It was a "premeditated" trip

On April 19, 1890, Chekhov departed from Moscow for Sakhalin Island.

It was a "premeditated" trip. In preparation for the trip, Chekhov read a large number of books on Sakhalin Island, according to researchers, as many as 65 kinds. It's also a journey that looks a little mysterious. In June of the year before his departure, Chekhov asked the actress Kea Karadigena, who had been to Sakhalin, about the route of the trip and the precautions to be taken, and asked her to keep it a secret.

It's still a journey that has caused a lot of confusion. In January 1890, the Moscow newspapers published the news that Chekhov was about to begin his trip to Sakhalin, which immediately caused controversy. Outsiders and even Chekhov's family do not understand why Chekhov, who has become famous and is in the ascendancy of his career, suddenly puts down his creations and goes on a journey that is dangerous for his body. Perhaps asked with some helplessness, in a letter to a friend, Chekhov joked that he "wanted to erase a year or a year and a half from life."

In fact, why Chekhov made this trip has not been fully cracked. According to the conventional interpretation, Chekhov was in a mental crisis at that time. The death of his brother, who knew best, was a serious blow to him. His work also seems to have hit a bottleneck. Especially in the 1880s, Russian society was shrouded in the repression of Wanmazi. "How to do" and "where to go" have become the confusion and bitterness of many people. Chekhov was naturally in such a state of confusion and depression, so his trip to Sakhalin Island was thought to be looking for "what to do.".

Frankly, I don't quite agree with that interpretation. Inexplicably, I feel that there is always a little bit of that statement that has not been broken. Indeed, out of the sensitivity of novelists and a strong sense of social responsibility, Chekhov's creation has always embodied the "people's nature". In the context of the big picture, his trip to Sakhalin island was, of course, also "among the people." However, from the perspective of "substitution", I prefer to see Chekhov's trip as a healing journey. I prefer to believe that the bitterness in my heart at that time forced Chekhov to go out, just as we sometimes had to go out for a few days. Chekhov's unique personality led him to choose a very unusual journey.

This journey is familiar to many people, because many writers have described it, such as Dostoevsky, Herzen... But let's ask a more serious question: Is it really familiar? I'm afraid it's hard to say. This journey is the road of exile to Siberia.

In Russia at that time, with the great influence of the works of Dostoevsky and others, people had a general understanding of the possible life behind the exile system. However, such an understanding is superficial or even mostly conceptual. The reasons are not complicated, and the vast majority of people have no personal experience of Siberia, for exile. They saw some steadfastness and romance either in the plight of the Decembrists, especially the wives of the Decembrists, who voluntarily followed their husbands on the road to exile; or in the "house of the dead", they saw the depravity and cruelty of human nature—this is probably the whole understanding of Siberia and exile.

But the land that cannot be seen at a glance can only be covered by several concepts. That's what Makes Chekhov admire: he sees ignorance in the self-righteousness that people take for granted. He wanted to experience it for himself, to see the land. And the destination he chose exceeded everyone's expectations. Sakhalin had a notorious reputation for exile in hell at the time, but before Chekhov, almost no one visited.

Chekhov spent 82 days on Sakhalin Island, reportedly filling out more than 10,000 survey cards, and more than 7,600 remain. Just this shows how amazing his daily workload is.

Therefore, this "Sakhalin Travels" is particularly prominent in Chekhov's entire creation. It is more like a sociological survey record than a work of literature. To paraphrase a term that is now quite fashionable, the book is Chekhov's only "non-fiction" work. The book is filled with a large amount of data, which sometimes makes the reader feel dull. But the writer's writing temperament balances the occasional discomfort of reading, and as soon as it enters the description, Chekhov's unique literary character is immediately revealed. This is the strength of the personality of the great writer, and the greatness of this writer will be felt even more if one realizes that Chekhov has enriched and deepened the understanding of exile almost by his own personal strength.

But frankly, although the official publication of "Sakhalin's Travels" has also caused a lot of controversy, compared with Chekhov's overall creative process, this work lacks enough attention among readers and researchers. People know that this work exists, but there is not much other impression than that.

I don't know how to understand this phenomenon. Perhaps from a literary point of view, it is not easy to find a suitable place for Sakhalin's Travels. Its more important value is to discover the truth of life in places that people consciously or unconsciously ignore. And in terms of temporality, I am also willing to see this book as a work against forgetting. While reading Sakhalin's Travels, I suddenly realized that I knew very little about Sakhalin. Thus began new readings, just as many people at the time began to think more deeply about Chekhov's book.

Source: China Youth Daily client