Anton Chekhov started writing short comic stories while attending medical school to help pay for school and his family. He finally became a full-time writer in 1892 and wrote his famous stories such as "Neighbors", "Ward Number Six", "The Black Monk", and "The Murder". Chekhov is known throughout Russia, but remained unknown internationally up until World War I, when the majority of his works were translated into English.[3]
The main character of Olenka may be based in part on Chekhov's mother, who had deeply loved her own father, traveling all over Russia with him as a fabric merchant, and who stayed loyal to her husband through abuse, alcoholism and bankruptcy.
