In honor of Anton Chekhov's 150th birthday today, I decided to read some of his short stories. I've probably read Cheknov before in some literature class or other, but this time it was for my own enjoyment. I read "The Orator," "Oh! the Public!" and "About Love". They were enjoyable. I loved his humor, his unerring timing, and his truthful, but also loving, brief portraits.

His bio on the www.classicreader.com website quotes a letter Chekhov wrote to his brother in which he states his six principles of writing:
1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; [That's OK, Tolstoy, we love you anyway]
2. total objectivity;
3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects;
4. extreme brevity;
5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype;
6. compassion."

Also this week, J.D. Salinger died. The press says there will be no service. I wonder what Chekhov would have said. Perhaps this quote from "The Orator", brief and audacious will do: "It's awkward for such a whopper to be buried without a speech."