Originally published in 1898 and performed for the first time in Moscow in 1899, “Uncle Vanya” is widely considered one of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s most important dramas. It is the tale of the visit of Serebryakov, a retired professor and his new, young wife, Yelena, to the rural estate that had belonged to Serebyrakov’s late first wife and that supports the couple in their urban lifestyle. The estate is run by Serebryakov’s adult unmarried daughter, Sonia, and her Uncle Vanya, brother to the late first wife. Essentially a reworking of another Chekhov play from a decade earlier, “The Wood Demon”, “Uncle Vanya” is a melancholic study in bitterness and regret as the characters reflect on their respective failures to accomplish their lives’ ambitions. Tensions and resentments boil over and Uncle Vanya is pushed to his breaking point when Serebryakov considers selling the estate so he may put the money in more lucrative investments with no thought to the lives he will displace in the process. A classic tragicomedy, “Uncle Vanya” has been praised as one of Chekhov’s most important plays ever since its first performance and continues to be revered and studied to this day. This edition follows the translation of Marian Fell and includes a biographical afterword.
