Sakhalin Island summary of chapters. Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Sakhalin Island

Introduction

1. Ideological and compositional originality of the cycle of essays "Sakhalin Island" by A.P. Chekhov

2. Features of the narrative manner of A.P. Chekhov in the cycle of essays "Sakhalin Island"

2.1 Genre specifics of A.P. Chekhov

2.2 The originality of the narrative manner of A.P. Chekhov in Sakhalin Island

Conclusion

List of used literature

"Sakhalin Island" (1890 - 1894) by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is a unique work in his creative heritage, the only one in the genre of a documentary essay, but characteristic of Chekhov - a writer and a citizen. From the moment its first chapters were published to the present day, literary critics have undeniably the question of the great importance for Chekhov's work of his trip to Sakhalin, the book that followed it, as well as the reflection of the "Sakhalin theme" in the works of the 90s - 900s.

By this time, Chekhov had already gained fame: in 1887, for the collection of stories "At Twilight", he received half the Pushkin Prize of the Academy of Sciences, ending his constant collaboration with "Shards" in the same year, in March 1888 he made his debut in the "thick" magazine with the story "Steppe". Thus, he moved from the category of literary journalists writing exclusively for thin publications to the category of writers publishing in "serious" magazines. There was a creative style, the manner of the artist, but Chekhov implements his bold project, which influenced his life and future work. In Sakhalin Island, some ideas are expressed with restraint and caution that characterize the general mood of the writer and his views in the first half of the nineties. At the same time, the author of "Sakhalin Island" is largely based on the novelist Chekhov. He does not set up an artistic image of what he sees, he does not introduce any concepts in advance. He only wants to tell harshly about what he witnessed, he wants to be only a writer - a public figure. Apparently, therefore, the first attempts to critically comprehend the meaning of Chekhov's work were expressed in a negative assessment. In particular, Mikhailovsky, a contemporary literary critic of Chekhov, who was critical of the perception of his work, but who managed to accurately understand the essence of Chekhov's creative method, as if demanded from the writer: "Give us direct answers to damned questions." But for Chekhov, the most important thing is not the answer, but the right question. Mikhailovsky is not enough. Therefore, he put all the works of the “Sakhalin theme” (and after all, it includes “Ward N6”!) Below “Boring History”. However, another critic of that time, M. Nevedomsky, in his article “Without Wings”, summarizes about this work: “... a sadly skeptical attitude towards all sorts of“ theories of progress ”, towards all the mottos of humanity fighting for its dignity and happiness, is apparently bleak - a pessimistic attitude towards life itself, a philistine limited outlook and - broad artistic generalizations filled with genuine poetry of an artistic creation! Such is the "antinomy" that Chekhov's work contains" (28, 819).

Modern researchers E. Polotskaya, A. Zakharkin, M. Semanova, E. Guseva, I. Gurvich and others note that in "Sakhalin Island" Chekhov abandoned his former artistic techniques, discarded everything that seemed "literary", simplified the style and form in order to develop a new handwriting, characterized by a clearer sound, a sense of the relationship between social phenomena. The book was the result of a trip to the peninsula, scientific work in the region, as well as meetings with people cut off from civilization, and significantly influenced all the further work of the writer. Exploring the poetic world of the work, its place in Chekhov's artistic heritage and noting the change in the writer's creative method, E. Polotskaya argues that this work is important in developing a new style, searching for new creative horizons: “It is difficult to abandon the idea that Chekhov's desire is prose to restraint and accuracy, reflected especially in the book "Sakhalin Island", a scientific and documentary study in the genre of "travel notes", was laid in him from childhood" (33, 71). In our opinion, this can be confirmed by the fact that Chekhov did not write other essay books, “like Sakhalin”, although he was going to do this on the basis of Zemstvo schools (1, vol. 5 414). He did not create works of art about Sakhalin life, which his contemporaries expected from him. However, the Sakhalin trip opened a new period of his work, contributed, in the words of Chekhov himself, to his "manhood" and gave rise to "a damn abyss of plans." So, after Sakhalin, the theme of protest entered Chekhov's work. Pavel Ivanovich, the hero of the first post-Sakhalin story Gusev (1890), calls himself "Protest incarnate". Often an equal sign is put between the position of Pavel Ivanovich and Chekhov's protest: the writer is credited with the intention to "reprove" together with Pavel Ivanovich ("through his mouth"); this is supported by the sincerity of the hero and justice, the indisputability of almost all of his attacks and accusations. Chekhov, on the other hand, does not openly accuse anyone, the style of his narration is not accusatory, but ascertaining. Another thing is the facts that he cites, portraits and destinies that the artist selected for sketches. This is their main difference. The stories "Gloomy People" (1890) and "Ward No. 6" (1893), "Duel" (1891) and "Women" (1891), "In Exile" (1892) and "In the Ravine" (1900) were among the the most tragic works in Chekhov's work, in which the author depicted the main conflict between the human person and society.

In modern literary criticism, the significance of this milestone work for the work of A.P. Chekhov and his contribution to the development of all Russian literature. In the works of A.P. Skaftymova, G.A. Byalogo, Z.S. Paperny, N.Ya. Berkovsky, G.P. Berdnikova, I.A. Gurvich, V. Strada and other researchers of Chekhov's creativity and "Sakhalin Island" in particular, the social origins of Chekhov's creativity are considered, the problem of the unity of the artistic world is posed, the significance of the transitional period of creativity in the 90-900s is assessed. The main subject of researchers' analysis was Chekhov's "representation of the world" (M. Gorky), which became the writer's "shaping idea". At the same time, not all literary critics consider this work a serious object for literary analysis. So, E. Polotskaya, speaking about the fact that the modern approach to Czech studies affected in the 80s - 90s of the twentieth century after the publication of the thirty-volume Complete Works and Letters, she believes that the framework for studying the specific problems of Chekhov's creativity as an art phenomenon has expanded, but he mentions this work in his own works only in connection with the works of the “Sakhalin theme” (33, 12).

Exploring the figurative structure of the essays, the nature of the use of statistical data, and stylistic features, the researcher T. Kharazishvili concludes that the talents of a scientist, publicist and artist are organically merged in Sakhalin Island (52, 314). The object of study in his work is the language and style of the work on the example of the description of key images, the mechanism for including dialogues, stories, sketches, census data and their meaning.

