User:Bobnorwal/Sandbox 2

"Ward Six" (originally publish as "Palata No. 6" in 1892 ) is a short story by Anton Chekhov.

Background
"Published in November 1892, after almost a year's labor, this was the first major story to win Chekhov wide and immediate acclain." <- great reference, full of tidbits!

"Anton wrote his new work, 'Ward No. 6', for a Moscow journal, The Russian Review. The editors had paid a 500-rouble advance and would print whatever Chekhov sent, but they disliked the gloom and radicalism of the story. The obvious journal for such a work was the left-wing Russian Thought... ALSO "Suvorin disliked it, but the elderly novelist Leskov recognized its genius, exclaiming 'Ward No. 6 is Russia.'"

Analysis

 * debate between quietist and activist


 * discussion of Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius, Schopenhauer, and -- indirectly, I think -- Tolstoy. Specifically on non-resistance to evil.

Influence / Legacy
"An austere work, 'Ward 6' was much admired by the young Lenin."

"Chekhov's perception of the world as mental asylum made a significant impression on later writers, such as Fyodor Sologub and Leonid Andreev." (Also: "Chekhov himself created a very different image of mental illness in "The Black Monk" ("Cherny monakh," 1894)...")

Adaptations
Ragin (2005) "Loosely adapted..." "Made for TV to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Chekhov's death last year [2004]..."

"In 2009, Russia's submission to the Academy Awards' Best Foreign Film category was a new adaptaion of "Ward No. 6" set in contemporary Russia, once again using the metaphor of the country as a madhouse." "The undisputed lead in adapting Chekhov's prose to the stage was taken by Kama Ginkas, working both in his home base of the Moscow Theater of Young Spectators and abroad. Ginkas followed the chronological order of Chekhov's works by beginning with the 1892 story "Ward No. 6," staged in Finland..."

"Thus, in February 1959 Harvey Hart directed a dramatization of Ward Six as part of the Folio series." ALSO "The skillful hands of producer-director Harvey Hart brought to life Mac Shoub's adaptation of Chekhov's short story. Rudi Dorn's set allowed for long tracking shots, odd angles, glimpeses of characters..." (So it's a movie, right?!)

"Ward Six -- Arthur Reel's dramatization of an Anton Chekhov short story probes the thin line between sanity and insanity."

"Ward Number Six -- First American stage adaptation of Chekhov's 1892 novella $12 La Mame E.T.C ...something...something..."