Well, in case you were wondering, apparently there was sexual tourism back in the day. For Russians – men and women, both – a trip to the Crimea could also include a little dalliance with a Tatar or some dark-skinned (i.e. Mediterranean or someone from the Caucasus) lover.
In “A Tripping Tongue,” a young married woman accidentally tells her husband a little too much about her trip to the Crimea with a girlriend.
It’s broad, but fine, it’s meant to be a bit of a satirical morality tale. Boiled down it might be: What happens in the Crimea stays in the Crimea. Unless you’re a blabbermouth.
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The Crimea–and Russia’s warm southern regions in general–often figure in Chekhov’s stories, and generally they aren’t portrayed in a favorable light. Chekhov himself grew up in Taganrog, a warm-weather resort and port city on the Sea of Azov. For much of his writing life, he seemed to disdain the south of the country for its indolence. Like one of the characters in “The Duel,” he preferred the cold climate of the north, where the air was cold and keen, where there were beech and fir trees, and “where people would talk about trade, new singers, the Franco-Russian-entente…”
By contrast, the south was blah. Visiting his home town of Taganrog after years away (but he was still only 27 at the time), he wrote: “The town’s location is beautiful in all respects, a splendid climate, masses of fruits of the earth, but the inhabitants are hellishly inert…. There are no patriots, no businessmen, no poets, not even any decent bakers.”
Ironically and probably much to Chekhov’s annoyance, as his health failed he had to spend more and more time in the south, essentially retiring before he was 40 in Yalta.
As is shown in “A Tripping Tongue,” the south of Russia, like Florida, was a place for northerners to visit for a beach vacation. But it was also, like Florida, a place to retire to. For that vision of the warm region of Russia, see “Aborigines,” about a detestable old military mind whiling away the last of his years in a humid haze of distrust and complaint.
A Chekhov Circus 