Studying the laws of tragic life, discovered by Chekhov in his contemporary life, the researcher N.N. Sobolevskaya notes the echo of Chekhov's and Shakespeare's poetics: "It is important not how the story ends, but the story itself, the dramatic situation in which nature is revealed in a different form than it seemed at the beginning, a new form" (42,133). In his article "The Poetics of the Tragic in Chekhov" N.N. Sobolevskaya considers the evolution of the tragic conflict in connection with the milestone work - the cycle of essays "Sakhalin Island" and points out that "tragic collisions relentlessly attracted Chekhov's artistic attention, which became especially aggravated after his visit to the hard labor island of Sakhalin" (42, 128).

In the works of M.L. Semanova for the first time explores the role of the narrator, which is reflected in the style, choice of plots, the role of references and notes in Sakhalin Island. She showed that “... like other great artists, Chekhov breaks out of the captivity of facts even when he creates essays, documentary works of art; he does not fetishize the facts, but selects, groups them in accordance with the general idea of the work, his understanding of the logic of life. Sakhalin travel notes organically combine authentic documents, statistical data and plot-completed parts, portraits, landscape sketches ... This versatile material in Sakhalin is united by the author’s humanistic thought about a humiliated person ... Sakhalin seems to Chekhov to be a “whole hell”, and this formative image spilled throughout the essay book "(39, 50 - 52). Book M.L. Semanova "Chekhov the Artist" made many researchers of Chekhov's work take a fresh look at the work about Sakhalin. So, the object of attention in the article by E.A. Guseva becomes the connection between man and nature, which can be traced in all of Chekhov's prose, and, according to the researcher, "is typical ... for a book about a hard labor island ... Pictures of nature most often set off the inner psychological world of Chekhov's heroes, and in the book of essays it is primarily its author, on whose behalf the narration is being conducted, through whose eyes the reader sees the world ”(12, 82 - 83). In this work, E.A. Guseva concludes that pictures of nature are organized not only to indicate the time and place of action, but also are “a sign of a certain feeling, they constitute the psychological background of the depicted, i.e. they are lyrical” (13, 87).

For the disclosure of the topic we have chosen, the results of scientific research by I.N. Dry, which are currently the most complete, especially in the matter of the narrative organization of the book. The researcher also presented an analysis of the composition of Chekhov's work, showed the role of the "microplot" in the fabric of the book (45, 72 - 84), which, in his opinion, is a cycle-forming factor, pointed out the importance of anecdotes and the "open" ending of the book.

My homeland is Sakhalin. I am extremely pleased to know that Anton Pavlovich Chekhov visited this wonderful island... Once upon a time in my youth I read Chekhov's book about Sakhalin. Now I am returning to this book with pleasure - I found very interesting retro photos about Sakhalin of that time

In 1890, Chekhov made the most difficult trip to Sakhalin - the "convict island", the place of exile of prisoners. “Sensational news,” wrote the newspaper “News of the Day” on January 26, 1890. “A.P. Chekhov undertakes a trip to Siberia in order to study the life of convicts ... This is the first of the Russian writers who travels to Siberia and back."

Due post on Sakhalin at the end of the 19th century. Photo from Chekhov's collection.

Chekhov prepared for the trip for a long time: he studied the history of the Russian prison and the colonization of the island, as well as works on history, ethnography, geography, and travelers' notes.

At that time, Sakhalin was a little-studied, "uninteresting" place, there was not even data on the population of the island. During the three months that the trip lasted, the writer did a great job, including conducting a census of the island's population, studying the life and living conditions of convicts. Sakhalin doctor N.S. Lobas noted: "With the light hand of Chekhov, both Russian and foreign researchers began to visit Sakhalin."

The result of Chekhov's trip was the publication of the books "From Siberia" and "Sakhalin Island (From Travel Notes)", in which he described both the unbearable life of convicts and the arbitrariness of officials. “Sakhalin is a place of unbearable suffering…,” the author wrote. “…We rotted millions of people in prisons, rotted away in vain, without reasoning, barbarously; we drove people through the cold in shackles for tens of thousands of miles… we multiplied criminals and blamed all this on red-nosed prison guards ... It's not the caretakers who are to blame, but all of us."

During a trip to Sakhalin, Chekhov met with Sonya the Golden Handle

An important result of Chekhov's trip to Sakhalin was the census of the island's population, most of which were convicts and their families. Chekhov traveled from the northern tip of the island to the southern tip, having visited almost all the villages. "There is not a single convict or settler on Sakhalin who would not talk to me," he wrote.

Sophia Blyuvshtein's shackles. Photo from Chekhov's collection

Among the convicts living on Sakhalin was Sofya Blyuvshtein - Sonya the Golden Hand. The legendary thief, who easily disguised herself as an aristocrat, spoke several languages and thought out her crimes so carefully that the police could not find justice for her for a long time, was sent into exile for several thefts of jewelry for a large amount.

On the island, Sonya made three attempts to escape, all unsuccessful, was shackled and eventually broke down. Chekhov, who met her in 1890, described the legendary swindler as follows: “This is a small, thin, already graying woman with a crumpled, old woman’s face. She has shackles on her hands; and bed. She walks around her cell from corner to corner, and it seems that she is constantly sniffing the air, like a mouse in a mousetrap, and her expression is mouse-like." At that time Sonya was only 45 years old.

Chekhov among relatives and friends before leaving for Sakhalin. A.P. Chekhov before leaving for Sakhalin. Standing: A.I. Ivanenko, I.P. Chekhov, P.E. Chekhov, A. Korneev. Sitting: M.Korneeva, M.P.Chekhov, L.S.Mizinova, M.P.Chekhova, A.P.Chekhov, E.Ya.Chekhova. Moscow.

Chekhov dreamed of illustrating his book with Sakhalin photographs, but, unfortunately, he failed to do so. 115 years after the first edition of the book "Sakhalin Island", the Sakhalin people published a brochure, it is possible for the first time to show most of the places and villages that Anton Pavlovich visited in 1890, as they looked in the 19th century. This publication publishes photographs of A.A. von Fricken, I.I. Pavlovsky, A. Dines, P. Labbe - photographers of the late 19th century. Modern photographs show what Chekhov's Sakhalin looks like today.

