The Seagull, Anton Chekhov - James M. Curtis (essay date spring 1972)
James M. Curtis (essay date spring 1972)
SOURCE: Curtis, James M. “Spatial Form in Drama: The Seagull.” Canadian-American Slavic Studies 6, no. 1 (spring 1972): 13-37.
[In the following essay, Curtis highlights Chekhov's contribution to modernism as exemplified by The Seagull.]
INTRODUCTION
Roger Shattuck's The Banquet Years. The Origins of the Avant Garde, 1885 to World War I says much to anyone who wishes to understand the nature of modernism. By treating in detail the interrelated careers of Alfred Jarry, Henri Rousseau, Erik Satie, and Guillaume Apollinaire, he conveys a vivid sense of the atmosphere of Paris during the rise of modernism (and certainly makes anyone interested in Russia realize how much we need a comparable book on St. Petersburg in the same period). More important for the present essay, Shattuck concludes his book with a cogent extended definition of the nature of modernist art. He puts the...
[The entire page is 11334 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
