Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian playwright and short story writer. For the GRE Literature exam, he's mostly referenced as a playwright, but sometimes the fact that his stories included early experiments in stream-of-consciousness shows up.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Anton Chekhov. Read each linked plot summary at least once.

1. The Seagull (1896)
-Irina Arkadina (fading leading lady); Konstantin Treplyov (experimental playwright); Trigorin (famous middlebrow fiction author)
-Strong intertextual relationship with Hamlet

2. The Three Sisters (1901)
-Olga, Masha, Irina, & Andrey Prozorov
-Left stranded in a provincial backwater after the death of their father, a General; starts on the first anniversary of his death

3. The Cherry Orchard (1904)
-Lyubov Ranevskaya, adopted daughter Varya & daughter Anya; nobility in decline; lack of money; family cherry orchard sold

4. "The Lady with the Dog" (1899, short story)
-Adultery in Yalta between young married woman and banker on vacation.

Chekhov may be worth adding to your GRE reading list--his plays are short, and you're almost guaranteed to get a Chekhov question or two on the exam. I recommend Chekhov: The Major Plays, which has all three plays above in one volume.