Markov, E.L.: A Journey to the Orient. Tsargrad and the Archipelago. In the Pharaohs’ Country

Title

Puteshestvie na Vostok. Tsar’grad i arkhipelag. V strane faraonov, Sankt-Peterburg 1890

A Journey to the Orient. Tsargrad and the Archipelago. In the Pharaohs’ Country

Keywords

Summary

The book is structured into two main parts: part one is dedicated to Constantinople and Greece, whereas part two is centred around Egypt. In the preface the author asserts that his travel notes are addressed at a broad audience; thus, they do not strive for scientific rigour, but rather they seek to ignite in the readers’ hearts a desire to explore the lands he visited.

Part two consists of sixteen chapters detailing the author’s journey from Alexandria to Port Said. In between, he visits the Delta and the local villages, Cairo, the Nile valley and the pyramids, the Sphinx, the Khedives’ palaces, Memphis, Saqqara, and the Boulaq museum founded by Auguste Mariette. The closing chapter documents the author’s journey by train to the Suez Canal, with detours to visit the Jewish temples of Heliopolis and Zagazig before reaching Ismailia. From Ismailia, he takes a small boat to Port Said, sharing his impressions of the Suez Canal. In Port Said, he boards a Russian ship for Palestine, thus concluding his account.

Bio

Evgenii Markov was a Russian writer, critic, traveller, and ethnographer. Initially aligned with liberal circles, Markov contributed to publications such as “Otechestvennye Zapiski” and “Vestnik Evropy”. Over time, he turned to conservatism and the Slavophile movement, becoming one of the fiercest critics of Nikolai Nekrasov. Markov’s literary works include the novel Black Earth Field (1878), which celebrated the simple, pastoral life of an idealised Russian landlord, and his collection of autobiographical notes and sketches, Barchuki (1874), which nostalgically portrays the virtues of Russia’s serfdom. Markov’s published travel notes include Crimean Sketches (1872), Caucasus Sketches (1887), A Journey to the Orient (1890-1891), Russia in Central Asia (1901), and A Journey through Serbia and Montenegro (1903).

Sources

Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ Brokgauza i Efrona, t. VIII, Sankt-Peterburg 1896, p.659-660;

Sovetskaia literaturnaia entsiklopediia. 1929-1939, t. 6, Moskva 1932, p. 815-816;

E. Tret’iakova, O. Spachil, Mezhkul’turnye ustanovki “Ocherkov Kavkaza” E. L. Markova, “Nasledie vekov”, 2017, 7, p. 51-55.

M.E.