Chekhov, (1860～1904)
The great Russian critical realist writer at the end of the 19th century, a master of humorous satire with meaningful taste and sharp writing style, a master of short stories, and a famous dramatist writer.
Chekhov was born in a philistine family. After his father's grocery store went bankrupt, he worked as a tutor to finish high school. In 1879, he entered Moscow University to study medicine. After graduating in 1884, he practiced medicine and began literary creation.
Most of his early works were short stories, such as "The Fat Man and the Thin Man" (1883), "The Death of a Civil Servant" (1883), "Trouble" (1886), (Wanka) (1886) , reproduces the misfortune and weakness of the "little people", the miserable life of the working people and the vulgarity of the small citizens. In "Chameleon" and "Sergeant Prishibeev" (1885), the author whipped the slaves who loyally maintained the tyranny and their arrogant, violent and ugly faces, revealing the reactionary spiritual characteristics of the dark ages. In 1890, after he visited Sakhalin, a place where political prisoners were exiled, he created works that expressed major social issues, such as "The Sixth Ward" (1892), which violently criticized the tyranny of the Tsar. This novel made Lenin even more excited after reading it. Very shaken. "The House with an Attic" (1896) exposed the destruction of people's youth, talent, and happiness by Tsarist Russian society, and satirized the futility of the reformist activities of the liberal Zemstvos. "Peasants" (1897) very realistically describes the extremely poor living conditions of farmers in the 1980s and 1990s, showing his concern and sympathy for the tragic fate of farmers, while "In the Canyon" exposes the vicious exploitation of rich peasants and reflects the reality of capital. The penetration of socialism into the countryside shows that the author included the performance of class struggle in Russian society as the theme of his creation. In "The Bride" (1903), he believed that the old system must perish and the new "life will come sooner or later!"
Chekhov later turned to drama creation. His main works include "Ivanov" (1887), "The Seagull" (1896), "Uncle Vanya" (1896), "Three Sisters" (1901), and The Cherry Orchard. (1903), all of which tortuously reflected the anguish and pursuit of some petty bourgeois intellectuals on the eve of the 1905 Russian Revolution. His plays contain a strong lyrical flavor and rich subtext, which are endlessly memorable. Although the story in the script is based on daily life, the plot is simple and the progress is smooth, it is full of profound symbolic significance.
His novels are short and concise, simple and simple, with compact structure, vivid plots, humorous writing style, bright language, full of musical rhythm and profound meaning. He was good at discovering people and things of typical significance from daily life, making artistic summaries through humorous plots, and creating complete typical images to reflect the Russian society at that time. His representative works "The Chameleon" and "The Man in the Trap" can be called exquisite and perfect artistic treasures in the history of Russian literature. The former has become synonymous with those who adapt to the wind, are good at disguise, and opportunistic; the latter has become the symbol of those who are conservative, timid, and afraid of change. Symbol symbolism.
With his outstanding talent for satirical humor, Chekhov added two immortal artistic images to the gallery of world literary figures. His famous saying "Simplicity is the sister of genius" has also become a motto pursued by later writers.
Chekhov had beautiful feelings for the Chinese people and once asked Gorky to visit China with him, but his wish failed due to a long illness. He died on July 15, 1904 due to worsening lung disease.
Voynich (1864～1960) British female writer. His father, George Poole, was a famous mathematician. Voynich studied in Italy in his early years. In 1885, she graduated from the Berlin Conservatory of Music in Germany. She spent two years in Russia, where she came into contact with the Volya Volya members of the Petersburg revolutionary group Russian Populist Party and actively participated in their activities. She risked her life to visit revolutionaries imprisoned by the Tsar and sent propaganda between Russia and Britain. These works accumulated a large amount of first-hand information for her future literary creation. After returning to England, she met M. L. Voynich, a Polish revolutionary who had escaped from the Tsarist penal colony, and married him in 1892. During this period, she also met famous figures such as Engels, Herzen, and Plekhanov. In addition to continuing to maintain contact with the Popular People's Party, she also came into contact with a large number of Italian Party members through her husband's relationship. Out of admiration for the dedication of these revolutionaries, she was determined to write a book that reflected their struggling lives. "The Gadfly" came out in 1897. Later, she also wrote novels such as "Gadfly in Exile" with similar themes, but their ideological content and artistic achievements were inferior to "Gadfly". Voynich immigrated to the United States in his later years, turned to music creation, and died in a lonely and secluded life.
Edmondo De Amicis (Edmondo De Amicis) was born in Onelia, Italy in 1846. After attending high school in Turin, he continued his studies at a military academy in Modena. The training methods of military academies had a great impact on the formation of his outlook on life and world view. In the days that followed, he always believed that it was the only way for him to learn how to discipline himself and how to get along with others before entering society. This can be seen in many of his works.
De Amicis's writing career is also inseparable from his military complex.
His first book, La vita militare (Military Life), published in 1868, was based on his personal experiences at the Battle of Custoza. At that time, he was a lieutenant in the war. During the break of the war, he recorded his experiences in the form of stories, which later became an important part of the book "Military Life". It was the success of this book that aroused his great enthusiasm for creation, which led him to continue on the road of literature and news reporting, becoming a professional writer for "1aNazione", a publication in Florence, Italy. .
"The Education of Love" is the most famous work of Edmundo de Amicis. It is as famous as "Promessi Sposi" (Promessi Sposi) by the famous Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni, and is known as one of the ten must-read novels for modern Italians; at the same time, among Italians In my mind, it is also one of the ten greatest Italian novels of the nineteenth century.
This is a children's literature work for educational purposes. It promotes great patriotism: it praises the noble feelings of unity and friendship between people; it encourages people to eliminate class concepts and strive to achieve mutual respect and equality among people of all classes in daily interactions. Until the 1950s, "Education of Love" had been an indispensable and important part of the growth process of teenagers throughout Italy.
The protagonist of the novel, Enrico, is an Italian boy who has just entered the fourth grade of elementary school. He was born in an intellectual family with no worries about food and clothing. Due to the huge influence of his father, he is diligent in his studies, sincere and friendly in life, and is an excellent middle-class boy. In the book, from a child's visual perspective and in the form of a diary, he recorded every detail of what happened in his life throughout the school year. Although the campus is the stage for most of the stories in the book, we can see a microcosm of the entire Italy at that time from such a small window. De Rossi, who is both good at academics, and Votini, who is proud and arrogant, were both born in the wealthy middle class. The former is sincere, simple and approachable, while the latter is arrogant and arrogant. As a representative of civilian students, Garrone And Croxi, one has a clear sense of right and wrong, dares to fight against evil, and is a hero in the hearts of the weak; the other is lively and cute, helping his parents shoulder the burden of life at a young age. If Garofi's business knowledge and cleverness make people laugh, then Franti's cold heart and ugly face will make everyone who reads this book look down upon him. Although the author used simple and plain brushstrokes to outline the images of these children, which were hundreds of years different from the era we live in, they seem to be really living around us. Perhaps this is the real reason why this book has not been forgotten by people for decades.