In Chekhov, everything blends into its opposite, just fractionally, and this is sort of unsettling. And that's why you end up 100 years later asking, 'Is that moment tragic or comic?'

Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard

100 Years Asking Chekhov Comic End Everything Just Later Moment Opposite Sort Tragic Unsettling Up Why Years You

Related Quotes

One of the reasons why there are so many versions of Chekhov is that translations date in a way that the original doesn't; translations seem to be of their time.

— Tom Stoppard

ChekhovDateMany

If the world comes to an end, I want to be in Cincinnati. Everything comes there ten years later.

CincinnatiEndEverything

After all these years, I definitely associate having a pen in my hand with having an ashtray just out of eye line.

— Tom Stoppard

AfterAshtrayAssociate

Chekhov understood that people are mysterious and can't be reduced to what we nowadays call 'motivation.'

— Tom Stoppard

CallChekhovMotivation

Very often in Chekhov, where he exhibits a little bit of human behavior that you recognize as true, you give a little laugh. It's like a reflex.

— Tom Stoppard

BehaviorBitChekhov