Transgression and Sakhalin: Dostoevskian Subtext in Chekhov’s Murder

• Main Author: Andrew R. Durkin
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Penal; Sakhalin
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.530.9010

story that directly reflects his experiences on the island of Sakhalin (the story’s final chapter is set on Sakhalin), as well as his description of the island and its penal institutions in The Island Sakhalin (Ostrov Sakhalin, 1895), relatively little critical attention has been paid to this unusual work. Of two Russian studies devoted to it, one examines the story in relation to Chekhov’s investigation of Sakhalin and to his interest in questions of penology and jurisprudence in general, while the other relates the story to themes in Chekhov’s fiction both prior to and following his journey to Sakhalin [Polotskaia, Dolotova]. In scholarship on Chekhov in English, one article examines The Island Sakhalin as an epistemologically problematic text, but does not consider Murder or other works linked to Chekhov’s journey there [Popkin], and a discussion of the archetype of descent to the underworld in Chekhov’s fiction and drama, while identifying the journey to Sakhalin as related to this archetype, does not mention Murder, despite the relevance of the story, particularly its finale, to the topic in question [Finke]. In the present paper I would like to take a somewhat different approach and to broaden the discussion of Murder by considering it not so much in the context of Chekhov’s own works