Propuesta de equipos y distribución en zonas de almacenamiento

The reason for Chekhov’s journey was ostensibly to carry out a census of the exile population on Sakhalin Island but this was merely an excuse to enable him to move around relatively unencumbered. As Chekhov stated himself in Sakhalin Island ‘my main aim was not the results of the census but the impressions obtained during the process of taking it.’177

Yet, there may have been explanations other than those mentioned by Chekhov for undertaking such a daunting journey. Reeve summarises the reasons mentioned repeatedly by commentators: Chekhov was looking for fresh material for his works of fiction, he had a

176

Ironically, the journey which the current study is based on was initially seen as just such a distraction but was later regarded as an important part of Chekhov’s development as a person and, consequently, as a writer.

177

130 desire to put an end to criticism levelled against him for his lack of political engagement in his work, he was disappointed after the recent failure of a play, he wanted to get away after the death of his brother Nikolai the previous year, or from a romantic entanglement, he had diagnosed himself with the early symptoms of tuberculosis and wanted to reflect on his life on his own in a completely unfamiliar environment. He also hoped to turn his observations into a thesis which could launch an academic career. Reeve furthermore mentions a letter from Chekhov to Suvorin of 9 March 1890, in which Chekhov refers to Kennan, whose study of the Russian penal and exile system in Siberia, Reeve believes, undoubtedly influenced Chekhov’s travel plans and research method.178 _{Another source simply suggests the}

following: ‘Dissatisfaction with his creative output, his knowledge, especially his knowledge of life, entices him to make the decision which would surprise his contemporaries – to travel to Sakhalin Island’.179

Chekhov could have been motivated by a combination of all the factors mentioned, but judging from his own admission in Sakhalin Island, he definitely intended to gain fresh impressions in unfamiliar terrain.

According to Ryfa Kennan travelled with a specific goal in mind: to study the Russian penal system.180 But there was more at stake. Asked once where he was educated, Kennan was said to have replied, ‘Russia’.181 _{He was still in his teens when he arrived in the country for}

the first time to work on the telegraph survey project. It was a unique experience that left an indelible impression on him. On his second journey, to the Caucasus in 1870, Danilov describes Kennan as astonished by what he had seen. He felt that the barbarism in the isolated mountainous region had to be replaced with Western civilization and it was Russia’s ‘noble’ role to do so.182

178

Chekhov, A. Sakhalin Island. Richmond, 2013.

179

Editors. Биография Чехова (Краткий биографический словарь), 2000. (http://chehov.niv.ru/chehov/bio/biografiya-kbs2000.htm).

180

Ryfa, J. Literary, scientific and moral implications in the inquiry into the penal system: Anton Chekhov’s journey to Sakhalin Island. PhD Thesis 1997.

181

Hunter, C. George Kennan, an investigative reporter who helped found the National Geographic Society. Washington DC, 2012.

182

131 Bernbaum states that Kennan was fascinated by the diversity of the Russian people and their vast, beautiful country. He believed that the native peoples of Siberia too would benefit from becoming part of the Russian Empire.183 Defending all things Russian, Kennan took on critics of Russia who increasingly highlighted its repressive government and exile system. He insisted that the ‘evil revolutionaries’ who opposed the tsar deserved to be punished for their violent actions.

Kennan had clearly developed Russophile leanings following his previous sojourns in the country and he wanted to silence those critics in the USA who saw Russia as a wicked empire. More specifically, he wanted to take critics of the penal system to task by investigating it for himself and reporting back his findings which he had expected, at the time he set off, would be favourable.

In the preface to the first volume of Siberia and the exile system,184 written once he had changed his point of view, Kennan’s previous pro-Russian fervour has clearly subsided. He simply states that the assassination of Alexander II in 1881 and the subsequent exile of a large number of revolutionists to the mines of the Trans-Baikal had piqued his interest in Siberia, the exile system and the Russian revolutionary movement. He continues to explain that these events had served as the impetus that set him off on the journey which his books are based on. His aims were to become acquainted with exiles, outcasts, and criminals and in addition he wanted to establish how opponents of the government were treated in the prisons and mines of Eastern Siberia.

A factor that could also have contributed towards undertaking this journey was Kennan’s constant search for a fresh news story, or at least a fresh angle on an old story, in his capacity as news correspondent. An assignment like this proposed voyage to Siberia would be ideal as it combined his job with one of his on-going passions, namely Russia.

At the time that De Windt travelled to Siberia, British public opinion on Russia was divided. Memories of the disunity in the British government concerning the Russo-Turkish war, fought barely a decade earlier, were still fresh. Detractors of the Russian government were keen to spread negative propaganda about the country and one of their favourite topics was the Russian exile system in Siberia.

183

Bernbaum, J. America's First Expert on Russia. JB’s Reflections on Russia (blog) 2012

(http://jbrussianreflections.blogspot.com/2012/04/explorer-discovers-russia-george- kennan.html).

184

132 Mellon confirms such observations of the negative press Russia was receiving throughout the 19th century.185 According to Stead, exaggerations of the horrors of Siberia and of the atrocities of the Russian prison system were favourite weapons for assaulting Russia in the English press.186 Russophobia was fuelled further by coverage of terrorist activity in Russia and the negative testimonies of political exiles.

In order to set the record straight, De Windt decided to undertake an investigative journey to Siberia. He found the virtually weekly English press reports of atrocities committed in the region during 1888-89 lacking in credibility as he had not come across any such episodes during his 1887 journey. His stated objective was to expose both the positive and the negative side of the Russian exile system.

All three authors claimed that searching for the truth about the Siberian exile system, the way the Russian government was implementing it and the conditions existing in the region at the time of writing as the motives for undertaking their journeys. They hoped to raise the general awareness among the readers in their native countries of the extant conditions of the system. Although this appears to have been their main motivation, commentators have also mentioned other contributing factors. Some of these are fairly speculative in the case of Chekhov, as he did not disclose anything beyond the motives stated above in his correspondence or other writings. As for Kennan, combining the role of investigative reporter on a topic to be researched in one of his favourite countries presented a perfect prospect. De Windt too must have been happy to have another excuse for indulging his ceaseless yearning after foreign shores.187