"Crusoe arrives at Tobolsk" for Daniel Defoe's "Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" (1863-64)

Crusoe arrives at Tobolsk (page 385) — the volume's hundredth composite wood-block engraving for Defoe's The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner. Related by himself (London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863-64). Part II, The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Chapter XV, "Description of an Idol, which they destroy" (page 385). Full-page, framed. 14 cm high x 22 cm wide. Running head: "The Russian Exile" (p. 387).

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: Crusoe arrives at a Russian city

HereI observed ignorance and paganism still prevailed, except in the Muscovite garrisons. All the country between the river Oby and the river Janezay is as entirely pagan, and the people as barbarous, as the remotest Tartars; nay, as any nation, for aught I know, in Asia or America.I also found, which I observed to the Muscovite governors whom I had the opportunity to converse with, that the poor pagans were not much wiser, or nearer Christianity, for being under the Muscovite government, which they acknowledged was true enough; but that, as they said, was none of their business; that if the Czar expected to convert his Siberian, Tonguse, or Tartar subjects, it should be done by sending clergymen among them, not soldiers; and they added, with more sincerity than I expected, that it was not so much the concern of their monarch to make the people Christians as to make them subjects.

From this river to the Oby we crossed a wild uncultivated country, barren of people and good management, otherwise it is in itself a pleasant, fruitful, and agreeable country. What inhabitants we found in it are all pagans, except such as are sent among them from Russia; for this is the country—I mean on both sides the river Oby—whither the Muscovite criminals that are not put to death are banished, and from whence it is next to impossible they should ever get away.

I have nothing material to say of my particular affairs till I came to Tobolski, the capital city of Siberia, where I continued some time on the following account. [Chapter XV, "Description of an Idol, which they Destroy," pp. 381-82]

Commentary: Crusoe in Eastern Russia

Tobolsk (1,860 kilometers from Moscow) is one of the oldest cities in Siberia and formerly was a place of exile for many writers and public figures. From the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century Tobolsk was known as the spiritual center of Siberia, thus it is often referred to as the "Angel of Siberia." [Russia Beyond]

Almost a constant in the various nineteenth-century programs of illustration for Defoe's eighteenth-century novel are the various artists' interpretations of the fierce and formidable Tartars. Here, however, in the narrative-pictorial sequence the Cassell's illustrators bring Crusoe's adventures in Tartary to a close as he enters the Russian outpost of Tobolsk. Ironically, the ultimate punishment in nineteenth-century Czarist Russia was to be exiled to this region of harsh winters. Today, the city still contains many of the rustic wooden houses built in the nineteenth century. These, together with characteristically domed Russian Orthodox churches, provide the backdrop for the arrival of the Western European cavalcade.

With the liberation of the serfs under Czar Alexander II in 1861 came the revolutionary movement of the Narodniks, the intellectual and political forebears of the socialist revolution of the later nineteenth century — the Czarist authorities exiled many Narodniks to this Siberia city.

Related Material

References

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner. Related by himself. With upwards of One Hundred Illustrations. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863-64.

"The best places to rest on the border between Europe and Asia." Russia Beyond. Accessed 16 April 2018. https://www.rbth.com/arts/travel/2015/01/22/the_best_places_to_rest_on_the_border_between_europe_and_asia_40965

Last modified 16 April 2018