Michael Strogoff

6 hrs. 9 min.

Language Russian

Author Jules Verne

Narrator Maxim Doronin

Description

Eastern Russia is swept by a mass uprising of Turkestani tribes. Feldjeger Mikhail Strogoff is sent with the most important message to the governor-general of Irkutsk. His route runs through lands occupied by the rebels.

Originally the novel was titled “The Tsar’s Courier” (or “The Royal Courier”); work on it began in 1875. The author did part of the work aboard the yacht “Saint-Michel,” in his “floating study.” The novel’s concept was inspired by recent geopolitical events: in the late 1860s and early 1870s, Russia conquered several territories in Central Asia, including the Kokand, Bukhara, and Khiva khanates. In 1875 local armed uprisings broke out among dissatisfied local residents. By 1876 they had been completely suppressed. Jules Verne “expanded” these events into a large-scale popular uprising and tried to describe how it unfolded. Moreover, he “renamed” the peoples of Central Asia as “Tatars” and moved the plot to Siberia—so overall the storyline is fairly free. However, it should be noted that Jules Verne made an effort to compile all available descriptions of Siberia and the peoples living there (made by both Russians and Europeans)—and the cities, rivers, villages, and even the smallest places are geographically given correctly.

The novel’s action takes place entirely within the Russian Empire.