Fonvizin, S.I.: Seven Months in Egypt and Palestine. Essays and Impressions

Title

Sem’ mesiatsev v Egipte i Palestine. Ocherki i vpechatleniia, Sankt-Peterburg 1910

Seven Months in Egypt and Palestine. Essays and Impressions

Keywords

Summary

The book is divided into forty-one chapters. In the introductory chapter, the author travels from Saint Petersburg to Odessa, Constantinople, and finally Egypt. Chapters two to thirty are devoted to Egypt, whereas the remaining chapters depict the author’s journey through Palestine. The section devoted to Egypt reports the author’s impressions of local landscapes (flora, fauna, see chapter two), Cairo’s main attractions, such as bazaars, mosques (chapter three and five), museums (chapter five and eight), as well as local traditions (funerals, a wedding and a circumcision ceremony) and transportation. The author also devotes a chapter to the Nile (chapter ten), he visits the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx (chapter twelve), the cities of Luxor and Aswan, and the island of Philae (twenty-one to twenty-six). From Helwan the author returns to Cairo and travels to Port Said in order to go to Jaffa on a steamboat (chapter thirty).

Bio

Sergei Fonvizin was a Russian author, traveller, and officer. Son of Ivan Fonvizin, governor of Moscow, Fonvizin studied at the Lyceum of Tsesarevich Nicholas and the Imperial School of Law. In 1878, he joined the Lifeguards Cavalry Regiment. From 1902 to 1906, he served as vice-governor of Poltava. Fonvizin attained the rank of Collegiate Councillor in 1904, and received honours such as the Order of Saint Anne, 3^rd degree, and Saint Stanislaus, 2^nd degree. Following retirement, he dedicated himself to literature, writing novels such as In Troubled Days, Two Lives, Notes of a Free Woman, and collections of short stories. Seven Months in Egypt and Palestine recounts his journey to the Near East with his wife (1906-1907).

Sources

A. Dubinin, “Fonvizin, Sergei Ivanovich”, in Russkie pisateli, 1800-1917: Biograficheskii slovar’, t. 6, ed. by B. Egorov, Moskva-Sankt-Peterburg 2019, p. 478-480.

M.E.