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diff --git a/31503-h/31503-h.htm b/31503-h/31503-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0666fb --- /dev/null +++ b/31503-h/31503-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11187 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title>Contemporary Russian Novelists, by Serge Persky; an eBook from Project Gutenberg</title> + <style type="text/css"> + /* <![CDATA[ */ +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.pagenum { + /*visibility: hidden;*/ + color: #999; + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.center { text-align: center; } +.smcap { font-variant: small-caps; } +.caps { text-transform: uppercase; } +.smaller { font-size: smaller; } +.larger { font-size: larger; } + +/* Images */ +img { border: none; } +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes { border: dashed 1px; } + +.footnote { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + +.footnote .label { position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; font-size: 0.9em; } + +.fnanchor { + /*vertical-align: super;*/ + font-size: 80%; + text-decoration: none; +} +h2 .fnanchor { font-size: 60%; font-weight: normal; } + +/***/ + +.trnote { + font-family: sans-serif; + background-color: #ccc; + color: #000; + border: black 1px dotted; + margin: 2em 10% 2em 10%; + padding: .8em; +} +.trnote ul li { list-style-type: none; } + +.toc { margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 25%; padding-right: 2em; margin-top: 0; padding-top: 0; } +.toc li { list-style-type: upper-roman; } +.toc li.nonum { list-style-type: none; } +.toc li p { margin-top: 0; padding-top: 0; text-align: left; } +.toc .num { position: absolute; right: 30%; top: auto; } +.tocchap { position: absolute; left: 26%; top: auto; } +html>/**/body .tocchap { left: 29%; } +p.toc { font-size: 60%; margin-bottom: 0; padding-bottom: 0; } + +h2 { line-height: 150%; } +p.theend { text-align: center; margin-top: 3em; font-size: smaller; } +.topmarg { margin-top: 3em; } + +hr.chapbreak { width: 65%; /*visibility: hidden;*/ } +.w65 { width: 65%; } +hr.tb, .w45 { width: 45%; } +.w25 { width: 25%; } +.l4 { padding-left: 4em; } +.l5 { padding-left: 5em; } + +a.corr { /*border-bottom: 1px dotted #333;*/ } + + /* ]]> */ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Contemporary Russian Novelists, by Serge Persky + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Contemporary Russian Novelists + +Author: Serge Persky + +Translator: Frederick Eisemann + +Release Date: March 4, 2010 [EBook #31503] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN NOVELISTS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="trnote"> +<h2>Transcriber's note</h2> +<ol> +<li>Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired silently.</li> +<li>Word errors have been corrected and a <a href="#trcorrections">list + of corrections</a> can be found after the book.</li> +</ol> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter"><img alt="Book cover" src="images/cover.jpg" width="390" height="600" /></div> + +<h1 class="caps">Contemporary<br /> +Russian Novelists</h1> + +<p class="center topmarg">Translated from the French of Serge Persky<br /> +By <span class="caps">Frederick Eisemann</span></p> + + +<p class="center caps topmarg">John W. Luce and Company<br /> +Boston — 1913</p> + +<hr class="w45" /> + +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1912</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By C. Delagrave</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1913</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By L. E. Bassett</span></p> + +<hr class="w45" /> + +<p class="center">To<br /> +THE MEMORY OF<br /> +F. N. S.<br /> +<span class="smcap l4">by</span><br /> +<span class="smcap l5">The Translator</span></p> + + +<hr class="w45" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>The principal aim of this book is to give +the reader a good general knowledge of Russian +literature as it is to-day. The author, Serge +Persky, has subordinated purely critical material, +because he wants his readers to form their +own judgments and criticize for themselves. +The element of literary criticism is not, however, +by any means entirely lacking.</p> + +<p>In the original text, there is a thorough and +exhaustive treatment of the "great prophet" +of Russian literature—Tolstoy—but the +translator has deemed it wise to omit this essay, +because so much has recently been written about +this great man.</p> + +<p>As the title of the book is "Contemporary +Russian Novelists," the essay on Anton +Tchekoff, who is no longer living, does not +rightly belong here, but Tchekoff is such an +important figure in modern Russian literature +and has attracted so little attention from English +writers that it seems advisable to retain +the essay that treats of his work. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></p> + +<p>Finally, let me express my sincerest thanks +to Dr. G. H. Maynadier of Harvard for his +kind advice; to Miss Edna Wetzler for her unfailing +and valuable help, and to Miss Carrie +Harper, who has gone over this work with painstaking +care.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p class="toc"><span class="caps tocchap">Chapter</span> + <span class="num caps">Page</span></p> +<ul class="toc"> + +<li><p><a href="#I" class="smcap">A Brief Survey of Russian Literature</a> + <span class="num">1</span></p></li> + +<li><p><a href="#II" class="smcap">Anton Tchekoff</a> + <span class="num">40</span></p></li> + +<li><p><a href="#III" class="smcap">Vladimir Korolenko</a> + <span class="num">76</span></p></li> + +<li><p><a href="#IV" class="smcap">Vikenty Veressayev</a> + <span class="num">108</span></p></li> + +<li><p><a href="#V" class="smcap">Maxim Gorky</a> + <span class="num">142</span></p></li> + +<li><p><a href="#VI" class="smcap">Leonid Andreyev</a> + <span class="num">199</span></p></li> + +<li><p><a href="#VII" class="smcap">Dmitry Merezhkovsky</a> + <span class="num">246</span></p></li> + +<li><p><a href="#VIII" class="smcap">Alexander Kuprin</a> + <span class="num">274</span></p></li> + +<li><p><a href="#IX" class="smcap">Writers in Vogue</a> + <span class="num">289</span></p></li> + +<li class="nonum"><p><a href="#NOTES" class="smcap">Notes</a> + <span class="num">315</span></p></li> +</ul> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h1 class="caps">Contemporary<br />Russian Novelists</h1> + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I<br /> +A BRIEF SURVEY OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE</h2> + + +<p>In order to get a clear idea of modern Russian +literature, a knowledge of its past is indispensable. +This knowledge will help us in +understanding that which distinguishes it from +other European literatures, not only from the +viewpoint of the art which it expresses, but also +as the historical and sociological mirror of the +nation's life in the course of centuries.</p> + +<p>The dominant trait of this literature is found +in its very origins. Unlike the literatures of +other European countries, which followed, in a +more or less regular way, the development of +life and civilization during historic times, Russian +literature passed through none of these +stages. Instead of being a product of the past, +it is a protestation against it; instead of retracing +the old successive stages, it appears, intermittently, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +like a light suddenly struck in the +darkness. Its whole history is a long continual +struggle against this darkness, which has gradually +melted away beneath these rays of light, +but has never entirely ceased to veil the general +trend of Russian thought.</p> + +<p>As a result of the unfortunate circumstances +which characterize her history, Russia was for +a long time deprived of any relations with civilized +Europe. The necessity of concentrating all +her strength on fighting the Mongolians laid the +corner-stone of a sort of semi-Asiatic political +autocracy. Besides, the influence of the Byzantine +clergy made the nation hostile to the ideas +and science of the Occident, which were represented +as heresies incompatible with the orthodox +faith. However, when she finally threw off +the Mongolian yoke, and when she found herself +face to face with Europe, Russia was led to +enter into diplomatic relations with the various +Western powers. She then realized that European +art and science were indispensable to her, +if only to strengthen her in warfare against +these States. For this reason a number of European +ideas began to come into Russia during +the reigns of the last Muscovite sovereigns. +But they assumed a somewhat sacerdotal character +in passing through the filter of Polish +society, and took on, so to speak, a dogmatic +air. In general, European influence was not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +accepted in Russia except with extreme repugnance +and restless circumspection, until the accession +of Peter I. This great monarch, +blessed with unusual intelligence and a will of +iron, decided to use all his autocratic power in +impressing, to use the words of Pushkin, "a new +direction upon the Russian vessel;"—Europe +instead of Asia.</p> + +<p>Peter the Great had to contend against the +partisans of ancient tradition, the "obscurists" +and the adversaries of profane science; and this +inevitable struggle determined the first character +of Russian literature, where the satiric +element, which in essence is an attack on the +enemies of reform, predominates. In organizing +grotesque processions, clownish masquerades, +in which the long-skirted clothes and the +streaming beards of the honorable champions +of times gone by were ridiculed, Peter himself +appeared as a pitiless destroyer of the ancient +costumes and superannuated ideas.</p> + +<p>The example set by the practical irony of +this man was followed, soon after the death of +the Tsar, by Kantemir, the first Russian author +who wrote satirical verses. These verses were +very much appreciated in his time. In them, +he mocks with considerable fervor the ignorant +contemners of science, who taste happiness only +in the gratification of their material appetites.