Travel essay “In the Far North” by Teki Odulok - the first travelogue of the early twentieth century

Teki Odulok's travel essay is the first work devoted to a journey through the northernmost regions of the Russian Federation undertaken by a compatriot, a representative of the smallest Russian people - the Yukaghir, in the 20s of the twentieth century. The article presents the results of the study of the content of the travelogue, its chronotopes, descriptions of nature at different geographical latitudes, culture and life of the unique endemic peoples inhabiting the territory: the Yukaghirs (Oduls), Russian-Ustintsy, Chukchi, Evens, Evenks (Lamuts). It is proven that the work is a narrative, objectively related to the history and geographical location of the region, political and cultural events in the Soviet Union at the beginning of the twentieth century. The novelty is justified by the fact that the essay has the characteristics of a travelogue in the modern sense, and therefore the readers, regardless of their nationality and place of residence, perceive it with interest. The influence of the professional view of a scientist-economist on the style of literary narration is shown, which provides an enriched description of travel along a specific route and an evidential connection with the modern economic state of the regions described. Complete discourses combining documentary narration, presentation of real facts about harsh conditions of survival and description of life and customs of representatives of small number of peoples - endemics - are highlighted. Methods of comparison and literary retroscopy were used, which allowed to confirm the author's assumptions about the development of the region in literary and documentary form. The article may be of interest not only to philologists and specialists in the field of national cultures, but also to interested readers.