Brianchaninov, N.V.: Wanderings (Nubia – Sudan – Palestine – Lebanon)

Title

Skitaniia (Nubiia – Sudan – Palestina – Livan), Moskva 1908

Wanderings (Nubia – Sudan – Palestine – Lebanon)

Keywords

Summary

In this volume, Brianchaninov offers the reader a diary of his journey through Nubia, Sudan, Palestine and Lebanon (1906), accompanying the various entries with photographs (presumably taken during the trip). It begins in medias res, without an explanatory introduction to clarify the author’s intentions. The book is divided into two main sections, Under the Tropics and Under the Tents. The first one consists of four chapters (Through Nubia, Through Fire and Sands; Anglo-Egyptian Sudan; Khartoum and Omdurman; On the White Nile), the second one of just two (Oultrejordain; Lebanon). In addition to his travel impressions, Brianchaninov also provides information on the locals, the history of the places he visits, and the current state of affairs. The photographs add a touch of documentarism. The image on the front cover (entitled The White Nile Near Khartoum) is taken from a painting by princess Mariia Eristova (née Etlinger, 1857-1934), who signed her works with the pseudonym Mery Kazak.

Bio

Nikolai Brianchaninov was a writer and traveller, born in San Remo in a noble Russian family. After graduating from the Vologda Gymnasium, Brianchaninov enrolled at the University of Moscow, but soon left in order to attend lectures on theology and the history of religions in Europe (Germany, Switzerland and France). Having received a modest inheritance, he travelled extensively around the world and organized an expedition to Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt to study the history of religions and history. He spent most of his life in Europe. When nothing was left of his inheritance, Brianchaninov returned to Russia (1912), where he began to write for periodicals. After the 1917 revolution, he moved to Paris, where he published several books including La Tragédie Moscovite. (Essai de Psychologie collective) (1925) and Catherine II. Impératrice de Russie (1729-1796) (1932). In France he often used the pen-name “N. Brian-Chaninov”. He  died in Paris in 1943.

Sources

V. Krymov, Portrety neobychnykh liudei, Paris 1971, p. 141-142;

Iu. Mandel’shtam, Stat’i i sochineniia v 3 t. O russkoi literature, t. 1, Moskva 2018, p. 395-396.

A.F.

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