Master of the short story
by Maxine
Today is the birthday of Anton Chekhov who was born in 1860 in Taganrog, a seaside city in Southern Russia. Chekhov began writing humorous stories while in medical school to pay his way and help support his poverty stricken family. He became sick with tuberculosis the same year he graduated and died from the disease in his 40's. He became the most admired writer of stories and plays in Russia and his plays, the most famous of which, Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard are still performed frequently. Chekhov considered himself first a physician and then a writer, saying: "Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress. When I get fed up with one, I spend the night with the other." This is an interesting observation in light of his reputation as a philandering bachelor.
Other authors and poets were also doctors, among them Arthur Conan Doyle, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Michael Crichton and William Carlos Williams and Abraham Verghese.
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