Russia is an old sick lady. Doctor's Notes

"I have no doubt that my studies in medical sciences had a serious influence on my literary activity," said A.P. Chekhov. Indeed, many of his works can be considered a kind of diagnosis of contemporary Russia. He wrote about the "boring, dull and vulgar" existence of Russian inhabitants, touching on the reasons why Russia as a whole was like an old sick lady. "In an Asian country where there is no freedom of the press and freedom of conscience, where life is so cramped and so bad and there is little hope for better times," it cannot be otherwise, Chekhov argued. Everyone here is infected to one degree or another with the bacilli of lies, cunning, and envy, and that is why the pictures of Russian life become "more terrible than the visions of Hamlet." The book includes essays, notes and letters from A.P. Chekhov, touching on this topic.