Travel satires by Leonid Andreyev: cultural aspects of life in the south of Russia in the early 1900’s

The genre of travel essays by L. N. Andreev includes satires, written under the influence of a trip to the Black Sea («Тhe South», «Horse Riding») and published in the newspaper «Courier» (1902). The writer and his wife A. M. Andreeva (Veligorskoy) visited Kiev, Odessa, Sevastopol and Andreev created the impression-images of these cities, comparing them with Moscow. He noted cultural monuments, depicted the life and customs of the inhabitants of Odessa and Sevastopol. In Oleiz (a place near Yalta) the spouses visited Gorky and admired nature and the Mount Ai-Petri. There Andreev tried to ride a horse for the third time in his life. It became the main theme of «A Horse Riding» - a humorous sketch of misadventures of the «author» on a horseback.