Dersu Uzala (book)

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This article is about the book. For the 1975 Russian-Japanese movie directed by Akira Kurosawa, see Dersu Uzala (1975 film). For the 1961 Russian movie, see Dersu Uzala (1961 film). For the person, see Dersu Uzala.
Dersu Uzala
Author V. K. Arseniev
Country United States
Language English
Subject Travelogue
Publisher McPherson
Publication date
 October 1996
ISBN 978-0-929701-49-3
Dersu Uzala. Photo by V. Arsenyev

Dersu Uzala (Russian: Дерсу Узала; alternate U.S. titles: With Dersu the Hunter and Dersu the Trapper) is the title of a 1923 book by the Russian explorer Vladimir Arsenyev.

Plot

Arsenyev's book tells of his travels in the Ussuri basin in the Russian Far East. Dersu was the name of a Nanai hunter (who lived c. 1850–1908) who acted as a guide for Arsenyev's surveying crew from 1902 to 1907, and saved them from starvation and cold. Arsenyev portrays him as a great man, an animist who sees animals and plants as equal to man. From 1907, Arsenyev invited Dersu to live in his house in Khabarovsk as Dersu's failing sight hampered his ability to live as a hunter. In the spring of 1908, Dersu bade farewell to Arsenyev and walked back to his home in the Primorsky Krai, where he was killed. According to Arsenyev's book, Dersu Uzala was murdered near the town of Korfovskiy and buried in an unmarked grave in the taiga.

Editions in Russian

  • Дерсу Узала. Сквозь тайгу Издательство: Терра - Книжный клуб (1997) Н. Е. Кабанова (ed.) EAN 9785300010973 (English: Dersu Uzala. Taiga Publishing House: Terra Book Club) (1997) N. ya. Kabanov (ed.) EAN 9785300010973)

English translations

  • Dersu the Trapper translated by Malcolm Burr
    • Pub: Secker & Warburg, London 1939. First English edition.
    • Pub: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. New York: 1941. ISBN 0-929701-49-6 First American edition.
    • Pub: McPherson and others, 1996, 2001. ISBN 0-929701-49-6. Mass market paperback.
  • Dersu Uzala translated by Victor Shneerson

Film adaptations

External links

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