Physician (University of Moscow), playwright (A Tragedian In Spite Of Himself, Ivanoff, On The High Road, The Anniversary, The Boor, The Cherry Orchard, The Proposal, The Sea-Gull, The Three Sisters, The Wedding, and Uncle Vanya), and master short story teller, Chekhov grew up in the Russian town of Taganrog, along the banks of the Sea of Azov which lies between Ukraine and Russia.
"Our talents we got from our father, but our soul from our mother."--from The Letters of Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Clara Garnett (1861-1946).
"Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress. When I get tired of one I spend the night with the other."--letter to Alexei Suvorin, 11 September 1888.