</p> + +<p>At the same time that the Russian authors +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +pursued the enemies of learning with sarcasm, +they heaped up eulogies, which bordered on +idolatry, on Peter I, and, after him, on his successors. +In these praises, which were excessively +hyperbolical, there was always some sincerity. +Peter had, in fact, in his reign, paved +the way for European civilization, and it seemed +merely to be waiting for the sovereigns, Peter's +successors, to go on with the work started by +their illustrious ancestor. The most powerful +leaders, and the first representatives of the new +literature, strode ahead, then, hand in hand, but +their paths before long diverged. Peter the +Great wanted to use European science for practical +purposes only: it was only to help the +State, to make capable generals, to win wars, +to help savants find means to develop the national +wealth by industry and commerce; he—Peter—had +no time to think of other +things. But science throws her light into the +most hidden corners, and when it brings social +and political iniquities to light, then the government +hastens to persecute that which, up to +this time, it has encouraged.</p> + +<p>The protective, and later hostile, tendencies +of the government in regard to authors manifested +themselves with a special violence during +the reign of Catherine II. This erudite woman, +an admirer of Voltaire and of the French "encyclopédistes," +was personally interested in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +writing. She wrote several plays in which she +ridiculed the coarse manners and the ignorance +of the society of her time. Under the influence +of this new impulse, which had come from one +in such a high station in life, a legion of +satirical journals flooded the country. The +talented and spiritual von Vizin wrote comedies, +the most famous of which exposes the ignorance +and cruelty of country gentlemen; in another, +he shows the ridiculousness of people who take +only the brilliant outside shell from European +civilization. Shortly, Radishchev's "Voyage +from Moscow to St. Petersburg" appeared. +Here the author, with the fury of passionate +resentment, and with sad bitterness, exposes the +miserable condition of the people under the +yoke of the high and mighty. It was then that +the empress, Catherine the Great, so gentle to +the world at large and so authoritative at home, +perceiving that satire no longer spared the +guardian principles necessary for the security +of the State, any more than they did popular +superstitions, manifested a strong displeasure +against it. Consequently, the satirical journals +disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. +Von Vizin, who, in his pleasing "Questions to +Catherine" had touched on various subjects +connected with court etiquette, and on the +miseries of political life, had to content himself +with silence. Radishchev was arrested, thrown +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +into a fortress, and then sent to Siberia. They +went so far as to accuse Derzhavin, the greatest +poet of this time, the celebrated "chanter of +Catherine," in his old age, of Jacobinism for +having translated into verse one of the psalms +of David; besides this, the energetic apostle of +learning, Novikov, a journalist, a writer, and +the founder of a remarkable society which devoted +itself to the publication and circulation +of useful books, was accused of having had relations +with foreign secret societies. He was +confined in the fortress at Schluesselburg after +all his belongings had been confiscated. The +critic and the satirist had had their wings +clipped. But it was no longer possible to check +this tendency, for, by force of circumstances, +it had been planted in the very soul of every +Russian who compared the conditions of life +in his country with what European civilization +had done for the neighboring countries.</p> + +<p>Excluded from journalism, this satiric tendency +took refuge in literature, where the novel +and the story trace the incidents of daily life. +Since the writers could not touch the evil at its +source, they showed its consequences for social +life. They represented with eloquence the +empty and deplorable banality of the existence +forced upon most of them. By expressing in +various ways general aspirations towards something +better, they let literature continue its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +teaching, even in times particularly hostile to +freedom of thought, like the reign of Nicholas I, +the most typical and decided adversary of the +freedom of the pen that Europe has ever seen. +Literature was, then, considered as an inevitable +evil, but one from which the world wanted to +free itself; and every man of letters seemed to +be under suspicion. During this reign, not only +criticisms of the government, but also praises +of it, were considered offensive and out of place. +Thus, the chief of the secret police, when he +found that a writer of that time, Bulgarine, +whose name was synonymous with accuser and +like evils, had taken the liberty to praise the +government for some insignificant improvements +made on a certain street, told him with severity: +"You are not asked to praise the government, +you must only praise men of letters."</p> + +<p>Nothing went to print without the authorization +of the general censor, an authorization that +had to be confirmed by the various parts of the +complex machine, and, finally, by a superior +committee which censored the censors. The +latter were themselves so terrorized that they +scented subversive ideas even in cook-books, in +technical musical terms, and in punctuation +marks. It would seem that under such conditions +no kind of literature, and certainly no +satire, could exist. Nevertheless, it was at this +period that Gogol produced his best works. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +The two most important are, his comedy "The +Revizor," where he stigmatizes the abuses of +administration, and "Dead Souls," that classic +work which de Vogüé judges worthy of being +given a place in universal literature, between +"Don Quixote" and "Gil Blas," and which, +in a series of immortal types, flagellates the +moral emptiness and the mediocrity of life in +high Russian society at that time.</p> + +<p>At the same time, Griboyedov's famous +comedy, "Intelligence Comes to Grief," which +the censorship forbade to be produced or even +published, was being circulated in manuscript +form. This comedy, a veritable masterpiece, +has for its hero a man named Chatsky, who was +condemned as a madman by the aristocratic +society of Moscow on account of his independent +spirit and patriotic sentiments. It is true +that in all of these works the authors hardly +attack important personages or the essential +bases of political organization. The functionaries +and proprietors of Gogol's works are +"petites gens," and the civic pathos of Chatsky +aims at certain individuals and not at the national +institutions. But these attacks, cleverly +veiling the general conditions of Russian life, +led the intelligent reader to meditate on certain +questions, and it also permitted satire to live +through the most painful periods. Later, with +the coming of the reforms of Alexander II, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +satire manifested itself more openly in the +works of Saltykov, who was not afraid to use +all his talent in scourging, with his biting sarcasm, +violence and arbitrariness.</p> + +<p>Another salient trait of Russian literature is +its tendency toward realism, the germ of which +can be seen even in the most old-fashioned +works, when, following the precepts of the +West, they were taken up first with pseudo-classicism, +and then with the romantic spirit +which followed.</p> + +<p>Pseudo-classicism had but few worthy representatives +in Russia, if we omit the poet Derzhavin, +whom Pushkin accused of having a poor +knowledge of his mother tongue, and whose +monotonous work shows signs of genius only +here and there.</p> + +<p>As to romanticism! Here we find excellent +translations of the German poets by Zhukovsky, +and the poems of Lermontov and Pushkin, all +impregnated with the spirit of Byron. But +these two movements came quickly to an end. +Soon realism, under the influence of Dickens +and Balzac, installed itself as master of this +literature, and, in spite of the repeated efforts +of the symbolist schools, nothing has yet been +able to wipe it out. Thus, the triumph of realism +was not, as in the case of earlier tendencies, +the simple result of the spirit of imitation which +urges authors to choose models that are in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +vogue, but it was a response to a powerful instinct. +The truth of this statement is very evident +in view of the fact that realism appeared +in Russian literature at a time when it was still +a novelty in Europe. The need of representing +naked reality, without any decorations, is, so +to speak, innate in the Russian author, who cannot, +for any length of time, be led away from +this practice. This is the very reason why the +Byronian influence, at the time of Pushkin and +Lermontov, lasted such a short time. After +having written several poems inspired by the +English poet, Pushkin soon disdained this +model, which was the sole object of European +imitation. "Byron's characters," he says, +"are not real people, but rather incarnations +of the various moods of the poet," and he ends +by saying that Byron is "great but monotonous." +We find the same thing in Lermontov, +who was fond of Byron, not only in a transient +mood of snobbery, but because the very strong +and sombre character of his imagination naturally +led him to choose this kind of intense +poetry. He was exerting himself to regard +reality seriously and to reproduce it with exactitude, +at the very time when he was killed in a +duel at the youthful age of twenty-seven.</p> + +<p>Pushkin's best work, his novel in verse, +"Evgeny Onyegin," although it came so early, +was constructed according to realistic principles; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +and although we still distinguish romantic +tints, it is a striking picture of Russian society +at the beginning of the 19th century. We +find the same tendency in Lermontov's prose +novel, "A Hero of Our Times," in which the +hero, Pechorin, has many traits in common +with Evgeny Onyegin. This book immediately +made a deep impression. It was really nothing +more than a step taken in a new direction by its +author. But it was a step that promised much. +An absurd fatality destroyed this promise, and +hindered the poet, according to the expression +of an excellent critic of that time, from "rummaging +with his eagle eye, among the recesses +of the world."