Another Chekhov!

"The Island of Sakhalin" is neither a new nor a play, but the careful investigation Anton Chekhov began in 1890, without any external help, on the living conditions of the convicts banished to the distant Sakhalin transformed into a penal colony of the Russian Empire in the last third of the nineteenth century. Beyond the harsh living conditions he describes minutely, Chekhov shows the complete failure of the Tsarist prison system, which - despite himself - gives rise to a totally absurd and inhuman society.

The book is long enough (23 chapters and over 500 pages Folio edition), but the testimony that book on the Tsarist prison system is unparalleled. It also sheds light's impact on this difficult journey the writer, who found inspiration for many of his later works.