In this episode, we explore the life and legacy of Anton Chekhov—a writer whose quiet revolution in storytelling continues to shape how we understand modern life. The first such discussion between Alex Burry, a lit professor at Ohio State University and Lev Lesokhin, a tech exec and lifelong reader of Chekhov.

Born into a lower-middle-class family—the grandson of a serf who bought his freedom and the son of a struggling shopkeeper—Chekhov stood apart from many of his aristocratic contemporaries. His early experiences, along with his work as a physician treating peasants and laborers, shaped a literary vision grounded not in grand heroics but in the fragile dignity of ordinary people. His stories unfold in drawing rooms and provincial towns, over tea and casual conversation, where life’s most consequential decisions are postponed, deflected, ...