Not everyone was sympathetic to the upcoming trip. Many considered it an "unnecessary affair" and a "wild fantasy." A.P. Chekhov himself was aware of the difficulties of the upcoming journey, but he saw his civic and literary duty in drawing public attention to Sakhalin, “a place of unbearable suffering”. According to Mikhail, the writer's younger brother, Anton Pavlovich "was preparing for the trip in autumn, winter and part of spring." He read a lot of books about Sakhalin, compiled an extensive bibliography. The great preparatory work of the writer is also evidenced by the fact that even before the trip, Anton Pavlovich wrote some sections of his future book.

On April 21, 1890, A.P. Chekhov left Moscow for Sakhalin with a certificate of a correspondent for the Novoye Vremya newspaper. The trip through all of Russia took almost three months and proved to be incredibly difficult for the writer, who was already suffering from tuberculosis at that time. The whole "horse-horse journey", as the writer called it, amounted to four and a half thousand miles.

The Swedish steamship Atlas, washed ashore near the Alexandrovsky post in May 1890. Photo from the 19th century. author unknown

Aleksandrovsk

A.P. Chekhov arrived at the Alexandrovsky post on Sakhalin on July 11, 1890. "There is no harbor here and the shores are dangerous, as impressively evidenced by the Swedish steamer Atlas, which was wrecked shortly before my arrival and is now lying on the shore." It is from these lines that Anton Chekhov's story begins about his stay on Sakhalin, it was the sight of this broken steamer that was his first impression of the island.

Until now, at the site of the crash of the Atlas, during a strong low tide, the remains of ship equipment are exposed. Photo 2009

Duty house on the sea pier in the post of Alexander. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky

There is a pier, but only for boats and barges. This is a large, several fathoms log house, protruding into the sea in the form of the letter T ... At the wide end of the T there is a pretty house - the office of the pier - and right there is a high black mast. The building is solid, but short-lived.

Pier in the post of Aleksandrovsky, destroyed by ice. Photo by P.Labbe

During the three months and two days of his stay on the island, A.P. Chekhov conducted hard work, studying the life of convicts and settlers, and at the same time the life and customs of local officials. He single-handedly undertook a census of the exile-convict population, filling out about 10,000 cards in the process. The writer Mikhail Sholokhov said about this feat of Anton Pavlovich: “Chekhov, even being seriously ill, found strength in himself and, driven by great love for people and professional writer's real curiosity, nevertheless went to Sakhalin.”

The cards, by special order of the writer, were printed in a small printing house at the local police department in the Aleksandrovsky post.

Questionnaires for the population census of the island of Sakhalin, compiled and completed by A.P. Chekhov. For statistics, women's cards were crossed out in red pencil.

A.P. Chekhov was also given a document allowing him to travel around the island. "Certificate. This was given from the head of Sakhalin Island to the doctor Anton Pavlovich Chekhov in that he, Mr. Chekhov, is allowed to collect various statistical information and materials necessary for literary work on the organization of penal servitude on Sakhalin Island. I propose to the chiefs of the districts to provide legal assistance to Mr. Chekhov for the indicated purpose when he visits prisons and settlements, and, if necessary, to provide Mr. Chekhov with the opportunity to make various extracts from official documents. In which we certify by signature and application of the state seal, July 30, 1890, post Alexandrovsky. The head of the island is Major General Kononovich. The ruler of the office I. Vologdin. Time i.d. clerk Andreev.

With this document, Chekhov examined the most remote prisons and settlements of the island. “I traveled all the settlements, went into all the huts and spoke with everyone; I used the card system during the census, and I have already recorded about ten thousand convicts and settlers. In other words, there is not a single convict or settler on Sakhalin who would not talk to me, ”A.P. Chekhov wrote to the publisher A.S. Suvorin on September 11, 1890.

Exiled settlers of one of the villages of Sakhalin Island. Photo by P.Labbe

On Sakhalin, Chekhov was interested in literally everything: the climate, the hygienic conditions of prisons, the food and clothes of prisoners, the dwellings of the exiles, the state of agriculture and crafts, the system of punishments to which the exiles were subjected, the situation of women, the lives of children and schools, medical statistics and hospitals, meteorological stations, the life of the indigenous population and Sakhalin antiquities, the work of the Japanese consulate in the Korsakov Post, and much more.

Of the 65 Russian villages marked on the map of Sakhalin in 1890, Anton Pavlovich described or mentioned 54, and personally visited 39 villages. In the then off-road conditions and the unsettled life on the island, only such a selfless person as A.P. Chekhov could do this.

From July 11 to September 10, A.P. Chekhov remained in northern Sakhalin, visiting the villages of the Aleksandrovsky and Tymovsky districts. He stopped at the Alexandrovsky post (now the city of Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky), visited the villages located in the valley of the Duika River: Korsakovka (this time within the city), Novo-Mikhailovka (Mikhailovka), Krasny Yar (abolished in 1978).

“After finishing the Duika Valley,” Anton Pavlovich conducted a population census in three small villages located in the valley of the Arkovo River. At the mouth of the Arkay (Arkovo) River, Chekhov visited the Arkov cordon (Arkovo-Bereg), in the villages of First Arkovo (Chekhovskoye), Second Arkovo, Arkovsky Stanok and Third Arkovo (now all these villages are united into one village). The first time he went there on the morning of 31 July.

Two roads lead from Aleksandrovsk to the Arkovskaya Valley: one is a mountain road, along which there was no passage during my time, and the other along the seashore; on this last ride is possible only at low tide. The overcast sky, the sea, on which not a single sail was visible, and the steep clay shore were severe; the waves were muffled and mournful. Sick, diseased trees looked down from the high bank.

Coast between Aleksandrovsk and Arkovo. Photo 2009
The Arkovsky cordon is located near the Gilyak village. Previously, it had the meaning of a guard post, soldiers lived in it, who caught the fugitives ...

Mouth of the Arkovo River. Photo by A.A. von Fricken
Between the Second and Third Arkovo there is the Arkovsky Stanok, where they change horses when they go to the Tymovsky district.

Arkov machine. Photo by A.A. von Fricken
If a landscape painter happens to be on Sakhalin, then I recommend the Arkovskaya Valley to his attention. This place... extremely rich in colors....

View of the Arkovskaya valley. Photo 2009
All three Arkovo belong to the poorest villages of Northern Sakhalin. There is arable land here, there is livestock, but there has never been a harvest.

