Chekhov, the Doctor as Dramatist: A Study of the Four Major Plays

Studying the relationship of Chekhov\u27s being a doctor to his being a dramatist reveals one reason for the scientific objectivity in his writing. Moreover, extensive reading of his letters and notes as well as careful readings of his plays leaves little doubt that he himself considered that his career as a doctor had a great impact on the plays he created. Chekhov felt that a writer must not beautify reality or gloss over it but carefully present it as it is. He wrote that the writer must renounce subjectivity and report the grime of life along with the good; he suggested that, no matter how unpleasant the task might be, the writer must realize that dungheaps are no less a necessary part in a landscape than the scenic beauty. Briefly, he was convinced that the dramatist should dispassionately witness life, record it honestly, and not judge any part of it. Chekhov set himself to give an accurate picture of all of Russian life by delving to its very core. No iota of Russian life escaped his discerning vision as he studied the relationship between will and environment, freedom and necessity, and man\u27s character and his fate. As he pursued this theme through ordinary, pedestrian characters, Chekhov revealed his judgement against cruelty, greed, hypocrisy, against whatever degrades man and prevents him from achieving full stature. Chekhov was most illuminating when he wrote about doctors, whom he considered moral people, for they do useful work. Being a doctor himself, he was able to draw insightful portraits of them--exploiting their shortcomings as well as their virtues. His doctors are fallible human beings first and doctors only second. Chekhov\u27s doctors were helpless to cure their patients, for most suffered from soul sickness rather than actual physical ailments. To him, soul sickness was largely a matter of self-indulgence and the essential result of individual and societal bumbling. It is only through suffering that his characters can become of service to society. Chekhov believed that the pain of existence could not be overcome although it might be eased. He carefully presented his characters in a state natural to themselves and, in so doing, revealed some of his own admirable personality traits, such as his strong belief in conservation. The key to Chekhov\u27s objectivity is his sensibility to the fact that one\u27s own fate, plus his mistakes, bound with the threads of one\u27s environment, education, heredity, and thousands of circumstantial happenings determine the life of a man. The consciousness that man is created for great things forced Chekhov to deal with everyday pettiness in order to show how incompatible man\u27s daily existence is with his inherent possibilities. Chekhov\u27s not being a typical, traditional turn-of-the-century playwright accounts for much of his success today. He did not write to please the critics or the masses, but to satisfy that within himself which said he must portray life as it really is

Chekhov, the Doctor as Dramatist: A Study of the Four Major Plays

Studying the relationship of Chekhov\u27s being a doctor to his being a dramatist reveals one reason for the scientific objectivity in his writing. Moreover, extensive reading of his letters and notes as well as careful readings of his plays leaves little doubt that he himself considered that his career as a doctor had a great impact on the plays he created. Chekhov felt that a writer must not beautify reality or gloss over it but carefully present it as it is. He wrote that the writer must renounce subjectivity and report the grime of life along with the good; he suggested that, no matter how unpleasant the task might be, the writer must realize that dungheaps are no less a necessary part in a landscape than the scenic beauty. Briefly, he was convinced that the dramatist should dispassionately witness life, record it honestly, and not judge any part of it. Chekhov set himself to give an accurate picture of all of Russian life by delving to its very core. No iota of Russian life escaped his discerning vision as he studied the relationship between will and environment, freedom and necessity, and man\u27s character and his fate. As he pursued this theme through ordinary, pedestrian characters, Chekhov revealed his judgement against cruelty, greed, hypocrisy, against whatever degrades man and prevents him from achieving full stature. Chekhov was most illuminating when he wrote about doctors, whom he considered moral people, for they do useful work. Being a doctor himself, he was able to draw insightful portraits of them--exploiting their shortcomings as well as their virtues. His doctors are fallible human beings first and doctors only second. Chekhov\u27s doctors were helpless to cure their patients, for most suffered from soul sickness rather than actual physical ailments. To him, soul sickness was largely a matter of self-indulgence and the essential result of individual and societal bumbling. It is only through suffering that his characters can become of service to society. Chekhov believed that the pain of existence could not be overcome although it might be eased. He carefully presented his characters in a state natural to themselves and, in so doing, revealed some of his own admirable personality traits, such as his strong belief in conservation. The key to Chekhov\u27s objectivity is his sensibility to the fact that one\u27s own fate, plus his mistakes, bound with the threads of one\u27s environment, education, heredity, and thousands of circumstantial happenings determine the life of a man. The consciousness that man is created for great things forced Chekhov to deal with everyday pettiness in order to show how incompatible man\u27s daily existence is with his inherent possibilities. Chekhov\u27s not being a typical, traditional turn-of-the-century playwright accounts for much of his success today. He did not write to please the critics or the masses, but to satisfy that within himself which said he must portray life as it really is

A Robust Determination of the Time Delay in 0957+561A,B and a Measurement of the Global Value of Hubble's Constant

Photometric monitoring of the gravitational lens system 0957+561A,B in the g and r bands with the Apache Point Observatory (APO) 3.5 m telescope during 1996 shows a sharp g band event in the trailing (B) image light curve at the precise time predicted from the observation of an event during 1995 in the leading (A) image with a delay of 415 days. This success confirms the "short delay," and the lack of any feature at a delay near 540 days rejects the "long delay" for this system, resolving a long-standing controversy. A series of statistical analyses of our light curve data yield a best fit delay of 417 +/- 3 days (95% confidence interval). Recent improvements in the modeling of the lens system (consisting of a galaxy and cluster) allow us to derive a value of the global (at z = 0.36) value of Hubble's constant H_0 using Refsdal's method, a simple and direct distance determination based on securely understood physics and geometry. The result is H_0 = 63 +/- 12 km/s/Mpc (for Omega = 1) where this 95% confidence interval is dominated by remaining lens model uncertainties.Comment: accepted by ApJ, AASTeX 4.0 preprint, 4 PostScript figure

