Uncle Vanya, derived in part from a reworking of the earlier The Wood Demon, was first performed in 1899 as the third of Chekhov's four dramatic masterpieces has been described as the least pleasant and most bitter of Chekhov's plays. Set in an almost closed private and provincial world, it essentially deals with waste, at a number of levels of plot and character, and with the pathetic futility of pointless labours and fruitless relationships. It's tone of resignation at the failure of a doomed rebellion against unalterable circumstances, together with the relative absence for much of the play of plot or action, has to be sent along side its naturalism and modernity: the difficulty in communication is one of its outstanding features.

This edition features the full text in Russian, an Introduction in English, notes and vocabulary to contextualise the play.

David Magarshack was a prolific translator from Russian and distinguished literary critic and biographer.

Colin Johnson is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Modern Slavonic Studies, University of Leeds, UK.