</p> + +<p>The works of writers of secondary rank, contemporaneous +with the above mentioned, also +reveal a realistic tendency. Then appeared, to +declare it with a master's power, that genius of +a realist, of whom we have already made mention, +Gogol. There was general enthusiasm; +Gogol absorbed almost the entire attention of +the public and men of letters. The great critic +and publicist Byelinsky, in particular, took it +upon himself to elaborate in his works the theories +of realism; he formulated the program +about 1850 under the name of the "naturalistic +school." Thus the germs of the past had expanded +triumphantly in the work of Gogol, and +the way was now clear for Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +Tolstoy, Goncharov, Ostrovsky, and +Pisemsky, who, while enlarging the range and +perfecting the methods of the naturalistic +school, conquered for their native literature the +place which it has definitely assumed in the +world.</p> + +<p>Although we may infer that Russian realism +has its roots in a special spiritual predilection, +we must not nevertheless forget the historical +conditions which prepared the way for it and +made its logical development easy. Russian +literature, called on to struggle against tremendous +obstacles, could hardly have gone +astray in the domain of a nebulous idealism.</p> + +<p>The third distinctive trait of this literature +is found in its democratic spirit. Most of the +heroes are not titled personages; they are +peasants, bourgeois, petty officials, students, +and, finally, "intellectuals." This democratic +taste is explained by the very constitution of +Russian society.</p> + +<p>The spirit of the literature of a nation is usually +a reflection of the social class which possesses +the preponderant influence from a political +or economic standpoint or which is marked +by the strength of its numbers. The preponderance +of the upper middle class in England has +impressed on all the literature of that country +the seal of morality belonging to that class; +while in France, where aristocracy predominated, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +one still feels the influence of the aristocratic +traditions which are so brilliantly manifested +in the pseudo-classic period of its literature. +But many reasons have hindered the aristocracy +and the bourgeoisie from developing +in Russia. The Russian bourgeois was, +for a long time, nothing but a peasant who had +grown rich, while the noble was distinguished +more by the number of his serfs and his authority +than by his moral superiority. Deprived +of independence, these two classes blended +and still blend with the immense number of +peasants who surround them on all sides and +submerge them irresistibly, however they may +wish to free themselves.</p> + +<p>Very naturally, the first Russian authors +came from the class of proprietors, rural lords, +who were the most intelligent, not to say the +only intelligent people. In general, the life of +the lord was barely distinguishable from that of +the peasant. As he was usually reared in the +country, he passed his childhood among the village +children; the people most dear to his heart, +often more dear to him than his father or mother, +were his nurse and the other servants,—simple +people, who took care of him and gave him the +pleasures of his youthful existence. Before he +entered the local government school, he had +been impregnated with goodness and popular +poetry, drawn from stories, legends, and tales +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +to which he had been an ardent listener. We +find the great Pushkin dedicating his most +pathetic verses to his old nurse, and we often +see him inspired by the most humble people. In +this way, to the theoretic democracy imported +from Europe is united, in the case of the Russian +author, a treasure of ardent personal recollections; +democracy is not for him an abstract +love of the people, but a real affection, a tenderness +made up of lasting reminiscences which +he feels deeply.</p> + +<p>This then was the mental state of the most +intelligent part of this Russian nobility, which +showed itself a pioneer of the ideas of progress +in literature and life. There were even singular +political manifestations produced. Rostopchin +said: "In France the shoemakers want to become +noble; while here, the nobles would like to +turn shoemakers." But, in spite of all, the +greater part of this caste, with its essential conservative +instincts, was nothing more than an +inert mass, without initiative, and incapable +even of defending its own interests except by +the aid of the government.</p> + +<p>Rostopchin did not suspect the profound +truth of his capricious saying.</p> + +<p>This truth burst forth in all its strength +about 1870, the time of the great reforms undertaken +by Alexander II, when the interests of +the people were, for the first time, the order of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +the day. It was at this period that a great deal +of studying was being done with great enthusiasm +and that a general infatuation for folklore +and for a "union with the masses" was +being shown. The desire to become "simplified," +that is to say to have all people live +the same kind of life, the appearance of a type, +celebrated under the sarcastic name of "noble +penitent" (meaning the titled man who is +ashamed of his privileged position as if it were +a humiliating and infamous thing), the politico-socialistic +ideology of the first Slavophiles, still +half conservative, but wholly democratic; all +these things were the results of the manifestations +which astonished Rostopchin and made the +more intelligent class of Russians fraternize +more with the masses. In our day, this tendency +has been eloquently illustrated by the greatest +Russian artist and thinker, Tolstoy, who was +the very incarnation of the ideas named above, +and who always appears to us as a highly cultured +peasant. The hero of "Resurrection" +sums up in a few words this sympathy for the +people: "This is it, the big world, the true +world!" he says, on seeing the crowd of peasants +and workingmen packed into a third-class +compartment.</p> + +<p>In the last half of the 19th century, Russian +literature took a further step in the way of +democracy. It passed from the hands of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +nobility into the hands of the middle class, as +the conditions under which it existed brought it +closer to the people and made it therefore more +accessible to their aspirations. It is no longer +the great humanitarians of the privileged class +who paint the miserable conditions among which +people vegetate; it is the people themselves who +are beginning to speak of their miseries and of +their hopes for a better life. The result is a +deep penetration of the popular mind, in conjunction +with an acute, and sometimes sickly, +nervousness, which is shown in the works of the +great Uspensky, and, more recently still, in +Tchekoff, Andreyev, and many others.</p> + +<p>None of these writers belong to the aristocracy, +and two of them—Tchekoff and Gorky—have +come up from the masses: the former +was the son of a serf, and the latter the son of +a workingman. Let me add that, among the +women of letters, the one who is most distinguished +by her talent in describing scenes from +popular life—Mme. Dmitrieva—is the +daughter of a peasant woman.</p> + +<p>Thus, as we have shown, the Russian writers +alone, under the cover of imaginative works +which became expressive symbols, could undertake +a truly efficacious struggle against tyranny +and arbitrariness. They found themselves in +that way placed in a peculiar social position +with corresponding duties. Men expected from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +them, naturally, a new gospel and also a plan +of conduct necessary in order to escape from +the circle of oppression. The best of the Russian +writers have undertaken a difficult and +perilous task; they have become the guides, and, +so to speak, the "masters" of life. This tendency +constitutes a new trait in Russian literature, +one of its most characteristic; not that +other literatures have neglected it, but no other +literature in the world has proclaimed this mission +with such a degree of energy and with such +a spirit of sacrifice. Never, in any other country, +have novelists or poets felt with such intensity +the burden on their souls. At this point +Gogol, first of all, became the victim of this +state of things.</p> + +<p>The enthusiasm stirred up by his works and +by the immense hopes that he had evoked suddenly +elevated him to such a height in the minds +of his contemporaries that he felt real anguish. +Artist he was, and now he forced himself to +become a moralist; he rushed into philosophical +speculations which led him on to a nebulous mysticism, +from which his talent suffered severely. +When he realized what had happened, despair +seized him, his ideas troubled him, and he died +in terrible intellectual distress.</p> + +<p>We see also the great admirer of Gogol—Dostoyevsky—under +different pretexts making +known in almost all his novels and especially in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +his magazine articles, "Recollections of an +Author," his opinions on the reforms about to +be realized. He studies the problems of civilization +which concern humanity in general, and +particularly insists upon the mission of the +Russian people, who are destined, he believes, +to end all the conflicts of the world by virtue +of a system based upon Christian love and pity.</p> + +<p>Turgenev, himself, although above all an +artist, does not remain aloof from this educational +work. In his "Annals of a Sportsman," +he attacks bondage. And when it was abolished, +and when in the very heart of Russian society, +among the younger generation, the revolutionists +appeared, Turgenev attempted to paint +these "new men." Thus in his novel, "Fathers +and Sons," he sketches in bold strokes the character +of the nihilist Bazarov. This celebrated +type cannot, however, be considered a true representative +of the mentality of the "new men," +for it gave only a few aspects of their character, +which, besides, did not have Turgenev's +sympathy.