THE AIM OF LITERATURE, ACCORDING TO CHEKOV

Anton Chekov, a Russian, is regarded as one of the world's greatest short story writers. In 1987, this son of a grocer, trained as a physician, wrote that " the aim of literature is the truth, unconditional and honest."

Some modern writers echo his idea by saying that writing is truth-telling.The bottom line is objectivity, which is debatable with respect to the writer's selection of images. Which one does he want to project?

This is the domain of the journalist whose tools for looking for the truth--who what, where, when, why and how--obliges him to stick to the cold, bloody facts of his story.