Anton Chekhov was an esteemed playwright and the foremost master of the modern short story. His woks are an excellent representative of the late-19th-century Russian realist school, incorporating an early use of the stream-of-consciousness technique.

As a medical student in Moscow in the 1880s, Chekhov started contributing light-hearted anecdotes to humour magazines as a means to help support his large, impoverished family. As his works became more serious, he advanced from the comic magazines to literary journals. Chekhov's period of mature creativity began after his move to the country at Melikhovo (1892-98). During this time, while also practicing as a physician, he produced some of his greatest longer works such as Ward Number Six, A Woman’s Kingdom, Three Years, My Life, and Peasants. From the age of 23, Chekhov suffered from tuberculosis, and in 1899 moved to the southern resort of Yalta for the sake of his health. After that time he predominantly devoted himself to the Moscow Art Theatre, producing many ground-breaking plays, one of whose actress, Olga Knipper, he married in 1901. His plays The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard are all classics of the theatre, and are still frequently performed.