In 1890, the 30-year-old Chekhov, already knowing that he was ill with tuberculosis, undertook an arduous 11-week journey from Moscow across Siberia to the penal colony on the island of Sakhalin. Now collected here in one volume are the fully annotated translations of his impressions of his trip through Siberia, and the account of his three-month sojourn on Sakhalin Island, together with author's notes, extracts from Chekhov's letters to relatives and associates, and photographs. Highly valuable both as a detailed depiction of the Tsarist system of penal servitude and as an insight into Chekhov's motivations and objectives for visiting the colony and writing the expose, Sakhalin Island is a haunting work of tremendous importance which had a huge impact both on Chekhov's subsequent work and on Russian society.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"The tension that arises between Chekhov's lyrical and naturalistic impulses generates a narrative that is always compelling." —The Independent
"Sakhalin Island will never eclipse The Cherry Orchard. But it is every bit as impressive a masterpiece." —The Times Literary Supplement
"As a work of literature, Sakhalin Island is a masterpiece of restrained, dignified, unsentimental prose . . . Yet the overall impact is haunting." —The Observer
About the Author
Anton Chekhov is one of the giants of modern literature, exerting a strong influence on many present-day novelists and dramatists. As a playwright, he ranks in popularity second only to Shakespeare in the English-speaking world. As a prose writer, he was one of the first to use the stream-of-consciousness technique, and his anti-heroic realism, full of ambiguity and allusion, provides no easy moral conclusions and results in a new kind of narrative approaching real life in a way no writer had achieved before him.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Chekhov excelled at so many kinds of writing that some readers are bound to draw a comparison between his work in one form and his work in another. I know playwrights, for example, who speak harshly of Chekhov's short stories, which they read only in light of his dramatic work. I know admirers of his short fiction who think the plays suffer from comparison with the stories.
The reputation of Sakhalin Island, I think, has taken the greatest beating on these grounds. A reader conditioned by Chekhov's stories might not be prepared for a work of nonfiction, particularly one so sprawling and full of information as Sakhalin Island can be.
The reader willing to approach the book on its own terms, though, will be rewarded with a clear-headed look at the part of 19th century Russia that is mostly missing from literature. The reader of Chekhov's post-Sakhalin Island work will note that much of what he learned on his journey filtered down into some of the longer stories he wrote after his return.
The Oneworld Classics edition is ably translated and attractively presented. Readers are in their debt.
The reputation of Sakhalin Island, I think, has taken the greatest beating on these grounds. A reader conditioned by Chekhov's stories might not be prepared for a work of nonfiction, particularly one so sprawling and full of information as Sakhalin Island can be.
The reader willing to approach the book on its own terms, though, will be rewarded with a clear-headed look at the part of 19th century Russia that is mostly missing from literature. The reader of Chekhov's post-Sakhalin Island work will note that much of what he learned on his journey filtered down into some of the longer stories he wrote after his return.
The Oneworld Classics edition is ably translated and attractively presented. Readers are in their debt.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Chekhov has been admired and reviled for this work. Why it has been attacked is not understandable to an intelligent reader. What a book! What writing! What interesting information! I had only known Chekhov's plays and some stories so this was a surprise. To discover this detailed picture of the island of Sakhalin as a penal colony was a treasure; albeit a sad one. Chekhov shows you the despairing lives of these convicts of the Russian tzars without sensationalizing. Since I am doing research for a novel the considerable detail has been rewarding. Since I love excellent writing I have been captivated in the reading. Anyone who is interested in the details of its criticism and an excellent analysis should read Cathy Popkin's "Chekhov as ethnographer" in Slavic Review V 51, No. 1 Spring 992. She captures Chekhov's problems detailing Sakhalin with great insight.
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