Rare Colors in Anton Chekhov’s Prose: The Symbolism and Spectrum (1886-1903)

The article analyzes works written by Anton Chekhov between 1886 and 1903 from the point of view of color imagery. The writer's interest in color designations arose in the early period of his literary activities, represented by short stories and feuilletons. In the works of the late period, the author's palette becomes richer: it includes not only main but also less common colors. This article examines shades that are rarely found on the pages of Chekhov's stories of the late period. The author determines the frequency of the appearance of such colors; explains the symbolic meaning and the reasons for choosing such a palette, its influence on the images and atmosphere of the works. The purpose of the article is to determine the role played by rare color shades in Chekhov’s poetics, as well as to study the connection between the palette of the writer's works and the historical conditions of their creation. The main tasks set by the author in this study are to identify the non-standard spectrum of colors that are found in the works of Anton Chekhov written in the late 19th – early 20th centuries, to calculate the frequency of their use, and to identify the functions (apart from descriptive ones) that they perform in a particular work. This study reveals the system of artistic techniques used by Chekhov in his short stories. Tracing the evolution of shades in the writer's works, the author of the article establishes changes in the symbolic and emotional context associated with rare colors. Based on the obtained statistics, a conclusion is drawn that the color system in Anton Chekhov’s works considered in the study is not complex in its basic structure, but is diverse at a specific level of implementation.