</p> + +<p>They are valued in an entirely different way +by Chernyshevsky in his novel, "What Is To +Be Done?" where the author, one of the most +powerful representatives of the great movement +toward freedom from 1860 to 1870, carefully +studied the bases of the new morals and the +means to be used in struggling against the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +prejudices of the old society. Finally let us +mention Tolstoy, whose entire literary activity +was a constant search for truth, till the day +when his mind found an answer to his doubts +in the religion of love and harmony which he +preached from then on.</p> + +<p>The earnestness which sees an apostle in a +writer has not ceased to grow and has almost +blinded the public.</p> + +<p>For example, Gorky needed only to write +some stories in which he places before us beings +belonging to the most miserable classes of society, +to be suddenly, and perhaps against his +own will, elevated to the rôle of prophet of a +new gospel, of annunciator from whom they +were waiting for the Word, although one could +also find the Word in the anti-socialistic circles +which he depicts. Another contemporaneous +author, Tchekoff, once wrote a story about the +precarious position of the workingman in the +city; he showed how this man, after he had become +old and had gone back to his native village, +suffered even more misery than before instead +of getting the rest he had hoped for. Immediately +an ardent controversy took place between +the two factions of the youth of that time, +the Populists and the Marxists. The former, +defending the rural population, accused the +author of having exaggerated and of having +only superficially considered the question, while +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +the others triumphed, confident in the activity +of the people of the city.</p> + +<p>The literary critic, however, in carefully +studying the works of these authors, tried to +get at the real meaning,—the idea between the +lines. Gorky's philosophy has often been discussed; +a great many men of letters have tried +to unravel what there was of pessimism, of indifference +or of mystic idealism in the soul of +Tchekoff. This everlasting habit, not to say +this mania, of analyzing the mind or soul of an +author in order to get at his conception, his +personal doctrine of life, often leads to partial +and erroneous conclusions, especially when, as +in most cases, the critic has only a very vague +idea of the main current of thought which +formed the genesis of the work.</p> + +<p>The hopes and emotions which are aroused by +every original expression in literature, show +more than ever what hopes are based upon its +rôle, the mission which has devolved on it to +serve life, by formulating the facts of the ideal +to be realized.</p> + +<p>But what is this ideal? What are these ideal +aspirations? Of what elements are they made +up? What is the state of mind of the great +majority of Russian "intellectuals" in the +midst of the enmity which compromises and +menaces them?</p> + +<p>Thanks to the window pierced by Peter the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +Great in the thick Muscovite wall, the Russian +"intellectuals" have begun to have a general +idea of European civilization. They have admired +the beauty of this culture, and the greatness +of European political and social institutions, +guarantees of the dignity of human beings; +they have endured mental suffering because +they have found that in Russia such +independence would be impossible, and, consequently, +they have had a feeling of extreme bitterness, +which has forced them either to deny or +calumniate the moral forces of their country, or +to formulate very strange theories about this situation. +Thus at the end of the first twenty-five +years of the century, Chadayev, one of the most +original and brilliant thinkers of Russia, developed +the following thesis in his "Philosophical +Letters":—the fatal course of history having +opposed the union of the Russian people with +Catholicism, through which European civilization +developed, Russia found herself reduced +forever to the existence of an inert mass, deprived +of all interior energy, as can be shown +adequately by her history, her customs, and +even the aspect of her national type with its +ill-defined traits and apathetic expression.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In the course of the terrible struggle which +he waged against the censorship and against +influential persons evilly disposed toward him, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +Pushkin cried out: "It was the idea of the +devil himself that made me be born in Russia!" +And in one of his letters, he says, "Naturally, +I despise my country from east to west, but, +nevertheless, I hate to hear a stranger speak +of it with scorn." Lermontov, exiled to the +Caucasus, ironically takes leave of his country, +which he calls, "a squalid country of slaves and +masters." And he salutes the Caucasian mountains +as the immense screen which may hide him +from the eyes of the Russian pachas. The +Slavophiles themselves, the patriots who in their +way idealized both Russian orthodoxy and autocracy, +and who were wrongly considered the +champions of the existing order of things, +showed themselves no less hostile. One of their +most celebrated representatives, Khomyakov, +sees in Russia "a land stigmatized" by serfdom, +where all is injustice, lies, morbid laziness +and turpitude.</p> + +<p>Dostoyevsky, who shared some of the illusions +of the Slavophiles, speaks of Europe as +"a land of sacred miracles." Nevertheless, +yielding to his desire to heighten the prestige +of his country, he adds: "The Russian is not +partially European, but essentially so, in the +very largest sense of the word, because he +watches, with an impartial love, the progress +achieved by the various peoples of Europe, +while each one of <i>them</i> appreciates, above all, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +the progress of his own country, and often does +not want to let the others share it."</p> + +<p>In spite of the seductive powers which European +civilization exercised upon Russia, the +Russians perceived its weak sides, which they +studied by the light of the ideal which they +promised themselves to attain in some indefinite +future, a future which they nevertheless hoped +was near at hand.</p> + +<p>To them, enthusiastic observers that they +were, these defects became more apparent than +to the Europeans themselves; as their critical +sense was not deadened by the wear of constant +use, they saw in a clear light the inconveniences +of certain institutions, they perceived the sad +consequences of the excessive triumph of individualism +in its struggle for life, the enfranchisement +of the proletariat, the satisfaction +of the few at the cost of the many. At +times the bases of this civilization seemed fragile +to the Russians; they had a feeling that it was +not finished; they also aspired more and more +to the harmonious equilibrium of society which +appealed to their ideal.</p> + +<p>In a word, that which has always been called +socialism, has had an irresistible attraction for +the more intelligent Russians; all of Russian +literature is permeated with it, and it has developed +all the more easily because it found a +favorable basis in Russia's natural democracy. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>During the period when this literature was +most persecuted—that is to say in the second +half of the 19th century—its most influential +representatives were ardent socialists. Among +them should be mentioned the critic Byelinsky, +the "Petracheviens,"—adepts in the doctrine +of Fourier,—and that powerful agitator of +ideas, Hertzen, who founded the Russian free +press in London. Among Western writers, +there were two well liked in Russia: George +Sand and Charles Dickens. The former was a +socialist, the latter was a democrat. Their influence +was very great in Russia; their works +were read with ardor, and gave rise to thoughts +which escaped the severities of the censor, but +betrayed themselves in private conversation, as +well as in certain literary circles.</p> + +<p>All the celebrated writers of Europe who +professed liberal tendencies met with a greater +sympathy among the Russians of that time than +in their own country. Dickens, received with +great enthusiasm in Russia, was not appreciated +by the English public. His excellent translator, +Vedensky, tried hard to persuade him to come +to Russia to live, where his talents would be +valued at their true worth. We can then readily +understand how Dostoyevsky, in his "Memoirs +of an Author," had the right to say that +the European socialistic-democrats had two +countries, first their own, then Russia. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Russian writers who gave themselves up +so passionately to this influence,—still so new +even in Europe,—not able to support their +political ideal, with a press, as it were, gagged +by the censor, engaged in the struggle along the +line of customs. They attacked the prejudices +which clog the relations among men, and rose +up against family despotism and the inferior +position of women from a civil and economic +point of view. But, between 1860 and 1870, +when the enfranchisement of the serfs reduced +the power of the censor, all that had been confined +in the souls of the Russians burst forth. +Chernishevsky wrote economic articles on capital +and on the agricultural community; he studied +the system of John Stuart Mill, from which he +deduced his socialistic conclusions, and his reputation +grew immediately at home and abroad. +He became a leader of thought among the new +generation.