LITERATURE: Chekhov as Painter

You know, there’s nothing to compare to the old when it comes to story writing and someone such as Chekhov:

The gloomy pines, with their rough roots that but a year ago had seen him so young, joyful and hale, now did not whisper together, but stood motionless and dumb, just as if they did not recognize him.

There is a mood set here, a change of character, personification, imagery, tone. In this setting that Chekhov has placed his main character, we feel the changes as he recovers from what may have been madness in his hallucination of the black monk. Chekhov knows how to use setting to establish a base and then use it to involve the reader in its progression through the story.

Much different, maybe old-fashioned, but very satisfying in contrast to much of what is being touted as story these days.