Homo homini lupus est - Sakhalin - An Evening with Michael Pennington Part 3

The ensuing talk dealt with Anton Chekhov's journey to Sakhalin in 1890. So it is arguable if it was an evening spent with Michael Pennington or rather one in the company of Anton Chekhov, for as the lecturer pointed out at the beginning the talk was a sort of "dramatisation" of this journey - mostly in Chekhov's own words (of course translated into English), though this time unlike in his one-man-play  "Anton Chekhov" (and I would rather use play instead of show, for here we actually meet the lead character(!!) and I highly recommend it to anybody who has not yet attended a performance!! It is worth any detour just to catch one) Michael Pennington was not dressed up to look like Chekhov. After some comment on the weather, which had been really extraordinarily snowy for England, he mentioned something that exactly echoes my thoughts and feelings when reading "Die Insel Sachalin" (Anton Chekhov's report on his journey). He said that when reading it and especially the anecdotes and small stories about Sakhalin's inhabitants, that are interspersed within the more scientifical and precisely stated facts of the report, one wishes it was just literature. I personally was and am still very shocked at the realisation that this was people's actual lives instead.
The first part of the evening took the audience along Chekhov's travel through Siberia and along the Amur River to Sakhalin, with excerpts from his letters. Then Michael Pennington read out some of the episodes and stories from the report. "Sakhalin Island" by Anton Chekhov is available in print.

At the end of his talk Michael Pennington referred to the fact that Chekhov's report though sort of ill-received in Russia, nevertheless served to better some of the appaling circumstances prisoners and settlers on Sakhalin had to live with. Personally I was very impressed by the talk and the artfulness of the lecturer, who not only did deliver Chekhov's disturbing report, but also left me with a warm feeling of hope despite the talk's  gloomy and dark subject.
For further reading I highly recommend not only "Sakhalin Island" by Anton Chekhov, but also "Rossya - A Journey Through Siberia" and "Are You There Crocodile - Inventing Anton Chekhov", both by Michael Pennington, both charming, insightful, highly readable, entertaining and surprising accounts of Michael Pennington's relationship to Russia and especially to Anton Chekhov.