Chekhov's Journey

by Ian Watson

A greatly advanced Soviet space program is blamed for the strange effects on a Soviet film crew, including the clairvoyance of an actor who believes he is Anton Chekhov

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel

183 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1983

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Angus McKeogh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn’t that long yet it took me seemingly forever to finish it. The ideas were intriguing. Time travel through hypnosis. Russian cosmonauts moving forwards and backwards through space time. And the mystery of whether or not the Tunguska event was a spaceship or a meteor. But the narrative was so boring and confusing that my interest in the story waned to the point of wanting to quit.

[Unwisely · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another wandering-the-SF-section pickup. (Goodreads doesn't seem to have a picture of the early-80's insanity that is the cover of the version I got.)

Very slim and I *still* couldn't finish is. First off it feels very, very dated, as one of the future threads has a still-functional USSR sending out spaceships in 2090 - although I did like that since it wasn't actually an atmospheric craft they made it in the shape of a hammer and sickle so the Americans would see it hanging there.

There were a few clever flourishes like that, but it was not enough to make me finish it.

I got to page 115/183. There were three distinct sets of characters, each group having 5-7 people, and about two of characters were sympathetic. The plot was confusing, the three disparate strands didn't seem like they were ever going to converge, and I just couldn't make myself care enough to finish it, despite traveling and having nothing else to read. Ugh.

[Steve Scanlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Russian film crew is trying to make a picture about Anton Chekov, a late nineteenth century writer. They employ the use of a hypnotist who will use the subconscious memory of a look-a-like actor, Mikhail, to better portray the life of Chekov.

While under hypnosis, Mikhail recalls incidents in the past that don't quite agree with the historical record. The central 'mistake' is the Siberian explosion of 1908 which devastated a large area and remains a mystery seems to have occurred in 1888 according to Mikhail's 'memory'. Another problem is that Mikhail begins to recall certain events a hundred years in the future involving a Russian spaceship about to depart for the cosmos.

The film crew encounters a further problem when these 'memories' began to have an effect on the present.

Another enjoyable tale by Watson. He weaves the three parts of his story together very well and continues to entertain to the last page.

[Jules Hammond]

Ian Watson's early work is not always easy to read and they are very 'ideas' heavy. However, they are usually slim volumes and well worth the effort. Ian Watson's sci-fi is synonymous with the 80s for me and 'Chekov's Journey' is pacey and fits in well with 'The Jonah Kit' and my personal favorite of Watson's: 'God's World'.

Remember, this is very much a novel of its time and perhaps may be described as Cold War sci-fi. Bear that in mind before being too judgmental. They are usually a very interesting and rewarding short read, 'Chekov's Journey' is no exception. 'God's World' is better however. Try to concentrate on the philosophy of Watson's writing and themes and you will find his novels more rewarding

[Damian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ian Watson is one of those writers that I first came across during my own personal Golden Age of SF, the late 1980s and 90s. Watson began writing in the 1970s, establishing a style of slightly bizarre but literary science fiction that, at least to me, was drawing upon the self-important experimental work of the 60s and 70s and the storytelling that has always been at the heart of SF. He became a mainstay of the 1980s with stories in the magazine Interzone and a clutch of collections and anthologies that came out in parallel, which is when I came across him.

This novel exemplifies that type of SF, in style and ambience. It's a relatively short novel, less than 200 pages, packed full of ideas and also curiously interesting characters. The plot and indeed individual scenes are somewhat surreal, chaotic or even hallucinogenic. I'm deliberately using that last word because of the story itself.

The first thread we see in the novel is a film crew in an old Dacha in Russia in the 80s, in other words, current to when the book was written. They are doing a not-quite-biography of the innovative Russian writer and playwright Anton Chekhov. In particular, they are concerned with Chekov's famous trip in 1890 across the length of Siberia to a prison colony on Russia's Sakhalin island. He published a book on these travels in 1893 called 'Sakhalin Island', outlining the appalling cruelties of the prison regime. If you've read Haruki Murakami's '1Q84' you will have come across references to this book (Sakhalin is just to the north of Japan). Séamus Heaney also wrote about it in 'Chekhov on Sakhalin' in his collection 'Station Island'.

The film's director decides to use hypnosis as a way of getting the lead actor, Mikhail, to better resonate with the live of Chekov. This leads us to the second thread in the book, the journey of Chekhov through the Siberian wilderness. However, Mikhail's version of Chekhov's journey (sic) does not quite match known history, instead, Chekhov hears of and then encounters, in 1890, the devastation of the Tunguska Explosion, which actually happened in 1908.

Mikhail also 'remembers' future events of 2080, where a still-extant Soviet Union is launching an interstellar ship from low Earth orbit. Because this ship is already in orbit, it is shaped like a hammer and sickle, which irritates the future US no end. They set up a 'flux shield' (a wonderfully ludicrous and acerbic piece of handwavium technology) to protect themselves from this giant craft, believing its function to be to undermine them, rather than head out into the solar system and beyond. By activating this technology, the US interferes with the flight of the craft and appears to be the cause of strange, temporal changes it encounters.

We then surmise that these temporal effects are the reason for the change in Chekhov's timeline and also very unsettling illusions or visions experienced by the film crew in the 1980s Soviet Union. The latter are genuinely unsettling, showing a more unpleasant and innovative resolution of time-travel paradoxes. That's my reading of it, for what it's worth.

The plot I've just outlined might not sound overly interesting or indeed all that clear, but it really is a hugely entertaining and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny read, for a book that is quite experimental in nature. One of the reasons I am so fond of 1980s SF, especially that coming from this side of the Atlantic, is that it reads as though someone got those narcissistic New Wave bores into a room and said "Right fellas, I want a story from yis, with people and events. Yis can make it a bit weird, but don't be going too mad now!!" The parts of the novel detailing Chekhov's impressions of the isolated Siberian towns and their inhabitants, especially the ethnic Russians who have moved there, match the humour of Chekhov's own writings. It's like this is Watson's fond homage to Anton Pavlovich's work and a good one it is too.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

2½. One of Watson's most critically acclaimed and also one of his worst.

[Lera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its likely that I would have been more generous with my stars if I had been at all familiar with Chekhov, as I'm sure this book is brimming with apposite illusions.

I did enjoy Watson's playing with time travel, despite the silly hypnosis-based premise. Especially liked the future American 'flux shield' intended to 'bat any [missile or meteorite:] ten years into the past and ten light years in the direction of Columba', and the Russian plan to send out colonists using a similar system.