Fatherlessness

This is one of the most mysterious plays in Russian literature. No one knows exactly when it was written, or even what it’s called. At one point—apparently—it was referred to as “Without a Father” in letters to his brother Alexander. The title “Platonovs” was devised by the Germans, and Jean Vilar repeated it in his production at the TNP. But still, they never found the title page. It was discovered in 1920, many years after Chekhov’s death—so it is among the last Chekhov texts that had been read. And the play, perhaps, is the first. In any case, there’s a theory that it was written by a very young man—eighteen years old. So the ends and beginnings came together in life—and they come together in the play as well, where all the future (or past) motifs of Chekhov’s works are already present, yet there is also an unusual for us harshness and ferocity.