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To a Distant Island
"One of our finest writers."—Annie Dillard
"What a pleasure, and how much there is to learn from this short book!" —Denise Levertov
"A deeply moving, exquisitely written book."—Washington Post Book World
"Exceptionally serene prose…leveled with sharp observation and subtle wit…neither history nor fiction , but rather a kind of reimagining of the past."—Michael Dirda, Smithsonian Magazine
"We have had many straight biographies of writers in recent years…that leave their subjects curiously diminished. Mr. McConkey's achievement…is to send the reader back to the Russian master with renewed wonder."—Harvey Shapiro, The New York Times
In 1890 Anton Chekhov—thirty years old and already a famous writer—left his home and family in Moscow to travel 6,500 miles across Russia, over frozen land and sea, by train, ferry, and troika, to visit the island of Sakhalin, a penal colony off the coast of Siberia.
What was Chekhov seeking by undertaking such a harrowing journey to that God-forsaken island? Ostensibly, he went in his role of physician, to observe the medical conditions and to collect statistical information (Indeed, Chekhov wrote that during his stay he filled out more than 10,000 census cards based on interviews with prisoners and exiles.) But his motivation, as James McConkey reflects, was more likely escape: escape from the sense of confinement that fame, fortune, and family had brought—a search, in other words, for freedom in a place where no one was free.
In To a Distant Island, McConkey recreates Chekhov's remarkable journey in all of its complexity, while interweaving a journey of his own. As McConkey guides us through the Russian wilderness and into the soul of this great writer, he uncovers the peculiar and hidden forces that shaped two lives.
"The genre in which McConkey does his best writing has no name. He invented it…What McConkey does is to create meaning out of ordinary life. He'll take a tiny incident…and by linking it through memory with a series of past events, he'll create what is not exactly a story but a pattern in time. By then the incident is no longer small; it has become the focus for a revelation…His books should be famous." —Noel Perrin, U.S.A. Today
James McConkey is the author of Crossroads, The Tree House Confessions, The Novels of E.M. Forster, and Court of Memory (a continuing biography that appeared serially in various magazines, primarily The New Yorker), and many other books. He is Goldwin Smith Professor of English Literature Emeritus at Cornell University.
Jay Parini is Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College. He is the author of The Last Station: A Novel of Tolstoy's Last Year and Robert Frost: A Life and many other works of fiction, criticism, poetry, and biography.
"What a pleasure, and how much there is to learn from this short book!" —Denise Levertov
"A deeply moving, exquisitely written book."—Washington Post Book World
"Exceptionally serene prose…leveled with sharp observation and subtle wit…neither history nor fiction , but rather a kind of reimagining of the past."—Michael Dirda, Smithsonian Magazine
"We have had many straight biographies of writers in recent years…that leave their subjects curiously diminished. Mr. McConkey's achievement…is to send the reader back to the Russian master with renewed wonder."—Harvey Shapiro, The New York Times
In 1890 Anton Chekhov—thirty years old and already a famous writer—left his home and family in Moscow to travel 6,500 miles across Russia, over frozen land and sea, by train, ferry, and troika, to visit the island of Sakhalin, a penal colony off the coast of Siberia.
What was Chekhov seeking by undertaking such a harrowing journey to that God-forsaken island? Ostensibly, he went in his role of physician, to observe the medical conditions and to collect statistical information (Indeed, Chekhov wrote that during his stay he filled out more than 10,000 census cards based on interviews with prisoners and exiles.) But his motivation, as James McConkey reflects, was more likely escape: escape from the sense of confinement that fame, fortune, and family had brought—a search, in other words, for freedom in a place where no one was free.
In To a Distant Island, McConkey recreates Chekhov's remarkable journey in all of its complexity, while interweaving a journey of his own. As McConkey guides us through the Russian wilderness and into the soul of this great writer, he uncovers the peculiar and hidden forces that shaped two lives.
