Abstract:

Chekhov's Existentialism: The Ethics of Outsidedness is a study of Anton Chekhov's moral philosophy in the context of Russian religious thought and European existential philosophy. The dissertation challenges the popular scholarly notion of Chekhov as a non-philosophical writer by showing how his carefully developed motif of a "double consciousness" re-envisions some of the prominent philosophical concerns of the Russian prose tradition. Through close readings of the stories and plays, the dissertation argues that Chekhov's basic dramatic conflict, whether externalized between two characters or internalized within one individual, is consistently ontological--pitting a "melodramatist" (an individual blindly immersed in a dramatic situation) against a "metadramatist" (an alienated, self-conscious observer). While this dialectic appears as a comic formula in Chekhov's earlier work, this study traces its evolution into a mature ethical vision, especially starting from the early 1890's onwards. Through an examination of the dialectic between these two perspectives of the self, the dissertation posits the central problem of Chekhov's ethics: the discovery of a path back into life for the alienated consciousness and the artistic challenge of representing this path truthfully.

Chapter 1 introduces the basic paradigm that lies behind our approach, developing the terms "metadrama" and "melodrama" in the context of Russian and European thought. Chapters 2 and 3 constitute the center of the argument, tracing the notion of a double consciousness over the span of Chekhov's career, first through a series of antagonistic characters and then through the evolving genre of the love story. Chapter 4 examines how Chekhov spatially foregrounds the existential journeys of his characters. Chapter 5 argues that Chekhov's treatment of the double self evokes his own original conception of the symbol.

This discussion of double consciousness in Chekhov leads to a significant reevaluation of Chekhov's relationship with Russian Symbolism, his connection to European existential philosophy (often remarked upon in criticism, but not yet studied in depth), and, in particular, his unique vision of Russian spirituality.