Tag Archives: Anton Chekhov: A Short Life

Mayakovsky’s pancake

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Patrick Miles

It may seem surprising that I can bring myself to say anything positive about Russians at a time when their country has become, to quote Joseph Conrad again, ‘the negation of everything worth living for’. But, of course, these four … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal commentary | Tagged Aleksei Suvorin, Alfred Dreyfus, anecdotes, Anton Chekhov, Anton Chekhov: A Short Life, biographies, comments, Dreyfus Affair, Lev Trotsky, literary anecdotes, Literature and Revolution, love, love at first sight, Mikhail Pavlovich Chekhov, Narkom, pancakes, parallel lines, People's Commissar, proverbs, Shrove Tuesday, Shrovetide, steppe, Vladimir Mayakovsky | Leave a comment

‘Chekhov’s Gun’ (To be continued)

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Patrick Miles

Sam2 has persuaded me to make four short videos about my recently published short biography of Chekhov and my ra-ther longer 2018 biography of George Calderon. I am completely new to the genre, therefore you should not expect a slick … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Anton Chekhov, Anton Chekhov: A Short Life, biographies, biography, Chekhov's Gun, comments, dramatic principles, George Calderon, George Calderon: Edwardian Genius, Ivanov, Moscow Art Theatre, Moscow Arts, Sam2, The Seagull, videos, Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko, Wikipedia | Leave a comment

From the diary of a writer-publisher: 17

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Patrick Miles

24 January 2022 I have received several emails commiserating with me over my ‘anxiety’ and ‘nightmares’ about marking examination papers. The writers clearly assume I am Dr Robinson in my story Ghoune — that the story is strictly autobiographical and … Continue reading →

Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian literature, Personal commentary | Tagged 'Ghoune', 'Sleep and Death', A.J.A. Symons, Alexander I, Amazon, Andrew Tatham, angina, Anton Chekhov, Anton Chekhov: A Short Life, archivists, Baron Corvo, BASEES, BASEES Conference, biographies, biography, birds, butterflies, Cambridge Tales, Carole Angier, Cheshire Cat, Chris Packham, Clays of Bungay, comments, conservation, death, democracy, examinations, Frederick Rolfe, George Calderon, George Calderon: Edwardian Genius, George Sandison, heart attacks, Kittie Calderon, NATO, Niccolo Machiavelli, page margins, printers, RSPB, Sam&Sam, short stories, Speak, Speckled Wood, Taganrog, The Edwardians, The Holocaust, The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment iin Biography, trimming, typesetting, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, W.G. Sebald, W.H. Hudson, Winterwatch | Leave a comment

From the diary of a writer-publisher: 16

Posted on January 6, 2022 by Patrick Miles

17 November 2021 Today at 9.54 a.m. I emailed my 408-line poem Making Icons to the excellent Long Poem Magazine, the only organ in Britain that publishes poems at least 75 lines long. The magazine appears twice a year and November … Continue reading →

Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian literature, Personal commentary | Tagged 'Making Icons', Academe, Adolf Hitler, Amazon, anti-Semitism, Anton Chekhov, Anton Chekhov: A Short Life, Aryan myth, BASEES Conference, biographies, butterflies, Cambridge Tales, Christmas, chrysanthemums, Congress for the History of Religions, cut flowers, Dreyfus Affair, ethnology, George Calderon, Ghoune/White Bow, holly, ivy, Japan, Jesus Christ, Jewish people, Long Poem Magazine, marketing, Nazis, Norman Cohn, Okhranka, Protocols of the Elders of Zion, religion, robins, Robinson College, Sam&Sam, spotted laurel, Tar-Baby, Twelfth Night, Warrant for Genocide, Yalta | 2 Comments

A year of promise

Posted on January 1, 2022 by Patrick Miles

A very happy new year to all Calderonia’s subscribers and viewers! Thank you for staying with us through 2021, which was our eighth calendar year, and I can promise you at least another year of posts from me and my … Continue reading →