"The genre in which McConkey does his best writing has no name. He invented it…What McConkey does is to create meaning out of ordinary life. He'll take a tiny incident…and by linking it through memory with a series of past events, he'll create what is not exactly a story but a pattern in time. By then the incident is no longer small; it has become the focus for a revelation…His books should be famous." —Noel Perrin, U.S.A. Today
James McConkey is the author of Crossroads, The Tree House Confessions, The Novels of E.M. Forster, and Court of Memory (a continuing biography that appeared serially in various magazines, primarily The New Yorker), and many other books. He is Goldwin Smith Professor of English Literature Emeritus at Cornell University.
Jay Parini is Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College. He is the author of The Last Station: A Novel of Tolstoy's Last Year and Robert Frost: A Life and many other works of fiction, criticism, poetry, and biography.
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 12, 2019
After reading Chekhov's "The Island: A Journey to Sakhalin" and getting so much out of it, I couldn't believe my good fortune to discover this book. McConkey uses Checkhov's famous solo trip to the Far Eastern Penal Colony in 1890, as a framework for this narrative of literary criticism-biography-novel, creatively and loosely arranged in chronological order. He draws, of course, on Chekhov's own book as well as his letters home (to mainland Russia) in devising an original genre for his retelling of the trip side-by-side with Chekhov's own.
As an added dimension, McConkey offers his own personal situation, on sabbatical leave with his family in Florence after a trying year of fatigue and spiritual paralysis at Cornell University where he was an English professor. He finds parallels with Chekhov's depression and near-breakdown sending him 65,000 miles to a remote and forbidding penal colony already knowing he had T.B. McConkey searches for the answer, WHY? and WHAT DID HE GAIN?
Beautifully written with literary references, imaginative scenes and dialogues, and meditations on life, "To a Distant Island" was first published in 1984 and then reprinted in 2000, following new Chekhov biographies and a retranslation of his Sakhalin book (the one I read). McConkey points out that Chekhov's expedition trip and book not only added depth to his writing and may have given him health to live another 14 years, but also served to help to somewhat soften the harsh treatment of Russian convicts. Shockingly, the resultant book, by far his longest work, remained untranslated in English for 75 years!
For any reader who enjoys Chekhov drama and stories, this book will add greatly to your appreciation of the humanity of the man. However, if you really want to know what Chekhov endured, week by week, to travel overland to the Far East and what he discovered and recorded on Sakhalin Island, you need to read the full original. After I did, I can only regard the man as a saint and a literary genius.
As an added dimension, McConkey offers his own personal situation, on sabbatical leave with his family in Florence after a trying year of fatigue and spiritual paralysis at Cornell University where he was an English professor. He finds parallels with Chekhov's depression and near-breakdown sending him 65,000 miles to a remote and forbidding penal colony already knowing he had T.B. McConkey searches for the answer, WHY? and WHAT DID HE GAIN?
Beautifully written with literary references, imaginative scenes and dialogues, and meditations on life, "To a Distant Island" was first published in 1984 and then reprinted in 2000, following new Chekhov biographies and a retranslation of his Sakhalin book (the one I read). McConkey points out that Chekhov's expedition trip and book not only added depth to his writing and may have given him health to live another 14 years, but also served to help to somewhat soften the harsh treatment of Russian convicts. Shockingly, the resultant book, by far his longest work, remained untranslated in English for 75 years!
For any reader who enjoys Chekhov drama and stories, this book will add greatly to your appreciation of the humanity of the man. However, if you really want to know what Chekhov endured, week by week, to travel overland to the Far East and what he discovered and recorded on Sakhalin Island, you need to read the full original. After I did, I can only regard the man as a saint and a literary genius.
June 11, 2022
This is my year of Chekhov, his fiction, Nonfiction, biography and letters and commentaries by other authors past and present. I find him a fascinating writer and person. I was still in the process of reading Sakhalin Island when I heard a podcast interview with James McConkey which focuses on another book he wrote. In the interview this book was mentioned and briefly discussed. I became intrigued by Mr McConkey’s blending of fact and his imaginings of Chekhov’s journey. The author alternates Chekhov’s experiences real and imagined with his own experiences with his family during a sabbatical year spent in Italy.
January 1, 2015
Excellent blend of biography, travel essay, and Chekhov's writing. The author ties together letters Chekhov wrote during his trip across Russia with material that showed up in his fictional writing. Gives great insight into what Chekhov saw, felt, and struggled with during this personal spiritual journey.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews