Product Description

Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev (1872-1930) undertook twelve major scientific expeditions between 1902 and 1930 in the Siberian Far East, and authored some sixty works from the geographical, geological, botanical, and ethnographic data he amassed. Among these, Dersu the Trapper has earned a privileged place in Russian literature. In this Russian counterpart to The Journals of Lewis and Clark and the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, Arseniev combines the precise observations of a naturalist with an exciting narrative of real-life adventure.

Arseniev describes three explorations in the Ussurian taiga along the Sea of Japan above Vladivostok, beginning with his first encounter of the solitary aboriginal hunter named Dersu, a member of the Gold tribe, who thereafter becomes his guide. Each expedition is beset with hardship and danger: through blizzard and flood and assorted deprivations, these two men forge an exceptional friendship in their mutual respect for the immense grandeur of the wilderness. But the bridges across language, race and culture also have limitations, and the incursion of civilization exacts its toll. Dersu the Trapper is at once a witnessing of Russia's last frontier and a poignant memoir of rare cross-cultural understanding. Originally published in 1941, this English translation is reprinted in its entirety now for the first time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #233711 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.com Review
The Russian explorer V. K. Arseniev received a hero's welcome when he returned to Moscow from the Far East in 1906, having mapped the unknown corner of Siberia just above what is now North Korea and just east of Manchuria. He could not have done this work alone, Arseniev protested, and the real hero was an indigene who befriended his party. Arseniev then wrote a remarkable memoir devoted to the Goldi trapper, Dersu, who saved his and his men's lives on more than one occasion while showing them the ways of the deep forest. An action-filled memoir of exploration and natural history, Arseniev's record of friendship with Dersu is one of the finest works of amateur ethnography. It is also the basis for Akira Kurosawa's prize-winning 1976 film Dersu Uzala.

From Publishers Weekly
Arseniev, a Russian geographer, ethnographer and geologist who surveyed the Taiga, the vast forest region of eastern Siberia, on three separate occasions between 1902 and 1907, knew the real Dersu Azala for some 19 months. The Dersu that appears here, is actually a composite character, combining the real Dersu with myths about the primitive lifestyle and heroic deeds of "noble savages" in the manner of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales. All three expeditions described in this memoir entailed life-threatening danger from blizzards, rainstorms, lack of food, wild animals or hostile natives?and all ended with Dersu's instinctive knowledge saving the day. In a stock ending to the meeting of civilized and savage, Arseniev persuaded Dersu to come with him, but his friend could not adapt to restrictions of life indoors, preferring the rigors of is old nomadic existence to the spurious comforts of city life. Burdened by an awkward, outdated translation, this somewhat repetitive memoir still sustains interest as it recounts the adventures of two exceptional friends. Film buffs will also recognize it as the basis for Kurosawa's 1975 Oscar-winning movie, Dersu Azala.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Arseniev...the great explorer of Eastern Siberia...opens up a world of which we have hitherto had very little information. -- Fritjof Nansen

Dersu the Trapper tells the true story of a turn-of-the-century encounter between a Russian expeditionary officer and a nomadic member of the Gold tribe in the taiga region of eastern Siberia, above Vladivostok along the Sea of Japan. The story concerns three expeditions which were filled with discovery and hardship, and required remarkable courage to survive harsh conditions as well as encounters with bears, wild boards, tigers, bandits and brigands. Dersu the Trapper tells of the exceptional friendship that grew between these two men, and is a compelling description of a largely unknown wilderness and its inhabitants: Udehes, Chinese, Golds, and Old Believers. Vladimir Arseniev was not only a geographer, ethnographer, and geologist, but a bold and indefatigable traveller and a wonderfully precise writer. His twenty volumes occupy a unique position in Russian literature. Malcom Burr has provided an able and accessible translation making possible the writings of Arseniev available to an American audience. Highly recommended reading for any one interested true-life adventure, Russian literature, ethnography, anthropology, and the history of exploration. -- Midwest Book Review

The narrative is illuminated by a wealth of tiny pen-and-ink drawings, all good... -- William Beebe, Books

[It] is a classic that will keep both Arseniev and Dersu alive in our hearts. -- Yale Review

Customer Reviews

It is a book bespeaking of love towards nature.
Through knowledge based on survival interest, but also on in-depth curiosity, Arseniev offers a narrative monument of love towards nature. His true friendship with Dersu Uzala, the native trapper, opens to us the misteries of the Taiga, and the harmonic rules of nature, on which the role of man has also a place. The style is narrative, straight forward, without artificiality, a little cold, but leaves a vivid impression on the reader through the amazing world that effectively describes. Highly recommended book for nature lovers.

deservedly a classic
Having read this book many years after first seeing the movie Dersu Usala by Kurosawa, I found it thoroughly engaging. It is a chronicle of Arseniev's mapping journeys through parts of Manchuria around the turn of the twentieth century and of his friendship with Dersu. It is told with meticulous attention to the detail of the environment, with many small simple drawings from his journal, and with real love and respect for Dersu himself and his ideas. I was struck by the accuracy of Kurosawa's portrayal of the story and didn't expect the two versions to be so very close.

The movie has been one of my favourites for years and now Arsiniev's book sits right beside it. They are both classics in that you wouldn't change a word or scene of them. The book and movie are treasures and are very highly recommended.

Wonderful window into a forgotten world and a timeless friendship
Anyone who has seen Kurasawa's film, Dersu Uzala, will find this book to be an unexpected treasure trove of new adventures and new insights into this wonderful character and his friendship with the Russian explorer Arsiniev.

In addition to the major themes of mortality, friendship, and the clash between civilization and nature, the book provides a wonderful immersion in the flora and fauna (mostly of the beastly and stinging variety) of the Russian far East at the turn of the 20th century.

No complaints, really - there is no other English translation that I know of, of the complete diaries of Arsiniev, and we have no reason to believe that these are in any way no properly edited (there is only so much one can read of valley depths and river lengths).

In short, the book is a rare masterpiece that will provide joy in itself and also increase the joy you will get out of watching the film.