine a better compilation to introduce actors to Chekhov and one that allows for a continued deepening of their understanding."
     —Mary-Joan Negro, School of Theatre, University of Southern California

 

Critical Acclaim for Productions of the Carnicke Translations


"The last time I reviewed a production of The Seagull, it broke my heart. This time, I understood why Chekhov called it 'a comedy in four acts.' Carnicke's new translation highlights Chekhov's bitter humor."
     —Sandra Knipe, The Evansville Press

 

"Carnicke makes Chekhov immediately accessible to modern audiences."
     —Emory Lewis, The Record

 

"Carnicke's text for Three Sisters is faithful to the spirit underlying each line and entirely avoids the awkwardness that cripples most English versions of Chekhov."
     —Eileen Blumenthal, The Village Voice

 

Contents:

Acknowledgments
Notes on the Translations
Source and Transliterations
Money and Measures
Russian Names
Pronunciation
Introduction: The Riddle of Chekhov the Playwright

Three Jokes

  • The Bear
  • The Proposal
  • The Anniversary

The Major Plays

  • The Seagull
  • Uncle Vanya
  • Three Sisters
  • The Cherry Orchard

A Selected Bibliography in English

 

About the Author:

Sharon Marie Carnicke is Professor of Theatre and Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Southern California. She is the author of Stanislavsky in Focus (Routledge) and, with Cynthia Baron, Reframing Screen Performance (University of Michigan Press).