Northeast News
June 8, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Inspired by the plays of Anton Chekhov, Northeast resident and author Catherine Browder published a set of novellas in late 2014 that explored some of his most important characters. She was able to share insight about the work on Sunday, June 5, with the North-East Public Library book club that she herself is a member of.

Browder’s Now We Can All Go Home: Three Novellas in Homage to Chekhov continues the stories of key characters from three of Anton Chekhov’s plays:The Seagull,Uncle Vanya, and Three Sisters. All set in historical Russia, Browder examines what the character’s futures may have held. She told the Northeast News that it was Chekhov’s ability to portray real life in theater that drew her to the playwright’s work.

“The characters are so human. He was one of the first to kind of modernize the theater drama, in the sense that people behaved naturally,” said Browder. “He was using sort of ordinary people. It wasn’t kings and paupers; it was ordinary people living their lives and getting into conflicts.”

Browder says that she read the works many times over in order to put herself back into the time of Chekhov and his characters. Although she uses Chekhov as a foundation for her novella, Browder said that she didn’t attempt to mimic the famed Russian novelist.

“I wasn’t trying to imitate his voice or his style at all – that would be impossible. You’re just taking what he’s giving you – which is the story of differently families – and imagining what happens after the curtains came down,” said Browder. “Nothing ties up neatly, and mine don’t tie up neatly either. That would be in the spirit of Chekhov.”

During the book club meeting on June 5, Browder answered questions about her writing process and engaged members in a thoughtful conversation about some of the major tenets of Chekhov’s work. Specifically, she noted that his plays tended to be morose affairs that ended suddenly, typically without a happy ending.

“Everybody’s married to the wrong person in Chekhov, and nobody is happy,” Browder told the book club. “But they all still muddle through.”

According to Browder, death is also a major theme in Chekhov’s work. Three Sisters ends with one of the sister’s fiancé perishing in a duel, for instance, while The Seagull concludes with a young man killing himself. Part of what appealed to Browder about using the plays as a foundation was exploring how the rest of the characters picked up the pieces after these earth-shattering events.

In addition to reading the plays, Browder says that she also read Chekhov’s personal letters to help gain a deeper understanding of the man. What she found was that Chekhov was a generous correspondent who was considerably lighter in tone in his own voice than he was in his plays.

“He was constantly writing people, and he was funny,” said Browder. “He was a very funny guy.”

The North-East Library’s book club is bringing exposure to Browder’s work by including Now We Can All Go Home: Three Novellas in Homage to Chekhovas one of its “book bag” books. That means other Kansas City Library branches will also have easy access to her work. For that, Browder is thankful.

“I’m very grateful that they’re doing that,” said Browder. “They’re turning it into a book bag book so that other libraries can read it.”

Browder is currently finishing up work on a new novel, which is a modern update on Silas Marner, by George Eliot.