A village in the Arkovskaya valley. Photo by P.Labbe

Arkovskaya Valley in July Photo 2009

Cape Jonquière

A little to the south of the Alexander post there was only one settlement - "Duai, a terrible, ugly and in every respect a trashy place." On the way there, Anton Pavlovich repeatedly passed through a tunnel built by convicts in 1880-1883.

Cape Jonquiere fell with all its weight on the coastal shallows, and passage through it would have been impossible at all if a tunnel had not been dug.

Cape Jonquiere. Photo 2009

They dug it without consulting an engineer, without any tricks, and as a result it turned out dark, crooked and dirty.

Tunnel at Cape Jonquiere. Photo 2008

Immediately after the exit from the tunnel near the coast road there is a saltworks and a cable house, from which a telegraph cable descends along the sand into the sea.

Between the Alexander post and the Douai post in a deep narrow ravine, or, according to A.P. Chekhov, “a crevice”, “The terrible Voivodeship prison stands alone.”

The voivodship prison consists of three main buildings and one small one, in which punishment cells are placed. It was built in the seventies, and in order to form the area on which it now stands, it was necessary to tear off a mountainous coast on an area of 480 square meters. fathoms.

Voivodship prison. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky

In the Voivodship Prison there are people chained to wheelbarrows... Each of them is chained in hand and foot shackles; from the middle of the hand shackles there is a long chain of 3-4 arshins, which is attached to the bottom of a small wheelbarrow.

Wheelbarrows of the Voivodship Prison. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky

All the way to Douai, the steep, sheer shore is scree, on which spots and stripes blacken here and there, ranging in width from a arshin to a sazhen. This is coal.

Coast between Cape Zhonkier and Voevodskaya Padya. Photo 2008

Post Due

Pier post Douai. Photo from 1886. author unknown

This is a post; the population calls it a port.

In the first minutes when you drive into the street, Douai gives the impression of a small ancient fortress: a flat and smooth street, like a parade ground for marching, clean white houses, a striped booth, striped posts; to complete the impressions, only the drum roll is missing.

Central street of Douai post. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky

Where the short street ends, a gray wooden church stands across it, blocking the unofficial part of the port from the viewer; here the crevice doubles in the form of the letter "y", sending ditches from itself to the right and left.

Duy Church. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky

On the left is the settlement, which was formerly called Zhidovskaya ...

An alley in the village of Due, in which the Zhidovskaya Slobidka used to be, with houses built during the existence of the Japanese concession. Photo 2009

Currently, the Duya mines are in the exclusive use of the Sakhalin private society, whose representatives live in St. Petersburg.

Pier society "Sakhalin" and the mine. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky

Near the mine office there is a barrack for settlers working in the mines, a small old barn, somehow adapted for spending the night. I was here at 5 o'clock in the morning when the settlers had just got up. What a stink, darkness, crush!

Remains of a pier in the village of Due. Photo 2007

Historical and Literary Museum "A.P. Chekhov and Sakhalin" in the city of Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, Chekhov St., 19

Literary and Art Museum of A.P. Chekhov's book "Sakhalin Island" in the city of Yuzhno-

Documentary photographs are provided by the A.P. Chekhov and Sakhalin Historical and Literary Museum, the Sakhalin Regional Art Museum, the museum of A.P. Chekhov's book "Sakhalin Island".
Sources.

