<div>&#8220;Try to reason about love, and you will lose your reason.&#34;&#160;&#8212; Anton Chekhov<br> &#160;Anton Chekhov (1860&#8211;1904), possibly the greatest writer of short stories, examines the human condition of love in eleven tales of romance. Included in the collection is one of his best-known works&#8212; &#8220;The Lady with the Dog,&#8221; said to be a reflection of the author&#8217;s romance with an actress, Olga Knipper, whom he would eventually marry.&#160;<br> Chekhov demonstrates one of his primary artistic principles by focusing on character rather than plot to reveal the subtle profundities of love. Exposing his audience to a variety of viewpoints, the Russian author refrains from the moral precepts of love and dares his audience to commit emotional honesty. From the observing narrator of &#8220;Agafya&#8221; and the nonstop dialogue at a fabric store between a spurned shop clerk and a dressmaker (&#8220;Polinka&#8221;) to the awakened memory of boyhood&#160;confusion over the power of physical attraction (&#8220;The Beauties&#8221;), Chekhov explores the psychology of human affection and its obstacles.&#160;</div>