Lady with the Dog

Anton Chekhov was a late 19th century Russian writer famous for his short stories and plays. "The Lady with the Dog," a tale of two lovers who carry on an affair while both married to other people, is one of his most famous short stories.

Chekhov wrote the "The Lady with the Dog" in 1899, five years before his death, while he was an invalid suffering from tuberculosis. He was laid up in the seaside town of Yalta, on the coast of the Black Sea, a setting that serves as the backdrop for the lovers' initial meeting in the story. Setting isn't the only tidbit to find its way from Chekhov's life to the page; many scholars argue that the relationship at the center of this story is a reflection of the author's own romance with the actress he would eventually marry in 1901.

"The Lady with the Dog" is in many ways a typical Chekhov tale. It reflects the style and literary preferences of the author who, having written over 200 stories in his career, had certainly established a status quo. In accordance with his typical manner, the story breaks many of the rules of storytelling, particularly when it comes to plot and conclusion.