Sakhalin island

Anton Chekhov
Sakhalin island
I. G. Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. - Steamboat "Baikal". - Cape Pronge and the entrance to Liman. - Sakhalin Peninsula. - La Perouse, Brauton, Krusenstern and Nevelskoy. Japanese explorers. - Cape Jaore. - Tatar coast. - De-Kastri.
II. Brief geography. - Arrival in Northern Sakhalin. - Fire. - Pier. - In Slobodka. - Dinner at Mr. L. - Acquaintances. - Gen. Kononovich. - Arrival of the Governor-General. - Dinner and illumination.
III. Census. - The content of statistical cards. - What I asked, and how they answered me. - The hut and its inhabitants. - Opinions of exiles about the census.
IV. Duika river. - Alexander Valley. - Slobidka Aleksandrovka. Tramp Handsome. - Alexander post. - His past. - Yurts. Sakhalin Paris.
V. Aleksandrovsk exile prison. - Shared cameras. Shackled. - Golden Pen. - Outhouses. - Maidan. - Hard labor in Aleksandrovsk. - Servants. - Workshops.
VI Yegor's story
VII. Lighthouse. - Korsakov. - Collection of Dr. P.I. Suprunenko. Meteorological station. - The climate of the Aleksandrovsky district. Novo-Mikhailovka. - Potemkin. - Ex-executioner Tersky. - Krasny Yar. - Butakovo.
VIII. River Arkan. - Arkovsky cordon. - First, Second and Third Arkovo. Arkovskaya valley. - Settlements along the western coast: Mgachi, Tangi, Hoe, Trambaus, Viakhty and Vangi. - Tunnel. - Cable house. - Due. - Barracks for families. - Duja prison. - Coal mines. - Provincial prison. Chained to wheelbarrows.
IX. Tym, or Tym. - Leith. Boschniak. - Polyakov. - Upper Armudan. - Lower Armudan. - Derbinsk. - Walk along Tymi. - Uskovo. - Gypsies. - Walk in the taiga. - Resurrection.
X. Rykovskoe. - The local prison. - Meteorological station M.N. Galkin-Vrasky. - Fawn. - Mikryukov. - Valses and Longari. - Mado-Tymovo. - Andrey-Ivanovskoye.
XI. Designed district. - Stone Age. - Was there a free colonization? Gilyaki. - Their numerical composition, appearance, constitution, food, clothing, dwellings, hygienic conditions. - Their character. - Attempts to Russify them. Orochi.
XII. My departure to the south. - Cheerful lady. - West Coast. - Currents. Mauka. - Crillon. - Aniva. - Korsakov post. - New acquaintances. Nord-ost. - The climate of South Sakhalin. - Korsakov prison. - Fire brigade.
XIII. Poro en Tomari. - Muravyovskiy post. - First, Second and Third Pad. Solovyovka. - Lutoga. - Naked cape. - Mitsulka. - Larch. Khomutovka. - Big Elan. - Vladimirovka. - Farm or firm. - Meadow. Popov Yurts. - Birch forests. - Crosses. - Large and Small Takoe. Galkino-Vraskoe. - Oaks. - Naibuchi. - Sea.
XIV. Taraika. - Free settlers. - Their failures. - Aino, the boundaries of their distribution, numerical composition, appearance, food, clothing, dwellings, their customs. - The Japanese. - Kusun-Kotan. - Japanese Consulate.
XV. The hosts are convicts. - Transfer to the settlers. - Selection of places for new villages. - Home improvement. - Halfers. - Transfer to the peasants. Resettlement of peasants from exiles to the mainland. - Life in the villages. Proximity to prison. - The composition of the population by place of birth and by class. rural authorities.
XVI. Composition of the exiled population by sex. - Women's issue. - Hard labor women and settlements. - Cohabitants and cohabitants. - Women of the free state.
XVII. Composition of the population by age. - Marital status of the exiles. - Marriages. Fertility. - Sakhalin children.
XVIII. The occupations of the exiles. - Agriculture. - Hunting. - Fishing. Periodic fish: chum salmon and herring. - Prison catches. - Mastery.
XIX. The food of the exiles. - What and how prisoners eat. - Cloth. - Church. School. - Literacy.
XX. Free population. - Lower ranks of local military teams. Overseers. - Intelligentsia.
XXI. Morality of the exiled population. - Crime. - Investigation and trial. - Punishment. - Rods and whips. - The death penalty.
XXII. Runaways on Sakhalin. - Reasons for running away. - The composition of the fugitives by origin, ranks, etc.
XXIII. Morbidity and mortality of the exiled population. - Medical organization. - Infirmary in Aleksandrovsk.
Sakhalin island. For the first time - journal. "Russian Thought", 1893, Nos. 10-12; 1894, Nos. 2, 3, 5-7. The journal published chapters I-XIX; with the addition of chapters XX-XXIII "Sakhalin Island" was published as a separate publication: Anton Chekhov, "Sakhalin Island". From travel notes. M., 1895.
Even during the preparation of the trip to Sakhalin, Chekhov began compiling a bibliography and even wrote separate pieces of a future book that did not require personal observations from Sakhalin.
Chekhov returned to Moscow from Sakhalin on December 8, 1890. A.P. Chekhov brought, in his words, "a chest of all sorts of convict things": 10,000 statistical cards, samples of article lists of convicts, petitions, complaints from doctor B. Perlin, etc.
Chekhov began work on a book about Sakhalin in early 1891. In a letter to A.S. Suvorin dated May 27, 1891, Chekhov remarks: "... The Sakhalin book will be published in the fall, because, honestly, I am already writing and writing it." At first, he was going to print the entire book without fail and refused to publish individual chapters or just notes about Sakhalin, but in 1892, in connection with the public upsurge among the Russian intelligentsia, caused by the organization of assistance to the starving, Chekhov decided to publish a chapter of his book "The Runaways on Sakhalin " in the collection "Help for the Starving", M., 1892.
In 1893, when the book was finished, Chekhov began to worry about its volume and style of presentation, which was not suitable for publication in a thick magazine. The editor of Russian Thought, V. M. Lavrov, recalled in his essay “At the Untimely Grave”: “Sakhalin was promised to us, and we defended it with great difficulty in the form in which it appeared in the last books of 1893 and in the first books of 1894." ("Russian Vedomosti", 1904, No. 202).
Despite Chekhov's fears about the attitude of government authorities to his work, "Sakhalin Island" passed with little difficulty. November 25, 1893 Chekhov wrote to Suvorin: "Galkin-Vraskoy" head of the Main Prison Department. - P.E. complained to Feoktistov "to the head of the Main Directorate for Press Affairs. - P.E. "; the November book of "Russian Thought" was delayed for three days. But everything turned out well." Summing up the history of the publication of "Sakhalin Island" in the journal "Russian Thought", Chekhov wrote to S.A. Petrov (May 23, 1897): "My travel notes were published in Russian Thought, all except for two chapters that were detained by censorship, which did not get into the magazine, but did get into the book."
Even in the period of preparation for the trip to Sakhalin, Chekhov determined the genre of the future book, its scientific and journalistic nature. It should have found its place and author's reflections, and excursions of a scientific nature, and artistic sketches of nature, life and life of people on Sakhalin; undoubtedly, the genre of the book was greatly influenced by "Notes from the Dead House" by F.M. Dostoevsky and "Siberia and penal servitude" by S.V. Maksimov, to which the author repeatedly refers in the text of the narrative.
According to the researchers, even in the process of working on the draft of Sakhalin Island, the structure of the entire book was determined: chapters I-XIII are built as travel essays, devoted first to Northern and then Southern Sakhalin; chapters XIV-XXIII - as problematic essays, devoted to certain aspects of the Sakhalin way of life, agricultural colonization, children, women, fugitives, the work of the Sakhalin people, their morality, etc. In each chapter, the author tried to convey to the readers the main idea: Sakhalin is "hell".
At the beginning of the work, Chekhov did not like the tone of the story; in a letter to Suvorin dated July 28, 1893, he describes the process of crystallization of the style of the book as follows; “I wrote for a long time and felt for a long time that I was going the wrong way, until I finally caught the falsehood. The falsehood was precisely in the fact that I seemed to want to teach someone with my Sakhalin and at the same time I was hiding something and restrain myself. But as soon as I began to portray what an eccentric I felt on Sakhalin and what pigs there, then it became easy for me and my work began to boil ... "
In the description of Sakhalin life, a parallel is persistently drawn with the recent serf past of Russia: the same rods, the same domestic and fine slavery, as, for example, in the description of the caretaker of the Derbinsk prison - "the landowner of the good old days."
One of the central chapters of the book is Chapter VI - "Egor's Story". One of the characteristic features of the convict population of Sakhalin is emphasized in the personality of Yegor and in his fate: the randomness of crimes caused in most cases not by the vicious inclinations of the criminal, but by the nature of the life situation, which could not be resolved by the crime.
The publication of "Sakhalin Island" on the pages of the journal "Russian Thought" immediately attracted the attention of metropolitan and provincial newspapers. "The whole book bears the stamp of the author's talent and his beautiful soul. "Sakhalin Island" is a very serious contribution to the study of Russia, being at the same time an interesting literary work. Many heart-grabbing details are collected in this book, and you only need to wish that they attracted the attention of those on whom the fate of the "unfortunate" depends. ("Week", 1895, No. 38).
