Vasin, N.A.: The Tireless Traveller. Life and Travels of H.M. Stanley

Title

Neutomimyi puteshestvennik. Zhizn’ i puteshestviia G.M. Stenli, Moskva 1905

The Tireless Traveller. Life and Travels of H.M. Stanley

Keywords

Summary

In this essay, accompanied by a portrait, the author explores the life and adventures of Henry Stanley. Beginning with a brief introduction which highlights Stanley’s fame, the author recounts his travels, starting from Zanzibar. Vasin marvels at Stanley’s resilience in the face of challenging conditions, drawing from the book How I Found Livingstone and incorporating quotes from it. The author delves into the political context, shedding light on the difficult relations between the African tribes and Arab conquerors. Stanley is depicted as a brave explorer, venturing into unexplored lands. Part three of the essay is dedicated to Stanley’s 1873-1874 expedition to Africa as a military journalist with the English forces, engaged in a conflict against the Ashanti people. Livingstone’s passing during this period prompts Stanley to continue his research alone. Vasin enumerates Stanley’s numerous discoveries, including Lake Victoria-Nile, the source of the Nile, and the Congo River. The essay concludes with Stanley’s last journey to Africa in 1887 and his involvement with Emin Pasha. The return of Stanley to Europe is depicted, once again, as triumphant, as his status as a great explorer is solidified.

Bio

Nikolai Vasin was the author of stories about military life in the Far East (Sick on a Camping Trip, 1904; On a Bright Night in Manchuria, 1904) and books for children, including Nikola Salos: From the History of Pskov and a biography of Mikhail Zagoskin (1914). In 1910 he published a volume on the conquest of Siberia entitled Siberia: Essay on the Conquest and Settlement in Siberia. In 1903 he translated from French Paul Labbé’s Un bagne russe. L’île de Sakhaline. In a letter dated November 15, 1903, addressed to Anton Chekhov, Vasin requested to enhance his translation by incorporating brief references to Chekhov’s notable work, Sakhalin Island. Although the contents of Chekhov’s reply are unknown, the letter appears to have been positive, as the book was promptly published under the title Sakhalin Island. Travel Impressions.About Africa Vasin also published The Land of the Black Christians. Description of Abyssinia, its People and Nature (1905).

Sources

Arkhiv A.P. Chekhova: annotirovannoe opisanie pisem k A.P. Chekhovu, ed. by N. Meshcheriakov, Moskva 1939, p. 32-33;

Chekhov i mirovaia literatura, ed. by Z. Papernyi, E. Polotskaia, Moskva 1997, p. 358.

M.E.