Chekhov's journey

By Ian Watson, 1983

Chekhov in Siberia

There are actually three Chekhov in this book.

The first one is the famous Russian playwrighter, the one we all know about. As in the original timeline, the writer travels through Siberia toward the Sakhaline Island in the East of Siberia. Chekhov has to cope with the great cold but is fortunetely helped by many villagers in his challenging journey.

A hundred years later, an actor is hypnotized to improve his performance at playing Anton Chekhov. The problem is he suddenly describe events that never happened in history. How could have Chekhov visited Tungunska ? He was six feet underground when the meteor exploded in the Siberian forest in 1908.

While strange events happen with the actors, the last Chekhov appears: Anton Astrov, commander of a Time Ship of the future...

My humble opinion

I love one of the explanation of the initial paradox : the explosion actually occurs in 1888 and in 1908 until we witness the event (like the cat of Erwin Schrödinger). The book takes different paths because at the begining, if the book begins with expectations about making an accurate film, it ends up with entangled stories, which is a bit confusing. I was especially quiet suprised by a scene where Anton Chekhov sees Anton Astrov into a mirror.

Furthermore, even at the very end many plots are not solved: how can the people that make the film be hypnothized so that they can hardly escaped from the house where they met?

I knew nothing of Chekhov before, but it made me think of Russian novels like the "The Nose" of Nicolas Gogol by the use of absurd situations.

A book for those passionate about Anton Chekhov.

Medicis