Chekhov and God ...

... an unshowy compassion. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... it is Chekhov who seems to me close to god, precisely because he does not set himself up as a vatic authority, a Nobodaddy figure dispensing violent judgements and condemnations and blessings. It is his discretion that is god-like, his ability to withold himself from the tale, to allow things and people to be as they are in what we call real life: manifold and, finally, just themselves. One could argue that God is otherwise - that He sees all and judges accordingly; but since Chekhov is only a man, to mimic God would be to show himself up as only a man; it is by leaving such judgements (whether implicit or explicit) out of the tale, that Chekhov comes to seem god-like, seeing all.

But what's this? "Chekhov was wasted on me in my youth ..." Trust me, elberry: You're still young.