Chekhov's Memories

Chekhov was perfectly aware that he wrote out of his memories. He said: "I can only write from my memories, and I have never written directly from nature. The subject must first seep through my memory, leaving as in a filter only what is important and typical." We know some of the memories which were later shaped into stories, and it is instructive to observe what he took from them and what he left out. (From Robert Payne, The Image of Chekhov: Forty Stories by Anton Chekhov in the Order in Which They Were Written)