World tour of A.P. Chekhov as journey to Sakhalin: writer's viewpoint

On April 21, 1890Chekhov left Moscow and during his journey he visited Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm,Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Ishim, Tomsk, Mariinsk, Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kansk, Irkutsk, Chita,Nerchinsk, Sretensk, Blagoveshchensk, Nikolaevsk, Aygun (China), isl.Sakhalin, Vladivostok,Singapore (English colony in China), Colombor (isl. Ceylon, India), Candy, Port Said (Africa), andOdessa; he was travelling along the Volga, the Kama, the Ob, the Amur, across the Strait of Tartary,the Indian Ocean, the Sea of Japan, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Marmara and theBlack Sea.Moreover, Chekhov's tour around Europe immediately followed his return from Sakhalin. Havingarrived in Moscow on December 8,1890, he again set out to Western Europe after Asia on March 19,1891. During his European journey Chekhov visited Vienna, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Rome,Naples, Nice, Monte Carlo and Paris.In Chekhov's own perception, his Asian and European travels were the same objects. Having goneto Asia on April 21, 1890, he left Europe and returned to Russia on April 27, 1891. It was obvious thatit was not a simple journey to Sakhalin, it was virtually a one-year long world tour. Chekhov studiestraditionally qualify this writer's life stage as ''a journey to Sakhalin'' exclusively.The writer identified his future travels as ''a journey to Sakhalin''. The viewpoint of an individualand the writer should be distinguished in Chekhov's works.Preparing for the journey he planned to write a book about Sakhalin and a cycle of Siberiansketches for the daily newspaper. As a writer he described only his native country.The impressions of other countries belong to the sphere of his private life. He shared themintensively only in private correspondence, describing Vienna, Venice, Rome, Naples, Nice and Paris.However, he never created a cycle of foreign travels sketches similar to the cycle ''From Siberia''.It was a journey to Sakhalin for him as a writer, and it was a world tour for him as an ordinaryperson. This way Chekhov realized his responsibility before the Russian reader audience: to writeabout Russia only.The private reminiscences of other countries occurred sporadically in his writings as, for instance,a well-known Dorn's description of Genoa.But in general Chekhov describes his foreign journey only in his private letters, therefore onlythere his trip is classified as the world tour it actually was.During this journey Chekhov saw the world, which was the writer's world tour. However,Chekhov's viewpoint on the public position of a Russian writer determined his own description of thisjourney exclusively as ''a journey to Sakhalin''.

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