</p> + +<p>At the same time, the young critic Dobrolyubov, +author of an analytical study of Russian +customs, "The Kingdom of Shadows," called +the "intellectuals" to a struggle for the rights +of the oppressed people, and was ready himself +to "drain the bitter cup intended for those who +have been sacrificed." Also at this time there +appeared the poet Nekrasov and the satirist +Saltykov. The former, a profound pessimist, +described in his best verses the bitter fate of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +lower classes; the latter with his sarcasm +scathed bureaucratic arbitrariness, while from +abroad was heard the free ringing of "The +Bell,"—a paper founded by Hertzen,—which +seemed to be announcing that freedom was coming. +Two articles by the poet Mikhailov on +the situation of women started a vast movement. +The women soon filled the lecture-halls of the +university, and the class-rooms, and organized +a veritable campaign to defend their rights in +the name of the principle of liberty. All the +partisans of democracy or socialism applauded +them. The agitation became general; it seemed +as if they wanted to make up for lost time by +this tremendous activity; everywhere Sunday +schools were started and public libraries opened; +workingmen's associations were formed on socialistic +principles, and the ardent younger generation +spoke to the ignorant masses and asked +them to join them in the coming struggle.</p> + +<p>This epoch has been called "the moral springtime" +of Russia, and in truth it was a spring +with all of its real splendors and illusions. A +sudden wave of life surged from one end of the +empire to the other. Up above, the government +was making reforms prudently, as if afraid +of going too far; down below, a great transformation +was taking place. It was at this time +that certain bold projects were contemplated +at which the government took fright. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +"springtime" proved ephemeral. A triumphant +reaction nipped in the bud this movement +towards emancipation, with all its hopes. In +1877, after the Russo-Turkish war, it seemed as +if the movement were going to start again. +Less vast and less diverse, but more definite, it +immediately put all of its strength into the +popular propaganda and showed its activity by +the assassination of the emperor and by several +other crimes. It was a terrible struggle, till +finally the leaders again succumbed under the +mighty blows of their adversaries. The years +that followed this defeat (1880-1905) were most +inauspicious in Russian life. A profound +apathy deadened society, and an atmosphere +of anguish and disillusion—which have left +visible traces in Russian literature—weighed +it down.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In short, it may be said that Russian thought +has always been led away by the theories of +certain European parties who are most opposed +to political and social organization of the state.</p> + +<p>The vigor, the clearness, and the force of +negation with which this characteristic manifests +itself in the ideas and customs of the Russian +radical-socialists have often distorted, in the +eyes of other countries, opinions or doctrines +which it is important to present in their true +light. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus, Bazarov, that nihilistic creation of +Turgenev, appeared to the English, French, +and German public as a mystical hero not viable +in human society, while Pisarev, one of the +sanest of Russian critics, considers him as a +model of the really free man. As to Turgenev +himself, he saw that the coming of this type +would make concrete a rising force worthy of +holding attention and also of commanding some +respect.</p> + +<p>In practical life, this negative force has found +its most extreme expression in what has already +been pointed out, that is, in the revolutionary +anarchism of Bakunin and in Tolstoy's recent +theories of pacific anarchism, which are founded +on the gospel. But, while very significant as +great illustrations of certain sides of Russian +mentality, neither the one nor the other of these +anarchistic doctrines, so opposed in their substance, +can be considered as an expression of the +modern Russian socialistic movement. Having +found a basis in the workingman movement of +their country, the Russian socialistic theoreticians +have become more practical, and their activity +turns back to the realm of European +socialism, which is to be found in the doctrines +of Karl Marx.</p> + +<p>There was a time in Europe when they christened +with the name "nihilism" this active negation +of civilization and of bourgeois customs, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +so characteristic of the Russian "intellectuals." +Taken in its literal sense, this word +is inexact, since those to whom it was applied +were inspired by a very high ideal. In a loose +use of the word, nihilism has, on the contrary, +a real significance, especially if one connects it +with most of the Russian "intellectuals." The +liberal tendencies which were brewing in the +realistic literature of the period from 1840 to +1850, and which manifested themselves suddenly +with particular strength during the tumultuous +decade between 1860 and 1870, made the substance +of the new theories and the base of Russian +mentality. These theories were very bold +in their negation, and it is for this reason that +they have been called "nihilistic."</p> + +<p>If this intellectual "élite" should some day +triumph in Russia, will it be true to its moral +idea of justice and liberty? It probably will. +We may then see the following phenomenon take +place: the realization of the most advanced program +of modern civilization in one of the most +backward countries of Europe.</p> + +<p>However paradoxical such a prevision may +seem at first, it has a fundamental element of +truth. Two obstacles bar the way to civilization +and the normal development of new ideas, which +are the foundation of progress. First of all, +there is the naïve and boorish ignorance of the +common people; then the resistance which every +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +established society instinctively offers to ideas +of reformation. Of these two conservative +forces, Russia knows but one, pure and simple +ignorance, while the second, which can have art +and science as powerful allies, is completely lacking. +But ignorance cannot last forever. It +diminishes more and more; that is why the most +advanced ideas of European civilization naturally +go hand in hand with learning in Russia, +and occupy all places which knowledge wins +from ignorance. Since the Russian has had a +taste of science he has become the champion of +social and democratic ideas; the latter develop +even with elementary instruction, as can easily +be seen by observing the movements made among +the workmen of the city, and also among the +more advanced elements of the peasant population.</p> + +<p>These particulars had already attracted the +attention of the brilliant peace advocate and +profound thinker, Hertzen, who, distressed by +the bloody reprisals of bourgeoise Europe, +following the Revolution of 1848, fixed his attention +on Russia, from which he expected great +things,—among others, a new civilization freed +from the prejudices and customs which held it +back in other countries.</p> + +<p>Hertzen represented Russia as an immense +plain where people were getting rid of old +thatched cottages, and at the same time collecting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +the necessary materials for new habitations. +He saw a world in which no one lived as yet, but +where life as it should be was being prepared for. +And this idea, which may seem exaggerated, has +a good deal of sense in it. Does not every backward +nation, which hastens to take her place in +the circle of the more advanced peoples of Europe, +resemble a vessel into which a new wine is +to be poured?</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>If modern Russian literature has not deviated +from its fundamental principles, realism, democracy, +and socialism, on the other hand, a radical +change has taken place in society which has +necessarily had an influence on it. The populace +is not the sombre, inert, and ignorant multitude +that it has been heretofore. Learning is +penetrating more and more; and as an advance-guard, +it has the workingmen of the city and +the people of the suburbs. A feeling of dignity, +of human personality, and a love of liberty is +awakening in the masses who have joined in the +struggle which the "intellectuals" are conducting +against the passive forces of autocracy.</p> + +<p>That is why the literature of this time—always +excepting the period from 1905 to 1910—is +preëminently a literature of fiercer and +more active combat than ever before. As in +times gone by, the heroes of this literature are +common people. The writers choose them from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +among the students, schoolmasters, and school-mistresses +of the village schools, who with complete +disregard of self carry on the great work +of popular education in the very heart of the +country, without caring about the arbitrary +power which menaces them, or the moral and +material conditions of their lives. They also +choose them from among the doctors of the districts +who are worn out in despairing efforts to +struggle against the terrible epidemics, and who +are also trying to improve hygienic conditions +among the peasants. In fine, among the heroes +are included all who sacrifice their personal interests +for the general good.</p> + +<p>The results of this terrible struggle against +brute force are shown in the excessive nervousness +of the combatants, who have become delirious +with their aspirations towards liberty. +Hatred of actual reality and distrust of those +who have resigned themselves to it have made +them accept sympathetically the most extreme +and uncompromising measures, and one often +thinks one sees a certain generosity among the +people who are at war with society,—often, it +is true, for egotistical reasons, far removed from +the great ideal of reforms profitable to the +masses. Such are the celebrated barefoot +brigade, the eternal vagabonds, the "lumpen-proletariat" +of Gorky's early works.</p> + +<p>Another favorite subject of the Russian authors +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +is the antagonism which makes parents +and children quarrel. But the children who were +radicals of the former generation have now became +fathers, and are often reproached by their +sons for the practical impossibility of the ideal +for which they vainly expended their strength, +and, as a result of which, they are worn out and +useless. Veressayev and Chirikov have written +most on this point.