Source:
https://scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1886356/six-degrees-separation-anton-chekhov
Magazines/ Post Magazine

Six degrees of separation from Anton Chekhov

Mary Hui

Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov, the Russian playwright and master of the short story, has been brought to life in the film Anton Chekhov - 1890, which was screened on Thursday as part of the Hong Kong French Film Festival. Born in 1860, Chekhov was the grandson of a serf who bought his freedom and the son of a struggling grocer. In his short lifetime - he died of tuberculosis at the age of 44 - Chekov wrote about 600 stories, some of which provided inspiration for Blood on the Tracks, the 1975 album by …

Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, Dylan has been hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as "the most influential American musician rock & roll has ever produced". Dylan is regarded as the voice of his generation, having penned songs that documented the cultural revolution of the 1960s. He reignited interest in poetry, invented folk rock and country rock and performed a duet with singer Joan Baez before Martin Luther King Jnr took the podium to deliver his "I have a dream" speech. Dylan is also an avid boxing fan. Last year, he stopped by a gritty gym in Hollywood to watch a Filipino train. That fighter was 

Bob Dylan. Photo: EPA
Bob Dylan. Photo: EPA

Pacquiao grew up in poverty in a small town in the Philippines. He ran away from home when he was 12 after his father allegedly ate his pet dog. He started boxing professionally four years later and has since become the only fighter to win world titles in eight weight divisions. His boxing style, inspired by Bruce Lee, is distinctive, with movement that is "unorthodox, scattered and perpetual, as if designed by a jazz musician", as The New York Times put it. Last month, Pacquiao visited the Garden Tomb, in Jerusalem, considered by some to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ …

The central figure of Christianity is also known as the loving shepherd, God incarnate and the bringer of peace and justice. There is little information about his early life but the Gospel of Luke states that he was a precocious child. The story of his birth is told in a book titled On Angel Wings, written by Michael Morpurgo and illustrated by Quentin Blake …

Manny Pacquiao. Photo: Reuters
Manny Pacquiao. Photo: Reuters

An English cartoonist and children's writer, Blake is perhaps best known for being the illustrator of Roald Dahl's books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. Born in the suburbs of London in 1932, Blake has drawn for as long as he can remember. In describing his style, Blake says he does a "freewheeling sort of drawing that looks as though it is done on the spur of the moment". In 2013, he received a knighthood for "services to illustration". One of his watercolours - of a large woman in a floppy hat taking a duck for a walk on a beach - was bought by author Lynne Truss …

Quentin Blake. Photo: Tom Pilston
Quentin Blake. Photo: Tom Pilston

The English writer and journalist had a quiet career until her hilarious book on punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, catapulted her to fame. Truss describes herself as a stickler (asked to give a six-word biography of herself, she responded, "I worry about things too much.") and easily annoyed by the incorrect use of apostrophes on store signs. The New York Times has praised her for "making punctuation hot". Her favourite author is someone whose work she doesn't profess to fully understand - Anton Chekhov.

Lynne Truss. Photo: Dustin Shum
Lynne Truss. Photo: Dustin Shum