SOURCE: Rayfield, Donald. “The Seagull.” In his Understanding Chekhov: A Critical Study of Chekhov's Prose and Drama, pp. 135-49. Madison: University Press of Wisconsin, 1999.

In the following essay, Rayfield puts Chekhov into historical context to explain the importance of his plays, particularly The Seagull, to the evolution of the theater.

To understand what made Chekhov's plays of such importance to European theatre, we must look at developments—apart from accidents of history—in a European context. Chekhov's reading was unexpectedly varied. In the 1890s he became familiar not only with Hauptmann and Ibsen, but also with Strindberg (Miss Julie in a manuscript translation by Shavrova) and with Maeterlinck (during his 1897-8 stay in Nice). New drama took over Europe's theatres as melodrama and opera yielded. Beginning with Hauptmann's Lonely People Chekhov was drawn into a stream of innovation. The pull must have been strong to overcome the trauma...