</p> + +<p>However, in spite of repeated attacks, the resistance +has grown in intensity and the general +uneasiness has spread without any one's being +able as yet to see any lasting or positive result. +The pessimism of various writers faithfully reflects +this crisis. Andreyev, for instance, possesses +an extraordinary intuition of the element +of tragic mysteriousness which envelops the +slightest circumstances of daily life. Tchekoff, +the prominent author who died a few years ago, +has left us remarkably realistic sketches, where +he obviously shows mental discouragement as a +result of the struggle. Another contemporary +writer, Korolenko, whose poetic talent recalls +Turgenev to our minds, is distinguished, on the +contrary, by the attempts he has made to set +free the spark of life which exists in human beings +who have broken down morally. All these +writers have such a direct and powerful influence +on contemporary youth that we are going to +study them separately in this book, not excepting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +Tchekoff, whose influence is still enormous.</p> + +<p>Since the death of the prophet of Yasnaya-Polyana,<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +Russian literature cannot boast of +any writers who compare with Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, +Goncharov, or the dramatist Ostrovsky. +The cause is to be traced rather to circumstances +than to the authors themselves. For +social life to furnish material suitable for the +artist's description, it must first of all have +types which show a certain consistency, a more +or less determined attitude. But it is futile to +look for either stability or precision in Russian +life since Russia has been going through continual +crises. It would be just as difficult for +literature to record rapid changes of ideas, as +for an artist to copy a model that cannot pose +for him. Besides, most contemporary writers +are struggling hard for the means of subsistence.</p> + +<p>Sometimes their effort to get food has so +sapped their strength that they have not had +enough time to finish their studies, nor enough +tranquillity of soul to apply their talents to an +impartial view of life and to incorporating in +their work the documents which they have collected. +Even in the writing of the best Russian +authors of to-day one often feels that there is +something unfinished, or hasty, as if their +thoughts had not matured. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<p>I do not think that it will be superfluous to +add that all Russian literature for the past +century has been able to express only a very +small part of what it had to say. The Russian +writer continually suffers from the constraint +which forces him to check the flight of his inspiration +in order to escape from the foolish +and often stupid sternness of the pitiless censor. +The poet Nekrasov shows us in one of his poems +an old soldier who has become a printer, and +who speaks in the following manner of Pushkin:</p> + +<p>"He was a good man, tipped very generously, +but he never ceased to rage against the +censor. When he saw his manuscripts marked +with red crosses, he became furious. One day, +in order to console him, I said:</p> + +<p>"'Bah! why torment yourself?'</p> + +<p>"'Why,' he cried, 'but it is blood that is +flowing,—blood,—my blood!'"</p> + +<p>A great deal of blood was thus shed. And in +order to accentuate the action of the censor the +police dealt cruel blows to the authors. One +day Pushkin was called to the head of the department. +They believed that they had recognized +in one of his satires a certain gentleman, +named N. G., who demanded that Pushkin be +severely punished. Unnerved by the cross-examination +to which he was put, the poet cried:</p> + +<p>"But it isn't N. G. whom I have drawn!"</p> + +<p>"Who is it, then?" +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is you, yourself," replied the poet.</p> + +<p>"That is madness, sir," the high dignitary +cried out with wrath. "You say that wood belonging +to the state was stolen. And at the +time when these thefts were committed I was +away."</p> + +<p>"Then you do not recognize yourself in my +satire?"</p> + +<p>"No, a thousand times no!"</p> + +<p>"And N. G. recognizes himself?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly, but as he is in the service of +the government...."</p> + +<p>"Well, is he its spokesman and champion? +And why is it precisely he who asks to have me +arrested?"</p> + +<p>"All right," replied the dignitary, suddenly +becoming milder, "I shall inform His Majesty +of our conversation."</p> + +<p>The affair ended without further complications. +It should be noted that the Tsar himself +protected Pushkin, for Pushkin had got into +touch with him in order to influence him more +successfully. Nevertheless, this acquaintance +was only a new source of suffering to the poet. +In the case of certain less known writers the +malevolence of the higher authorities often took +on a tragic turn. For a single poem in which +the poet Polezhayev described a students' debauch, +the author was reduced by Nicholas I to +the rank of a common soldier. Sokolovsky, another +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +writer of this time, not being able to get +a footing in literature, abandoned the pen, and +like many others, sought to forget his disappointment +in drink. For several years Hertzen +was transferred from one place of exile to another +until he came to England. And how terrible +was the fate of the talented poet of Little +Russia, Shevchenko, who was exiled for many +years to a corner of European Russia and forbidden +to do any writing or even painting, a +thing that he loved above all! And finally, who +does not know the sad comedy of Dostoyevsky, +who was made to go through all the preparations +for his execution, but was finally sent to +that prison which he has so wonderfully described +in his recollections of "The Dead +House"?</p> + +<p>The Damocles' sword of defiant authority was +suspended over the head of every Russian writer. +The vocation of literature was filled with danger +and brought about actual tragedies in some +families. Thus, Pushkin's father, fearing that +the fury of the authorities would extend to him, +began to hate all literature, and had serious +quarrels with his son. Griboyedov's mother +threw herself at her son's feet and begged him +not to write any more but rather to enter the +service of the State. In Griboyedov we have a +sad example of a great talent virtually buried +alive by the censor. His comedy, "Intelligence +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +Comes to Grief," is a masterful work, sparkling +with satiric warmth, the equal of which it would +be hard to find anywhere. This first work, rich +in promise, was never published nor produced. +Discouraged, the author renounced literature, +and on the advice of his mother, accepted a position +as ambassador to Persia, where he was +killed in a riot.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Not only does the censorship mutilate literary +works, but it often suffocates the inspiration +of the author. The Russian press has lately +published a very interesting article on Nekrasov, +explaining the frequent interruptions of his +activity by a momentary paralysis of his inspiration. +Often, he writes, the ideas and +poetic forms which come to his mind are so +strong that he need only take up his pen and +write them down. But the thought that what +he might write would be condemned by the +censor, stops him. It was, then, a long struggle +between the ideas which he wanted to express +and the obstacles which hindered him. And +when finally Nekrasov had smothered his inspiration, +he was broken down and crushed by +fatigue and disgust, and for a long time he +stopped writing. His friends advised him to +jot down his ideas in spite of all, in the hope +that they would be recognized by future generations +when happier days should dawn on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +literature. He was not successful, because in +order to create his genius needed to feel a close +bond between him and his readers. Thus the +censor carried his brutal hand into the very +laboratory of thought.</p> + +<p>Happily, since the movement toward reform +between 1860 and 1870, the Russian censor +has become more lenient and now no one says +what was once said to the writer Bulgarin: +"Your business is to describe public activities, +popular holidays, the theatre. Do not look for +other topics." The number of subjects open to +the press has increased. But the desire to live +a free life has developed in literature and in +society alike, and as resistance to it has also +strengthened, the pressure has remained relatively +the same. The censor and the police continue +to stifle the natural richness and the power +of the Russian mind. To-day, as before, Russian +literature is made up of just that small +fraction of the whole which has escaped government +inquisition.</p> + +<p>However, in spite of all the unheard-of constraints +which weigh upon her, Russia has already +given us such great authors, that we +need not hesitate to say that on the day when +she regains liberty of speech and of pen, her +literature will take its place among the first in +the world.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II<br /> +ANTON TCHEKOFF<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></h2> + + +<p>"There is a saying that man needs only +six feet of ground, but that is for a corpse and +not for a living man. It is not six feet of +ground that man requires, not even an entire +estate, but the whole terrestrial globe, nature +in its fullness, so that all his faculties can expand +freely."</p> + +<p>This is the proud profession of faith that +Anton Tchekoff made on entering the literary +world. He was born January 17, 1860, at +Taganrog, where his father, a freed serf, lived. +After attending school in his native town, he +took up the study of medicine at Moscow. +Once a doctor, rather than practise, he devoted +most of his time to literature. His career as +an author does not offer us any extraordinary +situations. He owed his success, and later on +his glory, to severe and prolonged work. His +literary talent manifested itself while he was +still a student. He began his career with +humorous short stories which were published +in various newspapers. They brought him +enough for the bare necessities of life. