체홉의 사할린 여행: 기행문학으로서의 시베리아 여행기

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to observe what meaning had Sakhalin journey of 1890 for Chekhov, a Russian writer of the end of 19th century, and how the journey changed his literary works. Chekhov attempted the journey to Sakhalin, a remote region of Far East Siberia, which at that time used to be a place where Russian criminals were exiled. We observed together what was the cause that made the writer so determined to go to Sakhalin despite of opposition of those who were close to him, what was the context in which he came to venture this great adventure. In chapter 2 we examined genres and characteristics of travel literature in Russia, in chapter 3 we observed the process of preparation and background of Chekhov’s journey to Sakhalin, and in chapter 4 we examined the changes that occurred in the writer’s life and literary works after the journey and the literary meaning of the journey. For centuries many writers have attempted literary journeys and those journeys either became a turning point in their creative work or provided fresh themes for them, who are known to be always thirsty after changes and new things. There were a lot of various guesses by critics concerning motives for Chekhov’s sudden journey to Sakhalin. However the reasoning of those motives has become to some extent possible due to letters he exchanged with people he knew and literary works he published after the journey. And his literary world that was expressed after the journey had obviously shown a lot of changes. As Chekhov’s social consciousness matured he acutely felt need for attempting new changes. He took decision to leave for Sakhalin, an exile site, in order to perform his duty as a writer, follow his conscience and show Russian society the miserable reality of the island. He also associated life and destiny of inhabitants of the remote region of Far East to destiny of Russia, to social and spiritual tragedy of the country. He always looked for new things and wanted to become a free artist, and after the Sakhalin journey he outgrew the depressing reality and showed an extended artistic and spiritual creative world. That was because his worldview and social awareness became stronger after the journey. Chekhov, who always looked for uncommon and extraordinary, encountered an important turning point of his creative life in the expedition that he ventured at the risk of his life. After the Sakhalin journey the change that occurred to him was escape from Tolstoy’s influence. His defy of Tolstoyism that supported “nonresistance to evil” became an opportunity for him to finally establish his independence. If before he showed passive attitude in his works, after the journey he showed his ideas actively. In the fact that during his short life the writer showed various works and genre developments we can see an enormous role of the Sakhalin journey that became a turning point of his life.