Michael C. Finke explodes a century of critical truisms concerning Chekhov s objective eye and what being a physician gave him as a writer in a book that foregrounds the deeply subjective and self-reflexive aspects of his fiction and drama. In exploring previously unrecognized seams between the author s life and his verbal art, Finke profoundly alters and deepens our understanding of Chekhov s personality and behaviors, provides startling new interpretations of a broad array of Chekhov s texts,