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>These stories have been collected in two +volumes. They are very short, almost miniatures. +For the most part they are elegant +trifles, worked out with painstaking care. One +feels that the author had no definite goal in +sight; he wrote them simply to amuse and +entertain his readers. One would search in +vain for any sort of philosophy. On the contrary, +one finds there a rather significant spirit, +a gaiety, care-free, loquacious and, at times, +ironical. Unimportant people tell pleasant +things about themselves or others. All these +men are a trifle debauched, talky, futile, and +their companions are flighty, intriguing little +women who chatter incessantly. Everything +begins and ends with a laugh. This recalls +some of the early works of Gogol, but, we +repeat, one finds no moral element in this +laughter, and these tiny comedies are in reality +no more than simple vaudeville sketches. Once +in a while we find a sad note; less frequently, +we find the sadness accentuated in order to present +a terrible drama. Such, then, are the contents +of the first two volumes which came from +the pen of Tchekoff.</p> + +<p>However, this melancholy little note, met +from time to time, gradually grew in intensity +in the third volume, until later on it lost all +trace of the old carelessness, and developed, on +the contrary, into a profound sadness. Tchekoff +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +unconsciously gave up the "genre" of +pleasant anecdote in order to concentrate all +his attention on facts. This practice made him +sad. Russia was, at this time, going through +a period of prostration as a result of the last +Russo-Turkish war. This war, which, at the +cost of enormous sacrifices, ended in the liberation +of the Bulgarian people, awakened among +the Russians a hope of obtaining their own +liberty, and provoked among the younger generation +the most energetic efforts to obtain this +liberty, no matter what the cost might be. +Alas, this hope was frustrated! All efforts +were in vain, a reaction followed, and the year +1880 brought the reaction to its height. +From then on apathy followed in the steps +of the great enthusiasm. All illusion fled. A +kind of disenchantment filled all minds. +Those who had hoped with such ardor, and +had counted on their own strength, felt weak +and powerless. Some confined themselves to +moaning incessantly. A grey twilight enveloped +Russian life and filled it with melancholy. +These are the dreary aspects that Tchekoff +describes, and none has excelled him in portraying +the events of this hopeless reaction. +His stories and dramas give us a long procession +of people who succumb to the monotony, +to the platitudes, to the desolation, of existence. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is in the following manner that one of his +characters expresses his ideas on the subject of +this moral crisis:</p> + +<p>"I was then not more than twenty-six years +of age; nevertheless I was conscious not only +that life was senseless, but that it was without +any visible goal; that all was illusion and +dupery; that, in its consequences and even in +its very essence, the life of the exiled on the +island of Sakhaline was very much the same as +the life that was led at Nice; that the difference +between the brain of Kant and the brain +of a fly was very small; finally, that no one in +this world was either right or wrong."</p> + +<p>This idea of the nothingness of life, with its +extremes, monstrous and profitless, is often +found in the work of Tchekoff. His story +"The Kiss" is but a variation of this theme,—the +absurdity of life. Lieutenant Riabovich, +under the influence of a chance kiss, a kiss that +was not meant for him, dreams of love for an +entire summer; he waits impatiently for the +return of the pretty stranger; but alas, his +lovely dream cannot be realized, for the simple +and cruel reason that no one is waiting for +<i>him</i>, no one is interested in him. One day, on +the banks of a stream, the young officer gives +himself up to his reflections:</p> + +<p>"The water flows off; one knows not where +nor why; it flowed in exactly the same way +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +last May; from the stream it flows into the +river, and then into the sea; then it evaporates, +turns into rain, and perhaps the very same +water again flows by before my eyes.... To +what good? Why?" And all life appears to +Riabovich an absurd mystification and seems +thoroughly senseless.</p> + +<p>The hero of "The Bet" absolutely scorns +humanity, with its petty and its great deeds, +its little and its great ideas, because he feels +that after all everything must disappear, be +annihilated, and the earth itself will turn into +a mass of ice.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Tchekoff has given us innumerable rough +sketches typical of people belonging to the +most diverse social classes. He seems to take +his readers by the hand and to lead them +wherever he can show them characteristic scenes +of modern Russian society,—be it in the country, +in the factory, in princely dwellings, at the +post-office, or on the highway. He barely takes +the time absolutely necessary to depict in a +few, appropriate words a state of mind or the +secret of a gesture. One would say that he +hastens to express the totality of life with the +variety of his detached manifestations of it. +That is why his stories are short; often mere +allusions stand in place of actual development. +And whatever domains or corners of Russian +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +life the reader, under the guiding hand of this +perspicacious cicerone, may visit, he will almost +always go away with one predominating impression: +the lamentable isolation of Russia.</p> + +<p>"The Windswept Grain" shows the reader +a religious establishment, where a young Jew, +recently converted, has taken refuge. Here is +a young man, very impressionable and eager +to learn, who has fled from his home and his +family, whose prejudices offended him. His +family tries every means to bring him back +and to punish his apostasy.</p> + +<p>In order to employ his energies effectively, +the young proselyte, who has embraced the new +religion only that he may follow progress, +tries to get a position as a school-teacher. But +the apostleship of learning cannot satisfy his +versatile mind: he continues to flit from one +thing to another, like a gypsophilia, driven by +the wind across the entire stretch of the steppes +of southern Russia.</p> + +<p>Then Tchekoff takes us to a postal station +to show us another type of the "Windswept +Grain." This man, like the young convert, is +a dreamer, who puts heart and soul into any +new idea that comes along. He also has spent +his life in searching for an activity corresponding +to his ideal. At present, being a +widower, he is obliged to support both himself +and his daughter, who, while loving him devotedly, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +never ceases to reproach him for the +many inconveniences of their uncertain existence. +In the evening, a young widow from a +neighboring province gets off at the place +where he and his daughter are living. When +she sees the young girl pouting, she consoles +her by caressing her with the tact peculiar to +women. Then, at tea time, she starts talking +to the father. The idealist tells of his life, and +reveals to the young woman the plans that he +has made. The true sympathy with which she +listens, and the respectful and tender feeling +that he has for her, inevitably makes the reader +think that fate has not brought these two +people together in vain, and that their lives +will be united. This impression persists when +on the next day we find the young woman entering +her carriage assisted by her companion +of the evening before. We wait for the word +that will unite this couple. But neither of +them pronounces the all-important phrase. +The carriage leaves; the man remains for a +long time motionless as a statue, watching with +a mingled feeling of joy and suffering the +distant road and his disappearing happiness, +which, but a moment ago, he seemed to hold in +his hand.</p> + +<p>After those who insist on always realizing +their temporary ideals, let us take up characters +of a new type, those whom destiny has +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +irredeemably conquered, and who have finally +resigned themselves to their fate.</p> + +<p>An example of this type is Sofia Lvovna in +"Volodia the Great and Volodia the Small." +Married to a rich colonel, she has no other end +in life. The days pass, tiresome, monotonous, +filled only with visits and driving; the nights +are interminable and sad near this husband whom +she does not love, and whom she married out of +spite and for money. Love for a comrade of +her youth, Volodia by name, fills her heart. +But this young man, who has recently finished +his studies, is just as commonplace and just as +debauched as her husband and the society which +surrounds her. Sofia Lvovna is not yet resigned +to her fate. She speaks of her aspirations +to her childhood friend, who, after getting +from her what he desires, leaves her at the end +of a week. And Sofia Lvovna becomes frightened +at the thought that for the young girls +and women of her station there is no other +alternative than to go on riding in carriages, +or to enter a convent and gain salvation.</p> + +<p>"The Attack" gives us an example of the +terrible feeling of terror that suddenly enters +the proud soul of a young man at his first contact +with certain realities.</p> + +<p>The student Vassiliev, a young man of excessively +nervous temperament, has visited a +house of ill-fame, and since then, he cannot rid +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +himself of his painful impressions. Sombre +thoughts beset his mind: "Women, living +women!" he repeats, his head between his hands. +"If I broke this lamp you would say that it +was too bad; but down there it is not lamps +that they break, it is the existence of human +creatures! Living women!..."</p> + +<p>He dreams of several ways of saving these +unfortunates, and he decides childishly to +stand on a street-corner, and say to each +passer-by:</p> + +<p>"Where are you going? and why? Fear +God."