person
Adam Johann von Krusenstern
Krusenstern
also: Крузенштерн, Иван Фёдорович Крузенштерн, Ivan Fyodorovich Krusenstern
Baltic-German officer in Russian naval service (1770-1846) who led Russia's first circumnavigation of the globe (1803-1806) and published its narrative and atlas; Chekhov borrows Krusenstern's two-volume account and atlas from Suvorin's library as reference material while preparing for his 1890 journey to Sakhalin, copying the atlas by hand before returning it.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Suvorin, 20 February 1890. Moscow. §2 Krusenstern's atlas
Chekhov's request is deliberately counterintuitive: he wants the atlas of Adam Johann von Krusenstern's celebrated Russian circumnavigation precisely because Suvorin has told him its map is poor. A poor map of the Far East is more useful to Chekhov's own corrective purposes preparing for Sakhalin than a good one would be -- he has already bought a good map from Ilyin for 65 kopecks, so Krusenstern's serves a different, comparative function rather than duplicating it.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 28 February 1890. Moscow. §3 Krusenstern's atlas
Adam Johann von Krusenstern led Russia's first circumnavigation of the globe (1803-1806); his published narrative and accompanying atlas, borrowed from Suvorin's library, served as reference material for Chekhov's 1890 journey to Sakhalin. Chekhov is copying the atlas by hand (\S4) before he can return it, which delays that particular item even as he sends back the rest of the borrowed material.