One of the finest short story authors in history, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian playwright and short story writer. His four classic plays from his playwriting career are highly regarded by writers and reviewers, as are his best short tales. Chekhov is frequently cited as one of the three key figures in the emergence of early modernism in theater, together with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg. Chekhov spent the majority of his literary career working as a doctor: He famously quipped, "Literature is my mistress and medicine is my rightful wife." After The Seagull's disastrous performance in 1896, Chekhov gave up acting. However, the play was revived to critical acclaim by Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre in 1898, which also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and gave the world premieres of his final two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four plays pose a challenge to the acting group as well as the audience since Chekhov substitutes "theater of mood" and "submerged life in the text" for traditional action. Initially primarily writing for financial benefit, Chekhov later made formal improvements that helped shape the development of the contemporary short tale as his artistic desire evolved.