The book of A.P. Chekhov caused a very significant response; so, A.F. Koni wrote: “To study this colonization on the spot, he undertook a difficult journey, associated with a mass of trials, anxieties and dangers that had a disastrous effect on his health. The result of this journey, his book about Sakhalin, bears the stamp of extraordinary preparation and a merciless waste of time and forces. In it, behind the strict form and businesslike tone, behind the multitude of factual and digital data, one feels the saddened and indignant heart of the writer "(sb. "A.P. Chekhov", L., "Ateney", 1925). Sister of Mercy E.K. Meyer, having read "Sakhalin Island", in 1896 went to the island, where she founded a "workhouse", which provided work and food for the settlers, and a society for the care of the families of convicts. Published in St. Petersburg Vedomosti (1902, No. 321), her report on her work on Sakhalin began with the words: "Six years ago ... I fell into the hands of A.P. Chekhov's book Sakhalin Island, and my desire to live and work among the convicts, thanks to her, took a certain form and direction.
Chekhov's essays served as an incentive for trips to Sakhalin and writing books about the island, among which were the books of the famous journalist Vlas Doroshevich: "How I got to Sakhalin" (M., 1903) and "Sakhalin" (M., 1903).
The book "Sakhalin Island" drew the attention of officials to the egregious situation of convicts and exiles. The Ministry of Justice and the Main Prison Department sent their representatives to the island: in 1893 - Prince. N.S. Golitsyn, in 1894 - M.N. Galkin-Vrasky, in 1896 - legal adviser D.A. Dril, in 1898 - the new head of the Main Prison Department A.P. Salomon. The reports of high-ranking officials confirmed the evidence of A.P. Chekhov. In 1902, sending his reports on the trip to Sakhalin, A.P. Salomon wrote to Chekhov: "Let me humbly ask you to accept these two works as a tribute to my deep respect for your work on the study of Sakhalin, works that equally belong to Russian science and Russian literature."
As a concession to public opinion, agitated by Chekhov's book, the reforms carried out by the Russian government were perceived: in 1893 - the abolition of corporal punishment for women and a change in the law on the marriages of exiles; in 1895 - the appointment of state funds for the maintenance of orphanages; in 1899 - the abolition of eternal exile and life hard labor; in 1903 - the abolition of corporal punishment and shaving of the head.
I
G. Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. - Steamboat "Baikal". - Cape Pronge and the entrance to Liman. Sakhalin Peninsula. - La Perouse, Brauton, Krusenstern and Nevelskoy. - Japanese explorers. - Cape Jaore. - Tatar coast. - De-Kastri.
On July 5, 1890, I arrived by steamer in the city of Nikolaevsk, one of the easternmost points of our fatherland. The Amur here is very wide, only 27 versts are left to the sea; the place is majestic and beautiful, but the memories of the past of this region, the stories of companions about a fierce winter and no less fierce local customs, the proximity of hard labor and the very sight of an abandoned, dying city completely take away the desire to admire the landscape.
Nikolaevsk was founded not so long ago, in 1850, by the famous Gennady Nevelsky1, and this is perhaps the only bright place in the history of the city. In the 1950s and 1960s, when culture was being planted along the Amur River without sparing soldiers, prisoners, and migrants, officials who ruled the region had their stay in Nikolaevsk, many Russian and foreign adventurers came here, settlers settled, tempted by the extraordinary abundance of fish and animals, and, apparently, the city was not alien to human interests, since there was even a case that a visiting scientist found it necessary and possible to give a public lecture here in the club. Now, almost half of the houses are abandoned by their owners, dilapidated, and dark, frameless windows look at you like the eye sockets of a skull. The townsfolk lead a sleepy, drunken life and generally live from hand to mouth, than God sent. They make their living by supplying fish to Sakhalin, gold predation, exploitation of foreigners, selling show-offs, that is, deer antlers, from which the Chinese prepare stimulating pills. On the way from Khabarovka3 to Nikolaevsk I had to meet quite a few smugglers; here they do not hide their profession. One of them, showing me the golden sand and a couple of show-offs, said to me with pride: "And my father was a smuggler!" The exploitation of foreigners, apart from the usual soldering, fooling, etc., is sometimes expressed in an original form. So, the Nikolaev merchant Ivanov, now deceased, went to Sakhalin every summer and took tribute from the Gilyaks there, and tortured and hung the faulty payers.
There are no hotels in the city. In the public meeting they allowed me to rest after dinner in a hall with a low ceiling - here in the winter, they say, balls are given; to my question, where can I spend the night, they just shrugged their shoulders. Nothing to do, I had to spend two nights on the ship; when he went back to Khabarovka, I found myself like a crab on the rocks: can I go? My luggage is on the pier; I walk along the shore and don't know what to do with myself. Just opposite the city, two or three versts from the shore, there is the Baikal steamer, on which I will go to the Tatar Strait, but they say that it will leave in four or five days, not earlier, although the departure flag is already fluttering on its mast . Is it possible to take and go to "Baikal"? But it’s embarrassing: perhaps they won’t let me in - they’ll say it’s too early. The wind blew, Cupid frowned and became agitated like the sea. It becomes sad. I go to the meeting, have a long lunch there and listen to how at the next table they talk about gold, about show-offs, about a magician who came to Nikolaevsk, about some Japanese who pulls his teeth not with tongs, but simply with his fingers. If you listen carefully and for a long time, then, my God, how far life here is from Russia! Starting with salmon salmon, which is used as a snack here for vodka, and ending with conversations, everything feels something of its own, not Russian. While I was sailing down the Amur, I had the feeling that I was not in Russia, but somewhere in Patagonia or Texas; not to mention the original, non-Russian nature, it always seemed to me that the structure of our Russian life is completely alien to the indigenous Amur people, that Pushkin and Gogol are incomprehensible here and therefore not needed, our history is boring And we, visitors from Russia, seem to be foreigners. In regard to the religious and political, I noticed here a complete indifference. The priests whom I saw on the Amur eat fast food, and, by the way, about one of them, in a white silk caftan, they told me that he was engaged in gold predation, competing with his spiritual children. If you want to make an Amur citizen bored and yawn, then talk to him about politics, about the Russian government, about Russian art. And morality here is somehow special, not ours. The chivalrous treatment of a woman is elevated almost to a cult and at the same time it is not considered reprehensible to give up your wife to a friend for money; or even better: on the one hand, the absence of class prejudices - here and with the exile they behave like an equal, and on the other hand, it’s not a sin to shoot a Chinese vagrant in the forest like a dog, or even secretly hunt humpbacks.
But I will continue about myself. Finding no shelter, in the evening I decided to go to the "Baikal". But here is a new misfortune: a decent swell has spread, and the Gilyak boatmen do not agree to carry it for any money. Again I walk along the shore and do not know what to do with myself. Meanwhile, the sun is already setting, and the waves on the Amur are darkening. On this and on the other bank, the Gilyak dogs howl furiously. And why did I come here? I ask myself, and my journey seems extremely frivolous to me. And the thought that hard labor is already close, that in a few days I will land on Sakhalin soil without a single letter of recommendation with me, that I may be asked to go back - this thought unpleasantly excites me. But finally, two Gilyaks agree to take me for a ruble, and on a boat made of three planks, I safely reach Baikal.
This is a medium-sized sea-type steamer, a merchant who seemed to me rather tolerable after the Baikal and Amur steamers. He makes flights between Nikolaevsk, Vladivostok and Japanese ports, carries mail, soldiers, prisoners, passengers and cargo, mainly state-owned; under a contract concluded with the treasury, which pays him a substantial subsidy, he is obliged to visit Sakhalin several times during the summer: to the Alexander post and to the southern Korsakov. The tariff is very high, which is probably not found anywhere else in the world. Colonization, which above all requires freedom and ease of movement, and high tariffs is completely incomprehensible. The wardroom and cabins on the "Baikal" are cramped, but clean and furnished quite in a European way; there is a piano. The servants here are Chinese with long braids, they are called in English - fight. The cook is also Chinese, but his cuisine is Russian, although all dishes are bitter from spicy keri and smell of some kind of perfume, like corylopsis.
