Access: http://chekhbul.com/
The site of the North American Chekhov Society is being managed from the University of Toronto.
Links on the site lead to articles of interest, as well as several videos of the staging of Chekhov’s plays (including the contribution of Monty Python). Also linked to is the site of the Anton Chekhov Foundation (a British organization), which provides, among others, information on the Chekhov museum in Yalta.
Most importantly, however, there is an archive of the past issues of the bulletin, dating back to 2004, which are downloadable in PDF format, and which provide a scholar with a wealth of the latest Chekhov criticism.
If you expect to study Chekhov for a longer period of time, you may wish to simply subscribe to the bulletin, so that you are alerted when the new issues of the Bulletin come out.
The Website for ДОМ-МУЗЕЙ А.П. ЧЕХОВА can be found at http://chekhov-yalta.org/ru/index.html, where users will find information about the museum, including information about expositions, a library catalog (materials are listed alphabetically by title), and a photogallery;about A.P. Chekhov, his family and career, including a photoalbum and a virtual tour of the library; the third tab from the left contains a calendar of events for the museum, and highlights one of the pieces from the museum's expositions.
Although the site indicates that the contents are available both in English and Russian, clicking on "English" only directs the user to the (Russian-language) home page, which details the history of Белaя дача.
The Чехов Антон Павлович website, located at http://www.antonchehov.ru/, includes full text of selected works by the author; a biography; a photogallery with images of A.P. Chekhov; a listing and description of Chekhov Museums across the world, including places such as Ukraine, Germany, and Shri Lanka.
The Website http://www.anton-chehov.info/ includes among other things, biographical information, a page with a listing of various Chekhov monuments, and a page with many links to other Websites about Chekhov.
The Encyclopedia Britannica entry for Anton Chekhov http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/108392/Anton-Chekhov contains several pages of information: page 1, Introduction; p.2, Literary Maturity; p.3, Melikhovo Period, 1892-98; p.4 Yalta Period, 1898-1904; p.5, Bibliography; p.6, Supplemental Information.
The bibliography section includes a listing and description of English language bibliographies about Chekhov and his career.
There are many online, scholarly databases which are accessible through the UIUC Library webpage, by clicking on "Online Journals & Databases"
Or click on the link below, called "Databases by Subject" to see a list of subjects, and click on "Literature" for a listing of databases for literary topics.
A good place to start searching for materials on Chekhov is American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (ABSEES).
ABSEES returns around 400 results for "Chekhov" if the search is limited by subject.
After performing a search, if you decide you want to limit the results further, EBSCO gives the option of "refining your results," including limiting the publication date, source type, and subject heading.
On the Website http://chehov.niv.ru/, users can find biographic articles (including a brief autobiography), photographs, background information about his family members, information on various museums about Chekhov, and listings of contemporaries who mentioned A.P. Chekhov in their memoirs (as well as excerpts from the memoirs), all under the heading "О Чехове" on the left-side menu; the full text of many of Chekhov's works (in Russian) are linked under the heading "Произведения;" the section "Документалистика" includes things such as publications and articles, notes, and letters written by Chekhov (the letters are arranged chronologically and by name of recipient); the heading "Разное" serves as the "other resources" category.
Citations for the resources being viewed are in the upper right-hand corner of each page; see the example below.
YouTube can be a great source of information, especially when looking for clips of plays or movies. Chekhov is a popular topic and author but there are certain problems with finding videos on YouTube. Some of the titles of Chekhov's plays are generic nouns, so it is important to narrow a search down, for example using The Seagull and Chekhov as search terms. Do not forget to conduct a search using Russian Cyrillic characters as well as other transliteration systems to make sure the search is thorough.
You Tube provides viewers with a whole channel for Anton Chekhov, which was automatically generated by YouTube. This channel is a good place to start in searching for videos, but is by no means exhaustive.
Below are a few examples of videos on YouTube of stage productions and film adaptations of Chekhov's work--there are many, many more.
Web Browser note: Please use Internet Explorer and Google Chrome to view the video.
Access: http://chekhoved.ru/
This significant and authoritative website is maintained by the Chekhov Commission, which was founded in 1987 by the Council on World Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Commission gathers together Chekhov specialists from universities and libraries, as well as writers, directors, actors, and artists who are united by work on Chekhov’s oeuvre. It coordinates the work of researchers working on Chekhov themes in Russia and other countries. The Commission also organizes international conferences, provides support in staging of Chekhov’s plays and film adaptations, supports Chekhov museums, and basically assists with all things Chekhov.
The website provides access to important, often rare and hard to access, publications on Chekhov. It also serves as a forum for communication among Chekhov scholars, who can exchange information on upcoming events and latest research, contribute to blogs, etc. To add information to the website researchers can use the email address: chekhoved.ru@gmail.com In order to post directly to the site blogs, obtaining a login and password is necessary.
