In college, as an English major, one course I took was Russian Literature. It was a 3-credit, one semester course; this meant we had 3 hours in class each week with countless hours of assigned reading, as the reading list included just about every known published work of Russian literature. And the Russian authors were not short on verbiage; even the plays were lengthy, as per Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters."
The somber and dreary climate of Russian writings, mood and temperament as well as temperature, centered on the themes of Change, Suffering, and The Meaning of Life.
It has been a very long time since I read the play. I recall the three sisters suffering through the failed pursuit of their dreams, doomed attempts finding meaningful work, going to Moscow, lost and mistaken love lives. But what sticks most in my memory is our professor's analysis of the plot: The sisters constantly voiced their hopes and dreams of what their fortune in life could or would be, each sister desperate to communicate their desires and wishes. The professor depicted each sister as looking into a mirror held in their hand and directing all their lifeforce into their own image. Each sister alone in her search for identity, and blind to the existence of the angst of her sisters.
Imagine that---people walking around staring into an object held in their hand, oblivious to the others in their company. That professor must have had a crystal ball.
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