[Anton Chekhov--physician and writer. Physicians in his novels]

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904) was a doctor and a writer. He practised medicine in a rather sporadic manner throughout his life, and his main occupation was his authorship. His collected works comprise 581 items of a narrative type, 17 plays, a narrative and a treatise of his voyage to Sakhalin, a number of articles and about 4,000 letters. This paper describes the doctors who appear in 83 of his short stories and associated material, and shows how Chekhov's medical background influenced his writing.