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Try to be original in your play and as clever as possible;
but don’t be afraid to show yourself foolish; we must have freedom
of thinking, and only he is an emancipated thinker who is not
afraid to write foolish things. Don’t round things out, don’t
polish–but be awkward and impudent. Brevity is the sister of
talent. Remember, by the way, that declarations of love, the
infidelity of husbands and wives; widows’, orphans’, and all
other tears, have long since been written up. The subject ought
to be new, but there need be no "fable." And the main
thing is–father and mother must eat. Write. Flies purify the
air, and plays–the morals.
Back to Anton
Chekhov
¹ Anton
Chekhov, Letters on the Short Story, the Drama and other Literary
Topics, selected and edited by Louis S. Friedland (New York:
Minton, Balch & Co., 1924), pp. 170-80. |
