The History of Literature 831 Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" (with Rachel Pastan) | My Last Book with David Denby
Sep 21, 2026
Rachel Pastan, an American novelist and literary director, discusses Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and her novel about a grieving theater director who stages it in her childhood home. They explore art, memory, mother-daughter bonds, inherited spaces, and Chekhov’s comic-tragic vision of social change. David Denby then chooses Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Master and Man as his final books.
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Literature Helps Us Live Through Reality
- Literature matters because it helps people confront love, grief, beauty, and how to live.
- Jacke rejects treating interpretation as a scoring game and values authors who stretch readers’ powers.
Chekhov Makes Comedy And Tragedy Coexist
- The Cherry Orchard balances comedy and tragedy without reducing characters to heroes, villains, or political symbols.
- Its conflicting interpretations reflect life’s ambiguity rather than a failure to deliver clear answers.
Gwen Uses Theater To Separate From Her Mother
- Gwen defines herself through experimental theater while trying to honor and separate herself from her English-teacher mother.
- Her mother’s sudden death ends their chance to negotiate their intense relationship together.
