"In Ivanov, Anton Chekhov's first full-length play, Chekhov created a portrait of a man plagued with self-doubt and despair. Considered one of Chekhov's most elusive characters, he seeks more in life than the self-absorption and ennui he sees in his contemporaries. Tormented by falling out of love with his dying Jewish wife, Ivanov, on her death, proposes to the young daughter of a neighbor, but, as the wedding party assembles, a final burst of his habitual indecisiveness has fatal results."--Jacket.