Interview with Harai Golomb on his Book on the Poetics of Chekhov’s Plays

Abstract

Professor Harai Golomb’s academic activity is so often associated with Chekhov, that nobody was surprised when his opus magnum (so far), a book on Chekhov, finally appeared in 2014 (A New Poetics of Chekhov’s Plays: Presence through Absence. Brighton, Chicago & Toronto: Sussex Academic Press [411 pages, including Appendices, Bibliography and Index]). This decades-long brainchild of his received great acclaim from leading Chekhov specialists, theatre and drama scholars, Slavists, semioticians, and comparative art scholars, Western and Russian alike. As an Israeli colleague-musicologist I am proud for our guild, and very much intrigued by interactions between various sciences and disciplines, including musicology, guiding this study. But first, let me quote a partial selection from some gratifying appreciations from reviews and endorsements of this work: