Um dos melhores livros que tive a oportunidade de ler este ano. Desde o início o leitor fica preso à narrativa, que além de nos relembrar um bocado de geografia daquela porção da Ásia, nos faz pensar a natureza de modo muito diferente. O final é igualmente poderoso. Esta é uma bela história de amizade para se reler de tempos em tempos. ( )

Dersu the Trapper

I learned of this book in reading "The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival" by John Vaillant, and decided to look into it. "Dersu the Trapper" by V. K. Arseniev is a 1923 memoir by the Russian explorer Vladimir Arseniev. I obtained the public domain epub copy I read from the Internet Archive. There is also a free public domain audio version on the Internet Archive.

This account is considered the Russian counterpart to The Journals of Lewis and Clark, the subject matter being some of Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev's explorations of the Ussurian taiga in the early 1900s on which he was accompanied by an indigenous Gold named Dersu Uzala.

I see this as a book for those that appreciate Nature and the value of wilderness, understanding our weedy specie's too often ignorant and destructive impacts on the natural world that sustains us, and our parasitical proclivities towards each other. Not even Vladimir Arseniev is exempt from humankind's contradictions, but he learned a lot from Dersu Uzala. Dresu, as depicted by Vladimir Arseniev, was a man that seemed to understand how to live in respectful coexistence with the natural world.

It's written like a travelog of some of the author's explorations with adventure to spare. Imagine encountering tusked large Ussuri wild boar, a towering angry Ussuri brown bear (think Kodiak bear), being stalked by a 500lb Amur tiger, being caught in a forest fire with an injured foot, or the opposite of being bone weary and caught in a blizzard in the wilderness far from any shelter or help. Not to mention the flood they got caught in ("The entire valley, from hill-side to hill-side, was filled with water."), and the bandits they had to deal with. Even reading this in your comfortable abode, wrapped up in the reality of this story you may feel anxious. That is if you can visualize the situations. Sadly, so many these days are so divorced from the natural world that they are likely to be bored with the story.

To those that have a feel for what real wilderness is though, it is a remarkable account. Also, if you've studied the diversity of flora and fauna, this accounting will be a delight, maybe even causing you to reach for your reference books :-) ( )

A more tender portrayal of a friendship between two people from unimaginably different backgrounds I haven't encountered anywhere. That friendship and a deeply observed look at what was even then a fast-vanishing landscape in far Eastern Russia a hundred years ago makes Dersu the Trapper an exceptional read. Arseniev was a surveyor, a passionate observer of nature and outdoorsman - a bit like TR and some others of that era, he behaved in paradoxical ways - if he felt like going out to shoot something he did - often, however, he would decide against it, or ask the men accompanying him to refrain - out of respect for both the animals and their endangered habitat. He could see too and mourn the destruction of this area, the animals, insects and birds particular to it, not to mention several tribes of native peoples (I'm afraid the Chinese come off very very badly in all regards in this book - although Europeans did no better in the blithe rapine of the North and South American continents). Arseniev is always even-handed and is careful to describe the helpful and kind Chinese folk he met too. But Dersu! A 'Gold' (one of the vanishing tribes) he has lived out of doors as a hunter, the majority of his life. Alone, after his family died of smallpox, he has wandered about catching a sable or finding ginseng here and there - his needs are few. He can look at a track that would mean nothing to you and me, tell you an entire story about the animal, its age, health, mood, intent..... The book has three parts, three different trips into the wild taig. In the first Dersu appears and with his quiet and unobtrusive authority enchants Arseniev and gains the respect of everyone and rapidly becomes indispensible. Arseniev never spares himself - arguing or disagreeing with Dersu about weather or which route to take - is the ultimate stupidity although he, Arseniev, never does quite come to understand fully the needs and depths of Dersu the man. In the second book Arseniev meets up with Dersu and this is a time of simple happiness in being in each other's company. In the third Dersu is declining and while they have some fine times, it is poignant. It is understandable from the first why Arseniev would value Dersu, less understandable what draws Dersu to Arseniev, but as you read you become aware that although Arseniev was a man of his time in some ways, in others he was one of those with a naturally open mind, a big heart, strong ethics and also confident in some way of himself so that he never minded admitting his own flaws and errors. Friendship is, of course, a mystery and one of the more wonderful joys of life when a true one comes your way. A lovely book. **** ( )

Siberia is fascinating, a huge, empty land spoiled by the forces of population and thuggery, and there are fascinating books about it. Dersu the Trapper is about the humanity and wilderness of the very right end of the country down low only barely contiguous with the full mass of land. It reads as a memoir, but the author of the preface, Jaimy Gordon, says, "We may be sure that the Dersu of the books is a composite character." This composite character has a reality on the page that we can use to represent what we have lost by being reared in houses with supermarkets nearby (a situation that the mountain men of the American west tried to avoid). And he foresees the devastation that will occur in the immediate future as more and more people push into the unspoiled land, some to live in it and some to plunder it.

I can happily read this kind of book that runs on like: It was cold and we could not get warm. We sat toasty by the fire. We had no food for days. We shot and ate a roe and left it for the ants. There were this tree and that tree and that other kind of tree and dentate leaves. It does that over and over. I suppose that could get long for people who find the chapter on whales in Moby Dick long, but what I bring away from the book is not the specific flora and fauna but the relationship to the land that the explorers, the trapper, the other trappers, the farmers... have, and how it related back to them — it sends storms and tigers against them.

The liberty of Dersu could not be sustained in most parts of the world today. And the author's liberty was lost to him as he went to an early death in the Soviet Union.

This book is a beautiful tragedy and a glimpse at the devastation our world likely faces. ( )

This book has been described as the Russian counterpart to [The Journals of Lewis and Clark], presumptuous, yet a helpful quick analogy for Americans. Arseniev was a Russian cartographer who undertook several expeditions in Siberia. His task was to map the territory and he also describes the plant and animal life of the area, as well as the people. This area is partially bordered by China, Korea and the Sea of Japan.

Dersu Uzala is a Nanai, called by the Russians Goldis, the indigenous people of the area here in Siberia and China. I simply had given no thought to indigenous people of most countries other than my own. Native Americans of course I knew about, some African tribes and South American tribes, Maori of NZ and Australia, Inuit, Degar (Montagnard) of course from Vietnam war, but heck my knowledge of world history from ANY period is pathetic. Thus my excitement over discovering Dersu. Dersu became the native guide for Arseniev's expeditions, and much, much more than that. They formed a strong and lasting friendship rooted in Dersu's profound humanity and generosity, and Arseniev's deep love and affection for Dersu. Dersu saved Arseniev's life many times. I am sorry to sound so cliche, but Dersu is truly one with nature, plants, animals, rocks, to the point of what some would call animism. This unity led to his understanding of and respect for life. He would not kill more than necessary to survive, nor overuse plants and taught the same to Arseniev. I enjoyed the descriptions of plants and animals and think any fan of [[John Muir]] would enjoy this book.

This is also an action story as you can imagine attempting to survive in the wild and desolate area would be. However, maybe most of the threats to their survival came from men. There were also descriptions of the different groups of people contacted on this trip and Dersu knew the helpful way to interact with each group, according to their customs and behaviors. He also knew which one to avoid!

I have read some about the indigenous groups I mentioned above, but now of course I want to study these groups from each continent. Wouldn't that make a great discussion group and a great reading list? I want to revisit my anthropology classes and learn it all again.

The meeting of Dersu with modern society of the time (1907 era) and the resulting interaction is of course an inevitable part of this story.

I also got the movie of Dersu from Netflix and it was excellent. Five stars for book and movie1 One of my all time favorites.

ETA: WHOOPS - got the movie from the library not from Netflix. ( )