Two centuries of the Russian classics Two centuries of the Russian classics 2686-7494 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2026-8-1-174-189 Research Article Articles The Poetics of Mobility and Fluidity in the Dramaturgy of Anton Chekhov Gong Qingqing red@rusklassika.ru 25 03 2026 8 1 174 189 A. P. Chekhov dramaturgy time space mobility fluidity Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 This article attempts to examine the poetics of A. P. Chekhov’s dramaturgy from the perspective of the category of mobility as the constant movement / changeab ility / fluidity of everything in the world — history, ecology, sociality, time, space, the human soul and body, and fate. In his plays, Chekhov conceptualizes the world and humanity through moving images — trains, songs, the sounds of musical instruments, the seasons, the stages of human life, the evolution of natural communities, population migration, the dynamics of human emotions, and the growth and loss of professional competencies — artfully integrating them into a unified composition and the overall concept of his works. Particular attention is paid to the mobility of the “estate culture” in Chekhov’s plays, which allows us to connect its destruction not only with the obvious socioeconomic causes of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (the degradation of the nobility, the rise of the bourgeoisie, technological progress, the growth of cities), but also with the elusive rhythm of the universe as a cosmic whole, including nature, culture, and human destinies. 1. Barsht, K. A. “O formakh sobytiinosti” [“On the Forms of Eventfulness”]. Izvestiia RAN. Seriia literatury i iazyka, vol. 69, no. 4, 2020, pp. 12–21. (In Russ.) 2. Gachev, G. D. Natsional’nye obrazy mira: kurs lektsii [National Images of the World: A Course of Lectures]. Moscow, Akademiia Publ., 1998. 432 p. (In Russ.) 3. Liu, Ying. “Issledovanie literaturnogo prostranstva v perspektive povorota mobil’nosti” [“Literary Space Studies from the Perspective of Mobility Turn”]. Foreign Literature (China), no. 6, 2023, pp. 143–153. 刘英：“流动性转向”视角下的文学空间研究//外国文学，2023年第6期，第143–153页。(In Chinese) 4. Skorokhodov, M. V. “Simvolika vishnevogo sada: mezhdu kommercheskim proektom, usadboi i dachei” [“The Symbolism of the Cherry Orchard: Between a Commercial Project, a Manor and a Dacha”]. Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 6, no. 3, 2024, pp. 196–215. https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2024-6-3-196-215 (In Russ.) 5. Adey, Peter. Mobility. London, New-York, Routledge Publ., 2010. 267 p. (In English) Cresswell, Tim. On the Move: Mobility in the Western World. London, Routledge Publ., 2006. 327 p. (In English)