Fiction Archivi - AfTeR - The African Text: Representing Africa in Imperial Russia (1850-1917)

Cheglok (Usov), A.A.: Animals of Central and Southern Africa

The book is comprised of ten short stories, each centered around a particular animal which can be encountered in Africa (rhinoceros, chimpanzee, elephant, dik-dik, baboon, African buffalo, hyrax, aardvark, Egyptian mongoose, hippopotamus). Either the stories are structured around an encounter between a human (locals, Europeans, Russians) and a given animal, or […]

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Cherskii, L.F.: The Adventures of Dzhami. A Story from the Life of a Fellah

In this book, Cherskii presents to his readers the coming-of-age story of a young orphan named Dzhami, who works as a helper for a poor fellah family near Rosetta. Initially leading a hard and miserable life, in the course of ten chapters Dzhami manages to climb the social ladder […]

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Kotel’nikov, G.E.: The Priest of Osiris

The full title of the play is The Priest of Osiris: The Mystery of the Pyramid of the Pharaoh Khаfre. One-act play in verse. The plot can be summarized as follows: Aira, widow of Pharaoh Khefre, is beloved by Osorkhon, a priest of Osiris, who, in a monologue, confesses his love for her. Aira prays in front of the statue of Osiris, mourning her husband, while Osorkhon secretly watches her.

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Karintsev (Dudel’) N.A.: In the African Forests

In the African Forests is an adaptation of the novel My Kalulu, Prince, King, and Slave by Henry Stanley (1873). In a footnote, Karintsev presents the events he narrates as a true story, which had been told to Stanley during his time in Zanzibar […]

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Cheglok (Usov), A.A.: My Adventures in the Sahara and Northern Africa

The book consists of ten short stories focused on birds and reptiles which can be seen in Northern Africa. They are written in the first person […]

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Bessel’ (Rubakina) L.A.: How I Travelled Through Abyssinia

The book is a fictional travel diary by a Frenchman named Verdier, employed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris […]

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Kun, N.A.: African Folktales

The book is divided into nine major chapters, each devoted to the folktales of a specific ethnic group. Each chapter opens with a brief paragraph detailing the characteristics of the given ethnicity. In the introduction, Kun explains that he intends to introduce […]

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Gumilev, N.S.

Nikolai Gumilev, one of the founders of Russian Acmeism, travelled to Africa four times: while the first time he visited Egypt (1908), in the subsequent journeys he travelled to Ethiopia […]

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Krasnov, P.N.: Aska Mariam

Aleksandr Panaev, a musician in Saint Petersburg, is deeply in love with his fiancée Nina Sergeevna. Young and with delicate features, she is an accomplished pianist, orphaned when she was little. She soon falls ill due to the harsh Petersburg climate, and, to Panaev’s despair, she dies. While keeping vigil of her dead body […]

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Liudvig, M.: The Germans in Africa. A Short Story

Gottlieb Keller asks his master, a shoemaker, for his daughter’s hand. The master replies that he will only give his daughter to someone who has conquered some land in Africa for the Germans […]

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