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''Sakhalin Island'' () is a book by
Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...
written and serialized in 1891–1893, which then appeared as a separate book in 1895. It consists of "travel notes" written after Chekhov's trip to the island of
Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...
in summer and autumn of 1890. The book is based on the writer's personal travel experience, as well as on extensive statistical data collected by him. The English translation came out in 1967 under the title ''The Island: A Journey to Sakhalin''. In the opinion of some critics, the book was influenced by '' The House of the Dead'' by
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian literature, Russian and world literature, and many of his works are consider ...
and ''Siberia and Katorga'' by Sergei Maksimov (who is repeatedly mentioned in the text).


Background

At the time Sakhalin was a frontier prison colony of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
. In 1890, Chekhov undertook an arduous journey by train, horse-drawn carriage, and river steamer to the Russian Far East and the ''
katorga Katorga (, ; from medieval and modern ; and Ottoman Turkish: , ) was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoners were sent to remote penal colonies in vast uninhabited a ...
'', or penal colony, on Sakhalin Island, north of Japan, where he spent three months interviewing thousands of convicts and settlers for a census. The letters Chekhov wrote during the two-and-a-half-month journey to Sakhalin are considered to be among his best. His remarks to his sister about
Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...
were to become notorious. Chekhov witnessed much on Sakhalin that shocked and angered him, including floggings, embezzlement of supplies, and
forced prostitution Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" app ...
of women. He wrote, "There were times I felt that I saw before me the extreme limits of man's degradation." He was particularly moved by the plight of the children living in the penal colony with their parents. For example: Chekhov later concluded that charity was not the answer, but that the government had a duty to finance humane treatment of the convicts. His findings were published in 1893 and 1894 as ''Ostrov Sakhalin'' (''The Island of Sakhalin''), a work of social science, not literature.: Such is the general critical view of the work, but Simmons calls it a "valuable and intensely human document."


Publication

Anton Chekhov returned from Sakhalin to
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
on December 8, 1890, and at the beginning of 1891 began working on his book. He initially intended to print the entire book and refused to publish separate parts in literary journals, but in 1892 he agreed to publish Chapter XXII ("Fugitives on Sakhalin") in the digest ''Helping the Hungry''. Chapters I–XIX were first published in the journal '' Russkaya Mysl'' in 1893 (nos 10–12) and 1894 (nos 2–7). In 1895 the book was at last published in a separate edition, with the addition of chapters XX–XXIII and with minor corrections of the first nineteen ones, entitled ''Sakhalin Island (From Travel Notes)''. Chapter XXII was reprinted in a separate edition (with significant text reductions and amendments) from the digest ''Helping the Hungry''.Чехов, 1892, Помощь голодающим: Научно-литературный сборник.


Reception

According to
Akhil Sharma Akhil Sharma (born July 22, 1971) is an Indian-American author and professor of creative writing. His first published novel ''An Obedient Father'' won the 2001 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, PEN/Hemingway Award. His second, ''Family Life ( ...
, "The reason “Sakhalin Island” is the greatest work of journalism from the nineteenth century is that, unlike other major journalistic works from that period (for example, journalism from the Crimean War), the book has not aged. ..Chekhov’s articles are mostly about closely observed humanity."


See also

* "In Exile" (short story) * ''
The Gulag Archipelago ''The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation'' () is a three-volume nonfiction series written between 1958 and 1968 by Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a Soviet dissident. It was first published in 1973 by the Parisian ...
'' * '' Cursed Days'' * '' A Confession''


References


Bibliography

* * * * {{Authority control Works by Anton Chekhov 1895 non-fiction books Russian non-fiction books Sakhalin