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A review by alcomia
Sakhalin Island by Anton Chekhov
5.0
my school's curriculum did not include sakhalin island, even though it was, in fact, on sakhalin and we read a lot of chekhov in my literature class.
one can argue the reason for that is that this book is too bleak and depressing for a young reader, but then again we are talking about russia here. a place, where 16 year olds are forced to analyse war and peace and write full-blown literary essays on raskolnikov's actions as an example of nihilism and manifestation of the ubermensch concept.
sakhalin island is one of the greatest works of journalism from the nineteenth century because unlike many other major journalistic works from that time, this book has not aged. i was born and brought up on the island and left when i was 17. as i was reading chekhov's reminiscence about his first encounter with the sakhalin crowd, i could't help myself but feel extremely harrowed, rootless, abandoned — angry, hurt and sad. more than 130 years has passed since he published this book, but little has changed in the general sentiment of the young islanders.
i am a russian born japanese with no ties to my ethnic homeland so i was genuinely fascinated reading chekhov demarcating the japanese from the russians. in 1869 sakhalin, the largest of russia's islands, was officially announced to be a zone of 'penal servitude and exile' and until the beginning of the 20th century the majority of its citizens were convicts. to this day it remains one of the most interesting and controversial constituents of russia. formerly a part of japan, during world war 2, tens of thousands of korean labourers were taken to the island to work for the japanese empire's war effort. a couple years later, sakhalin became a spoil of war and was given to the USSR along with the kuril islands, leaving the koreans on the island stuck in a limbo that many remain in today. the status of sakhalin and, to a greater extent, the kuril islands has dominated relations between modern russia and japan. today sakhalin is one of the least visited parts of russia, basting amazing nature, japanese historical relics, and soviet history.
chekhov spent months on the island meeting with convicts and collecting information on every person he met. he filled in more than 7400 census cards and in 1895 issued this book - a true story about the miserable life of sakhalin convicts. it is clearly based on scientific method. chekhov carefully describes his data cards, the methods, and the difficulties of data collection. he presents his findings systematically, settlement by settlement. during his stay on sakhalin, he witnessed the appalling conditions and treatment many of the inmates and settlers were forced to endure. he took a particular interest in the intellectual needs of the colony’s children, later collecting and sending a library of over 2,200 books to sakhalin. he also came into contact with the island’s indigenous peoples and observed first-hand the devastating effects of colonialisation on their communities.
this book drew attention to the previously obscure sakhalin colony and added to the growing pressure to reform the russian penal system. ironically, now that it is mostly forgotten, sakhalin too remains an underfunded, chronically poor, prospectless place. in soviet russia depression struggles with you, eh?
one can argue the reason for that is that this book is too bleak and depressing for a young reader, but then again we are talking about russia here. a place, where 16 year olds are forced to analyse war and peace and write full-blown literary essays on raskolnikov's actions as an example of nihilism and manifestation of the ubermensch concept.
there were men and women of working age, old folks and children, but there were absolutely no young people. it seemed that here was nobody on sakhalin between thirteen and twenty years of age. and i reluctantly asked myself, "doesn't this mean that when the young people are old enough they leave the island at the first opportunity?
sakhalin island is one of the greatest works of journalism from the nineteenth century because unlike many other major journalistic works from that time, this book has not aged. i was born and brought up on the island and left when i was 17. as i was reading chekhov's reminiscence about his first encounter with the sakhalin crowd, i could't help myself but feel extremely harrowed, rootless, abandoned — angry, hurt and sad. more than 130 years has passed since he published this book, but little has changed in the general sentiment of the young islanders.
i am a russian born japanese with no ties to my ethnic homeland so i was genuinely fascinated reading chekhov demarcating the japanese from the russians. in 1869 sakhalin, the largest of russia's islands, was officially announced to be a zone of 'penal servitude and exile' and until the beginning of the 20th century the majority of its citizens were convicts. to this day it remains one of the most interesting and controversial constituents of russia. formerly a part of japan, during world war 2, tens of thousands of korean labourers were taken to the island to work for the japanese empire's war effort. a couple years later, sakhalin became a spoil of war and was given to the USSR along with the kuril islands, leaving the koreans on the island stuck in a limbo that many remain in today. the status of sakhalin and, to a greater extent, the kuril islands has dominated relations between modern russia and japan. today sakhalin is one of the least visited parts of russia, basting amazing nature, japanese historical relics, and soviet history.
chekhov spent months on the island meeting with convicts and collecting information on every person he met. he filled in more than 7400 census cards and in 1895 issued this book - a true story about the miserable life of sakhalin convicts. it is clearly based on scientific method. chekhov carefully describes his data cards, the methods, and the difficulties of data collection. he presents his findings systematically, settlement by settlement. during his stay on sakhalin, he witnessed the appalling conditions and treatment many of the inmates and settlers were forced to endure. he took a particular interest in the intellectual needs of the colony’s children, later collecting and sending a library of over 2,200 books to sakhalin. he also came into contact with the island’s indigenous peoples and observed first-hand the devastating effects of colonialisation on their communities.
this book drew attention to the previously obscure sakhalin colony and added to the growing pressure to reform the russian penal system. ironically, now that it is mostly forgotten, sakhalin too remains an underfunded, chronically poor, prospectless place. in soviet russia depression struggles with you, eh?