Having read about the storms and ice of the Tatar Strait, I expected to meet on the "Baikal" whalers with hoarse voices, splashing tobacco gum when talking, but in reality I found quite intelligent people. The commander of the ship, Mr. L.4, a native of the western region, has been sailing in the northern seas for more than 30 years and has passed them up and down. In his lifetime he has seen many miracles, knows a lot and tells interesting stories. Having circled half his life around Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands, he, perhaps with more right than Othello, could speak of "the most barren deserts, terrible abysses, impregnable cliffs"5. I am indebted to him for much of the information that was useful to me for these notes. He has three assistants: Mr. B., the nephew of the famous astronomer B., and two Swedes - Ivan Martynych and Ivan Veniaminych6, kind and friendly people.
July 8, before lunch, "Baikal" weighed anchor. With us were three hundred soldiers under the command of an officer and several prisoners. One prisoner was accompanied by a five-year-old girl, his daughter, who, when he climbed the ladder, held on to his shackles. By the way, there was one convict who drew attention to herself by the fact that her husband voluntarily followed her to hard labor7. In addition to me and the officer, there were several other classy passengers of both sexes and, by the way, even one baroness. Let the reader not be surprised at such an abundance of intelligent people here in the desert. Along the Amur and in the Primorsky region, the intelligentsia, with a generally small population, makes up a considerable percentage, and there are relatively more of them here than in any Russian province. There is a city on the Amur where there are only 16 generals, military and civilians. Now there may be even more of them.
Day was quiet and clear. It's hot on deck, stuffy in the cabins; in water +18°. Such weather is just right for the Black Sea. On the right bank the forest burned; a solid green mass threw out a crimson flame; clouds of smoke merged into a long, black, motionless strip that hangs over the forest ... The fire is huge, but there is silence and calm all around, no one cares that the forests are dying. Obviously, the green wealth here belongs to God alone.
After dinner, at six o'clock, we were already at Cape Pronge. Here Asia ends, and one could say that in this place the Amur flows into the Great Ocean, if Fr. Sakhalin. Liman spreads wide before your eyes, a foggy strip is slightly visible in front - this is a convict island; to the left, lost in its own meanders, the shore disappears into the mist, stretching into the unknown north. It seems that the end of the world is here and that there is nowhere to go further. The soul is seized by a feeling that Odysseus probably experienced when he sailed on an unfamiliar sea and vaguely foresaw meetings with unusual creatures. And in fact, on the right, at the very turn into Liman, where a Gilyak village nestled on the shallows, some strange creatures are rushing towards us in two boats, screaming in an incomprehensible language and waving something. It's hard to tell what's in their hands, but as they swim closer, I can make out gray birds.
“They want to sell us dead geese,” someone explains.
We turn right. All along our path there are signs showing the fairway. The commander does not leave the bridge, and the mechanic does not get out of the car; "Baikal" starts to go quieter and quieter and goes like groping. Great care is needed, as it is not difficult to run aground here. The steamer sits 12, but in some places she has to go 14 feet, and there was even a moment when we heard her crawling like a keel over the sand. It is this shallow fairway and the special picture that the Tatar and Sakhalin coasts give together that served as the main reason that Sakhalin was considered a peninsula in Europe for a long time. In 1787, in June, the famous French navigator, Count La Perouse8, landed on the western coast of Sakhalin, above 48°, and spoke with the natives there. Judging by the description that he left, on the shore he found not only the Ainos who lived here, but also the Gilyaks who came to them to trade, experienced people who were well acquainted with both Sakhalin and the Tatar coast. Drawing on the sand, they explained to him that the land on which they live is an island and that this island is separated from the mainland and Iesso (Japan) by straits9. Then, sailing further north along the western coast, he hoped that he would find a way out of the North Japan Sea to the Sea of Okhotsk and thereby significantly shorten his route to Kamchatka; but the higher he moved, the strait became smaller and smaller. The depth decreased every mile by one sazhen. He sailed to the north as long as the size of his ship allowed him, and, having reached a depth of 9 fathoms, he stopped. Gradually, the uniform rise of the bottom and the fact that the current was almost imperceptible in the strait led him to the conviction that it was not in the strait, but in the bay, and that, therefore, Sakhalin was connected to the mainland by an isthmus. In de-Kastri, he once again had a meeting with the Gilyaks. When he drew an island for them on paper, separated from the mainland, one of them took a pencil from him and, drawing a line across the strait, explained that the Gilyaks sometimes had to drag their boats across this isthmus and that grass even grows on it, - so I understood La Perouse. This convinced him even more strongly that Sakhalin was a peninsula10.
Nine years later, the Englishman W. Broughton was in the Tatar Strait. His boat was small, sitting in water no deeper than 9 feet, so that he managed to pass a little higher than La Pérouse. Stopping at a depth of two fathoms, he sent his assistant to the north to measure; this one met depths among the shallows on his way, but they gradually decreased and led him now to the Sakhalin coast, now to the low sandy shores of the other side, and at the same time such a picture was obtained, as if both banks merged; it seemed that the bay ended here and there was no passage. Thus Broughton must have concluded the same as La Pérouse.
Our famous Kruzenshtern11, who explored the shores of the island in 1805, fell into the same mistake. He sailed to Sakhalin already with a preconceived idea, since he used the La Perouse map. He passed along the eastern coast, and, having rounded the northern capes of Sakhalin, entered the very strait, keeping the direction from north to south, and it seemed that he was already quite close to solving the riddle, but the gradual decrease in depth to 3 sazhens, the specific gravity of the water, and most importantly, a preconceived thought forced him to admit the existence of an isthmus, which he did not see. But he was still gnawed by the worm of doubt. "It is highly probable," he writes, "that Sakhalin was once, and perhaps even in recent times, an island." He returned back, apparently, with a restless soul: when in China for the first time Brauton's notes caught his eye, he "rejoiced a lot"12.
The error was corrected in 1849 by Nevelsky. The authority of his predecessors, however, was still so great that when he reported his discoveries to St. it would not be for the intercession of the sovereign himself13, who found his act valiant, noble and patriotic14. He was an energetic, hot-tempered man, educated, selfless, humane, imbued with the idea to the marrow of his bones and fanatically devoted to it, morally pure. One of those who knew him writes: "I have never met a more honest person." On the east coast and on Sakhalin, he made a brilliant career for himself in just five years, but lost his daughter, who died of starvation, grew old, grew old and lost his health, his wife, "a young, pretty and friendly woman", who endured all hardships heroically.
In order to put an end to the question of the isthmus and the peninsula, I consider it not superfluous to give a few more details. In 1710, Peking missionaries, on behalf of the Chinese emperor, drew a map of Tataria; when compiling it, the missionaries used Japanese maps, and this is obvious, since at that time only the Japanese could know about the passability of the La Perouse and the Tatar Straits. It was sent to France and became famous because it was included in the atlas of the geographer d "Anville16. This map gave rise to a slight misunderstanding to which Sakhalin owes its name. On the western coast of Sakhalin, just opposite the mouth of the Amur, there is an inscription on the map made missionaries: "Saghalien-angahala", which in Mongolian means "rocks of the black river". This name probably referred to some cliff or cape at the mouth of the Amur, in France they understood it differently and attributed it to the island itself. Hence the name Sakhalin, retained by Kruzenshtern and for Russian maps.The Japanese called Sakhalin Karafto or Karafta, which means the Chinese island.