The Vehicle, Fall 1980

Vol. 22, No. 1 Table of Contents UntitledSusan Mehlpage 4 MitchJohn Stockmanpage 5 HallwayAndy Leszczynskipage 6 At The MoviesElise Hempelpage 8 HaikuAngie Patrickpage 8 On MagnoliasThersa Kennypage 9 NeighborJohn Stockmanpage 10 WetCathy Georgepage 10 HaikuThersa Kennypage 10 The Speed QueenCarolyn Perrypage 11 A ThoughtThersa Kennypage 14 The Stone Belongs to the LakeRobert Schumacherpage 15 Driving South of WinnipegJerry McAnultypage 16 Travels with the ExecutionerPeter Lindemanpage 17 NightwingLaura Muellerpage 18 Thoughts of an Uninterested StudentDru Seftonpage 19 Rainbird\u27s ManMary McDanielpage 20 EffortlessKevin Stottpage 25 Where the Waves SoundTheresa Whitesidepage 26 \u2745Ray Wallacepage 28 Epigram #1P. James Kruegerpage 28 UntitledSusan Mehlpage 29 RerunsAngie Patrickpage 30 SunsetGloria Rhoadspage 34 Return of the NativeRay Wallacepage 35 The GuitarJoanne Dunnepage 35 In Grandmother\u27s BedroomElise Hempelpage 36 Cindy Poem No. 3John Stockmanpage 36 Dust in the DarkLaura Muellerpage 37 Suspension BridgeLaura Henrypage 39 WavesLeslie Garnerpage 39 Oyama: a Setting and a GirlJerry McAnultypage 40 the middle of the nightKevin Stottpage 41 Old State RoadLaura Henrypage 43 Dairy QueenJohn Stockmanpage 43 Art CoverDennis Wunsch Pen and ink drawingRose Huberpage 3 PhotographIrene Brownpage 7 PhotographIrene Brownpage 27 PhotographIrene Brownpage 42 Pen and ink drawingRose Huberpage 44https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1036/thumbnail.jp

The Vehicle, Spring 1981

Vol. 22, No. 2 Table of Contents Old Farmers at the Arcade CafeJohn Stockmanpage 4 ConfettiCathy Georgepage 6 Ode to a Corned Beef SandwichJeff Bennettpage 6 The Ice on Kirschner\u27s CreekScott Fishelpage 7 Love Poem to LindaJohn Stockmanpage 7 Grandfather\u27s PortraitJames Marshpage 8 The MassageKathleen Alakspage 9 A Driving ForceSandy Youngpage 10 King DandelionNancy Siebenpage 12 One Afternoon - Contemplating HouseworkKelli Sanderpage 13 Tent WallsAndy Sudkamppage 14 The SentinelElise Hempelpage 16 Daddy\u27s AftershaveJeff Bennettpage 16 The WeddingChris Goerlichpage 17 UntitledCarol Hansenpage 17 Treasures in the YardScott Fishelpage 18 Hitchhiker\u27s BootsAndy Sudkamppage 20 The RaffleLaura Henrypage 21 A Walk at NightJudi Jinespage 24 Morning in the DumpJeff Bennettpage 24 In Praise of Chocolate Ice CreamJohn Stockmanpage 25 Summer on the Isle of PalmsElisabeth Cristpage 26 The WaveHerbert S. Demminpage 27 RememberingJohn Kleinsteiberpage 27 PotatoJohn Stockmanpage 28 Late ShowChris Goerlichpage 30 Love in Him - JoeDebbie Klinnertpage 31 ShoeScott Fishelpage 35 The DrinkerBob Huntpage 36 The WidowGeorge Ndu Igbudupage 37 ElectricityScott Fishelpage 37 Hatchet JackB.L. Davidsonpage 39 Walking Home LateJohn Stockmanpage 41 NovemberCindy Hubbarttpage 41 On the BusLaura Henrypage 42 HaikuJames Marshpage 43 SpillwayGloria Rhoadspage 43 Art Cover design by Linda Fraembs PhotographRobin Scholzpage 3 PhotographRobin Scholzpage 5 PhotographMichelle Glassmeyerpage 15 PhotographRobert Schinaglpage 19 PhotographTom Robertspage 38 PhotographRobert Schinaglpage 44https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1039/thumbnail.jp

A Robust Determination of the Time Delay in 0957+561A,B and a Measurement of the Global Value of Hubble's Constant

Continued photometric monitoring of the gravitational lens system 0957+561A,B in the g and r bands with the Apache Point Observatory (APO) 3.5 m telescope during 1996 shows a sharp g band event in the trailing (B) image light curve at the precise time predicted in an earlier paper. The prediction was 1 Supported by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation 2 Currently at the Kitt Peak National Observatory 3 Currently at the Space Telescope Science Institute -- 2 -- based on the observation of the event during 1995 in the leading (A) image and on a differential time delay of 415 days. This success confirms the so called "short delay", and the absence of any such feature at a delay near 540 days rejects the "long delay" for this system, thus resolving a long standing controversy. A series of statistical analyses of our light curve data yield a best fit delay of 417 \Sigma 3 days (95% confidence interval) and demonstrate that this result is quite robust against variations in the analysi..