The site alo provides a convenient overview of the current and upcoming events connected with Chekhov research, as well as links to selected locations on the web devoted to the author. It also makes available materials that have been selected to aid those who teach Chekhov. There is also a convenient link to the complete works of Chekhov on Feb-Web, information on relevant museums, and more.
The Fundamental Digital Library of Russian Literature and Folklore, or Фундаментальная электронная библиотека "Русская литература и фольклор" (ФЭБ), has been online since July 2002. It is maintained by the Russian Academy of Sciences' Gorky Institute of World Literature. On the main website, http://www.feb-web.ru, users will find on the left-hand menu a box titled "Literature and Folklore," under which there are subsections by time period and author.
Clicking on the "XIX century" link brings up the following menu:
The entry for Chekhov is the last name on the left-hand column. By clicking on his name, the user will be directed to the FEB-web entry for Chekhov.
The "ЭНИ 'Чехов'" section gives an overview of the layout of the contents within the Chekhov section, which includes his works, encyclopedic entries, research, and literature about Chekhov's work and career. Each of the links below the top ENI "Chekhov" entry lead to full-text contents of the titles listed.
By clicking on the word links, the user is directed to a description of the contents, but by clicking on the box with a "+" to the left of the titles, a breakdown of the contents with links to citations to the works (boxes with dots in the middle) or links to the the full text (more boxes with "+" signs inside) will be revealed. Each of the subsequent headings with a small page icon is a full text document which can be viewed on the webpage.
It is important to note that only by clicking on the box with the "+" will the dropdown list of links to text or citations be revealed.
Since many older versions of Chekhov's works are no longer under copyright restrictions, University of Adelaide (in Australia) has provided a page with the full-text of most of Chekhov's works in English translation here http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/chekhov/anton/index.html. The works are posted completely without the use of Digital Rights Management technologies, so content is fully accessable. Users may download, print, view online, or view on an e-reader device (such as Kindle or iPad).
Starting with two biographical sketches, Chekhov's works are divided into sections; first are plays, then novellas, short stories, short story collections, "miscellaneous sketches" (none of which are currently available, and last are letters from Chekhov to his family and friends. All of the sections have the works arranged in chronological order. Within the section of letters, the user will find the list organized alphabetically by recipient.
For tips on citing books, plays, and other workds from their website, or sections of works, there is a helpful FAQ page, which addresses these topics, and gives example citations.
Other websites with full-text English translations of Chekhov's works include:
- "The Online Books Page: Online Books by Anton Chekhov" University of Pennsylvania provides links to the full text of books and plays by Chekhov. (When one is directed to Hathi Trust Digital Library, there is a link at the bottom of the item record, under the heading of "Viewability;" click on the "Full View" link to view online or download the work.)
- "201 Stories by Anton Chekhov" http://www.eldritchpress.org/ac/jr/index.htm
- "The Literature Network: Anton Chekhov" http://www.online-literature.com/anton_chekhov/ (A listing of fictions, plays, and short stories is on the left side of the website.)
The University of Toronto Robarts Library Collection has many materials scanned for viewing online. At the bottom of the Robarts Library webpage, the user will find a search box:
By searching for "Chekhov," 47 results of records for select works about Chekhov and by the author; the scanned documents are available in full text online through the archive.
Each item record is located on the right-hand side of the page; information provided may include most or all of the following: subject headings; author; publisher name and place; language of the book; and book contributor (library, collection location, and call number).
The box on the left side of the page called "View the Book" (as seen to the left, here) allows the user to view the entire contents of the books on the web browser, or by downloading the downloa PDF or other versions of the documents. Simply click on the version you wish to view. The "Full Text" option may cause script-reading errors, so users who prefer to read that version may have to change their internet or language settings to view the web version.
The Большая Советская Энциклопедия online contains many articles from the famous encyclopedia, and is most easily searched by following the links in the center column of the website, since the directory on the left will lead the user to other resources. The БСЭ entry for Chekhov can be most easily found by clicking on this link http://bse.sci-lib.com/article122219.html, or by following the steps below to navigate the website:
At the bottom of the main page, under the section heading "Слова и Иллюстрации в Большой Советской Эенциклопедии,БСЭ:" click on the letter "Ч."
Next users are directed to a page with options to view articles or illustrations, by clicking on the "Че" ...
Ч(symbol) ЧА ЧБ ЧВ ЧГ ЧД ЧЕ ЧЁ ЧЖ ЧЗ ЧИ ЧЙ ЧК ЧЛ ЧМ ЧН ЧО ЧП ЧР ЧС ЧТ ЧУ ЧФ ЧХ ЧЦ ЧЧ ЧШ ЧЩ ЧЪ ЧЫ ЧЬ ЧЭ ЧЮ ЧЯ
After clicking the "Че," close to the bottom of the page the user will find the link to the entry for Chekhov (highlighted below).
