Three Key Quotes

The fol­low­ing are some of Anton Chekhov’s words on the art of writ­ing, as first quoted in Francine Prose’s Read­ing Like a Writer:
In my opin­ion a true descrip­tion of nature should be very brief and have the char­ac­ter of rel­e­vance. Com­mon­places such as “the set­ting sun bathed the waves of the dark­en­ing sea, poured its …