Tupikov, P.G.: Hot Countries. In the Kingdom of Lions and Monkeys

Title

Zharkie strany. V tsarstve l’vov i obez’ian, Moskva 1916

Hot Countries. In the Kingdom of Lions and Monkeys

Keywords

Summary

The book is complemented by illustrations portraying local people, plants, animals, and landscapes. Following an introduction about geographical zones, the author describes a fictional journey to Africa. In Chapter One, he depicts the initial phase of the journey and explores the “fascinating” country of Egypt. Chapter Two delves further into Egypt, while Chapter Three shifts to the desert, reporting a tragic accident leading to the death of a fellow traveller. The chapter depicts such elements as sea storms, oases, and mirages. Chapter Four is devoted to a flamingo hunt and outlines the dangers of crocodiles. Chapter Five describes a visit to a sugar plantation and the hunt of a rhinoceros, alongside depictions of African birds. Chapter Six unfolds in Sudan, exploring the shores of the Blue Nile and representing the fauna of the majestic river. Chapter Seven describes the inhabitants of the “African steppes”, characterised as “savages”. Chapter Eight provides descriptions of a local village, while Chapter Nine recounts an episode involving an elephant attacking the caravan. Chapter Ten focuses on two local characters, a magician and a king, while in Chapter Eleven the author describes wild animals such as lions, tigers, and monkeys met during the journey on the White Nile. Chapter Twelve concludes the book, describing the journey to India and the return to Europe.

Bio

Pavel Tupikov was a Russian and Soviet writer, born into a peasant family of the Kostroma governorate. He was self-taught, and worked many different jobs throughout his life. Between 1912 and 1914 he was the editor of the journal “Zhivoe slovo”. He published many popular science books, both before and after the 1917 Revolution, when he moved for a few years to the Altai region. Back in Moscow in the early Twenties, he became a member of the literary association “Kuznitsa”. About Africa, he also wrote Komsomol Members in the Wilds of Africa (1923). After the Revolution he published under the pseudonym “Pavel Nizovoi”.

Sources

D. Zonov, “Nizovoi, Pavel Georgievich”, in Kratkaia literaturnaia entsiklopediia, t. 5, Moskva 1968, t. 5, column 271;

A. Zhuravleva, “Nizovoi, P.”, in Russkie detskie pisateli XX veka: biobibliograficheskii slovar’, Moskva 1997, p. 309.

A.F., M.E.

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