The book "Sakhalin Island" was written by Chekhov in 1891-1893 during his trip to the island in the middle of 1890. In addition to the author's personal observations, the contents of the travel notes also included other information in the form of eyewitness accounts and factual data. Also, according to experts, the creation of the book was strongly influenced by the work of F.M. Dostoevsky "Notes from the House of the Dead".

The main goal pursued by the writer in his journey was to study the lifestyle of "convicts and exiles." On Sakhalin, Chekhov was engaged in the correspondence of the population, thanks to which he was able to closely get acquainted with the local way of life and the living conditions of the prisoners. At the end of the trip, the writer collected a whole "chest" of different stories and facts. When the book was written, Chekhov each time refused to publish individual chapters, he wanted the whole book to be seen by the world. However, in 1892, the author nevertheless agrees to the publication of one chapter in a scientific literary collection. The book was published in full in 1895.

The story is based on the fate of a convict whose life has turned into a real hell. Throughout all the chapters there is a description of the life and customs of the settlers, their hard physical labor. The author focuses on the living conditions of people - the state of prisons, hospitals, educational institutions.

The main plot load falls on the chapter "Egor's Story". It tells about the fate of a man who, like most other convicts, found himself in a difficult life situation, the only way out of which was to commit a criminal act.

The book had a great influence on the fate of the island, and in particular, on the life of its settlers. Thanks to the truthful descriptions of the difficult life of the exiles, the state authorities drew attention to their situation and sent their representatives there to clarify the situation and its subsequent resolution.

Read retelling

A work called "Sakhalin Island" was written by such a famous writer as Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. He wrote this work after he visited Sakhalin Island. Before going there in 1890, the writer was dissuaded by absolutely all the people with whom he came into contact, from acquaintances and colleagues to close friends and relatives. The book was written in the form of simple essays that described the ordinary life and life of those people who lived there. Without any authorial embellishments, he described the deplorable state of the local hospitals, schools and prisons. With this work, he was able to raise public outcry and draw people's attention to a really serious problem.

During his visit, Anton Pavlovich was busy writing down the stories of ordinary people who he heard among them, who, by a terrible will, found themselves in those truly unbearable and terrible conditions. Some people were not so lucky that they got there not for some bad deeds and causing harm to people, but simply because the authorities of that time could not simply do otherwise. This can best be seen, understood and felt only in the chapter called "Egorka's Stories". In this chapter, the author describes the difficult life story of one of their convicts, which he hears literally from the first mouth.

Anton Pavlovich is trying to convey to the whole world how life goes on in this small piece of the world cut off from the rest of the world, how people not only live here, but actually survive, how they raise and educate their own children, try to run a household, and how it seems on at first glance, they live an ordinary, but completely different life. In this place, time literally froze and there are still very ancient remnants of the past, such as they were under serfdom, corporal punishment for wrongdoing, forcible shaving on the bald head.

After the book was written, the public finally drew attention to such important issues, and by doing so, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov did a great service to all the inhabitants of Sakhalin. The information was able to reach the highest echelon of power, thanks to this, all those Sakhalin residents who were tortured and tired of such a life were heard and now a large number of things will be changed in their way of life. Sakhalin people were very grateful to the author and therefore they consider this book one of the main assets of their culture.

Sakhalin Island summary of chapters. Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Sakhalin Island

Read retelling

A picture or drawing of Sakhalin Island

Other retellings and reviews for the reader's diary