Abstract
Ivan Goncharov, creator of Oblomov whose eponymous hero is renowned for his total inertia, roamed the world in 1852–5 as chronicler for the voyage of the Russian naval frigate Pallada. Her mission was to inspect Russian possessions in North America, but also to seek a Russian toehold in the hitherto isolationist Japan. The diplomatic gain may have been modest but the voyage yielded a rich literary harvest in Goncharov’s travelogue, The Frigate ‘Pallada’, that was an immediate and enduring bestseller.
This original and stimulating study, however, is not exclusively devoted to literary history or criticism, although Edyta Bojanowska alerts the reader to the importance of travel memoirs in Russian literature and identifies the particular strengths of Goncharov’s account. The Frigate ‘Pallada’ may be faulted for its lack of detailed information about the natural world and societies encountered, but central to the book’s success was the self-image of a traveller who managed to have a fully European perspective while preserving at the same time a fiercely Russian national outlook. A diverse readership put its trust in such a guide whose humour, talent for spotting a telling exotic vignette, and vivid narrative skill, satisfied the curiosity about faraway places.
Subsequent editors, particularly in the Soviet period were loath to allow Goncharov’s readers untrammelled trust in his outlook and Bojanowska shows the extent of the excisions made. It was Goncharov’s mainly positive attitude to European imperialism and colonization that was at issue. However, as this study proves, it is the question of mid-nineteenth-century global imperial history that is fundamental to appreciating fully Goncharov’s narrative. Pallada’s ports of call – Portsmouth, Cape Town, Java, Singapore, Hong Kong – introduced the reader to the global reach of European imperial powers, the key issues of free trade versus mercantilism, relations with native peoples and the devolution of government.
For Goncharov the Cape of Good Hope was the prime example of European expansion at its best, bringing trade and culture to undeveloped territories. He was full of praise for British energy and enterprise while at the same time somewhat resentful of their swashbuckling panache and the display of imperial superciliousness he was to see in China. Yet, as Bojanowska reminds us, Goncharov’s stance was not that of a disinterested bystander. The Russians too saw themselves as part of the European empire building of the time. Indeed that was implicit in the mission entrusted to Pallada. It was Pallada’s landfall in Korea that allowed Goncharov to express his vision of Russia’s participation in the global colonization. At last, faced with a hitherto ‘unclaimed’ Asian territory, Goncharov was able to speak ‘with the stentorian voice of a civilizer and geopolitical expert’.
The sea voyage ended with a landing on the Pacific coast of Siberia and Goncharov embarked on his journey home across the vast expanse of land. Approaching Siberia from the east in the light of his recent experience of European and American colonization gave him a particular perspective on Russian settlement and exploitation in new territories populated by native peoples. Siberia may have had all the attributes of a colonial territory, but Goncharov, along with most Russians, perceived it as a natural eastward expansion of their homeland. Bojanowska’s interdisciplinary dexterity, her keen awareness of the interplay between the literary travelogue and the unfolding history of global empire-building, brings out the significance of the Siberian chapters in The Frigate ‘Pallada’. Despite his earlier enthusiasm for European colonial systems, Goncharov was now able to present an equivalent Russian model that was superior in its benevolence and peacefulness.
By using A World of Empires as an accompanying handbook, any reader of Goncharov’s travelogue would find the insightful vignettes enriched by the depth of context provided and also gain a fuller understanding of mid-nineteenth-century imperial expansion.