'In Exile' was first published in  May 1892 issue of the Vsemirnaya Illustratsiya magazine.
The story was inspired by Chekhov's journey through Siberia and his stay in Sakhalin and, in particular, two episodes of this trip.
While on Sakhalin,  Anton Chekhov met a boatman nicknamed Krasivy, a self-professed 'happy man' who struck him with his own peculiar brand of Tolstovian philosophy. It was Krasivy, apparently, who became a prototype for Semyon Tolkovy, the story's hero.