Bergson, Henri "Laughter," in Comedy, edited by Wyhe Sypher, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1956.

Bergson's essay is included with George Meredith's "An Essay on Comedy" and appendix essay, "The Meanings of Comedy," by editor Sypher The collection is an excellent source for ideas on the nature of the comic

Bruford, W. H. Chekhov and His Russia: A Sociological

Study, Archon Books (Hamden, CT), 1971

Relates Chekhov's work to Russia's social structure, with a discussion of the various groups, including the merchants, landowners, intelligentsia, and the peasants; a very useful background study for The Cherry Orchard.

Fergusson, Francis. The Idea of a Theater. A Study of Ten

Plays, Princeton University Press, 1972

A highly regarded and influential introduction to theater, this study relates the structure of The Cherry Orchard to classical tragedy

Hahn, Beverly. Chekhov: A Study of the Major Stories and Plays, Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Although a general study...