Anton Chekhov, 'genius in a nutshell'

It is just 100 years since the birth of the great Russian dramatist, author and humanist Anton Pavlovitch Chekhov. Born on January 17, 1860 at Taganrog on the Sea of Azov, the son of a tradesman and the grandson of a serf, Chekhov had a relatively short creative life for he died at the age of 44. Yet the works he produced in less than two decades were sufficient to place him as one of the greatest contributors to Russian and world literature.

In 1960, homage will be paid to Chekhov in all parts of the world with the commemoration of the centenary reaching its apogee in the Soviet Union. Unesco is associating itself with the anniversary celebrations. It is distributing special articles on Chekhov in its Member States and is sending a specially produced documentary radio programme to some 130 broadcasting stations. Schools will receive a Unesco filmstrip on Chekhov with accompanying booklet in English, French and Spanish.

As its share in this universal homage, the Unesco Courier devotes several pages of this issue to Chekhov, his life and work. 

Discover also in this isse "The world's knowledge inside a cigar box", by Peter Ritchie Calder, published following the International Conference on Information Processing, organized by Unesco in June 1959.