</p> + +<p>But this desire soon gives place to a general +state of anguish and hatred of himself. The +evil seems too great for him, and its vastness +crushes him. In the meantime, the people +about him do not suffer; they are indifferent +or incredulous. The student feels that he is +losing his mind. They confine him. Later on, +when, cured, he leaves the alienist, "he blushes +at his anxiety."... The general indifference +has broken down his aspirations, smothered his +vague dream.</p> + +<p>In "Peter the Bishop," we see a man, good +and simple, the son of peasants. This man, +thanks to his intelligence, has raised himself +to the rank of bishop. During all his life he +has suffocated in this high ecclesiastical position, +the pompous tinsel of which troubles him +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +to such an extent that the cordial and sincere +relationship existing between him and his old +mother, who is so full of respect for her son, +is broken off. After his death he is quickly forgotten. +The old mother, now childless, when +she walks in the fields with the women of the +village, still speaks of her children, of her +grandchildren, and of her son, the bishop. +But she speaks timidly of him, as if she feared +that they would not believe her. And, in +truth, no one puts any faith in what she +says.</p> + +<p>It is among the people and the working +classes that man is most completely rid of all +traces of an artificial and untruthful exterior; +the struggle against misery does not leave +much room for other preoccupations; life is +merciless, it crushes unrelentingly man's dreams +of happiness, and often does not leave any one +to share the burden of sorrows or even its simple +cares. The short and very touching story +of "The Coachman" gives us an excellent +example of this loneliness. Yona, a poor coachman, +has lost his son; he feels that he has not +the strength to live through this sorrow alone; +he feels the absolute need of speaking to some +one. But he tries in vain to confide his sorrows +to one or the other of his patrons. No +one listens to him. Therefore, once his day's +work is over, alone in the stable, he pours out +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +his heart to his horse: "Yes, my little mare, he +is dead, my beloved child.... Let us suppose +that you had a colt, and that this colt should +suddenly die, wouldn't that cause you sorrow?" +The mare looks at him with shining eyes, and +snuffles the hand of her master, who ends by +telling her the entire story of the sickness and +death of his son.</p> + +<p>In "The Dreams," a miserable vagabond, +whom two constables are taking to the neighboring +city, dreams aloud of the pleasant life +he expects to lead in Siberia, whither he hopes +to be deported. His gaolers listen to him not +without a certain interest. They also begin to +dream ... they dream of a free country, from +which they are separated by an enormous +stretch of land, a country that they can hardly +conceive. One of them brusquely interrupts +the dreams of the vagabond: "That's all right, +brother, you'll never get to that enchanted +land. How are you going to get there? You +are going to travel 300 versts and then you'll +give your soul up to God. You are already +almost gone." And then, in the imagination +of the vagabond, other scenes present themselves: +the slowness of justice, the temporary +jails, the prison, the forced marches and the +weary halts, the hard winters, sickness, the +death of comrades.... "A shudder passes +through his whole body, his head trembles and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +his body contracts like a worm which has been +trodden upon...."</p> + +<p>Let us now look at those numerous stories of +Tchekoff which treat of peasant life: "The +Peasants," "The Murder," "In the Ravine," +and others.</p> + +<p>"The Peasants" is one of the most important +of the stories which treat of the country, +and was recently conspicuous for bringing up +the question, violently discussed by the Marxists +and the Populists, of the life of the people +in the city and in the country.</p> + +<p>Nicholas Chigueldyev, a waiter in a Moscow +hotel, falls sick and has to leave his work. All +his savings go into the hands of the doctor and +the druggist. As he does not seem to improve, +he decides to return to his native village, where +his family is still living. If the air of the +country does not cure him, he will at least die +at home. He had left the village at an early +age, and had never gone back to visit. He +goes home with his wife and his little daughter. +There he finds his mother, his father, and his +two brothers and their wives in the most abject +misery. The whole family is entombed in a +dark and filthy "isba" full of flies. Nicholas +and his wife immediately see that it would have +been better for them to have remained in Moscow. +But it is too late. They haven't enough +money to return; they must remain. A horrible +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +life begins for the sick man and his family. +There are endless quarrels, blows, abuses. +They reproach one another for eating and even +for living. They are angry at Nicholas and +his wife for having come. The latter is soon +tired of this existence. In the city Nicholas +had broken himself of country manners. He +wants to go back to Moscow. But where find +the money for the trip?... His sickness becomes +more acute. An old tailor, a former +nurse, who has been called in, promises to cure +him; he bleeds him several times and Nicholas +dies. The widow and her little daughter spend +the winter in the village. The young woman, +who had watched during those long days of +suffering, is now broken down. When spring +comes, the mother and daughter go to the +church, and, after praying at the grave of +their dead, they go begging on the highway.</p> + +<p>In "The Murder" Tchekoff studies certain +manifestations in the spiritual life of the +peasants. Matvey Terekof belongs to a peasant +family the members of which are all +known for their piety; in the village they are +called "the singing boys." Very orthodox, +they hold themselves aloof and give themselves +over to mysticism.</p> + +<p>Instead of playing with his little comrades, +Matvey is constantly poring over the Gospel. +His piety increases, he prays night and day, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +hardly eats anything, and experiences "a singular +joy at feeling himself grow weaker through +the fasting." One day he notices that the priest +of the village is less pious than he. He enters +a convent in the hopes of finding there true +Christians. But even there his disillusionment +comes soon. Finally, he decides to found a +church of his own. He hires a little room which +he transforms into a chapel. He finds disciples +and soon gains a reputation as a thaumaturgical +saint.</p> + +<p>A sect, of which he is to be the head, is in +process of formation, when, one day, he finds +that he is on the wrong track. He thinks he +has committed a mortal sin. Pride has taken +possession of him; it is the Devil and not God +who now directs his moves. Conscious of his +error, he returns to orthodoxy, and, in the +hopes of expiating his wrong-doing, he humiliates +himself everywhere and on every occasion.</p> + +<p>But his cousin Jacob, having become infected +with his earlier ideas, practises them +with the fanatic ardor of a neophyte. With +his sister and several other religious people, he +locks himself into his house to pray; he sings +vespers and matins. In the meanwhile Matvey +decides that he must read Jacob a sermon.</p> + +<p>"Be reasonable," he tells him repeatedly, +"repent, cousin. You will lose, because you +are the prey of the demon. Repent." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<p>Instead of repenting, Jacob and his sister +vow an implacable hatred against Matvey; so +extreme is their feeling, that one day, at the +end of an altercation, Jacob, blinded by rage, +kills his cousin.</p> + +<p>He is judged and condemned. He is sent to +the island of Sakhaline. There, he languishes, +suffers, and despairs. But, little by little, his +mind grows peaceful, and he has consoling +visions. In prison he is surrounded by pariahs +and criminals, and the sight of all this human +suffering turns him again towards God, towards +the religion of Love, the religion of pity for +mankind. And now he wants to return to the +country to tell of the miracle that has taken +place in him, and to save souls from ill and +ignorance.</p> + +<p>In "The Ravine" evil and injustice triumph +at times with revolting cynicism. Evil is in +everything and everywhere: "in the great +manufacturers who drive along the streets of +the village, crushing men and beasts; in the +bailiff and the recorder, who are such bad characters +that their very faces betray their knavery;" +and finally, in the central figure of the +story, Axinia, the wife of Stepan, the youngest +son of Tzibukine, a usurer and monopolist.</p> + +<p>The unhealthy ravine hides a village inhabited +by factory workers. The best house belongs +to Gregory Tzibukine, who traffics in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +everything: brandy, wheat, cattle, lumber, and +usury, on the side. His eldest son, Anissme, +is employed at the police station and seldom +comes home; the second son, Stepan, is deaf +and sickly; he helps his father both well and +badly, and his wife, the pretty and coquettish +Axinia, runs all day between the cellar and the +shop. The father Tzibukine is also friendly +to her and respects this young woman, for she +is a very good worker and is most intelligent. +Tzibukine, a widower, has married Varvara, an +affable and pious soul who gives alms,—a +strange thing in this family who cheat everybody. +Anissme often sends home beautiful +letters and presents. One day, he comes unexpectedly; +he has an unquiet, and, at the same +time, flippant air. His parents have decided +to get him married, and, although he is a +drunkard, ugly and vulgar, they have found +him a pretty wife. The girl is Lipa, daughter +of a poor widow, a laborer like her mother. +Anissme whistles and looks at the ceiling, and +shows no signs of pleasure at his coming marriage. +He leaves the house in a strange manner, +and appears again three days before the +wedding, bringing to his parents, as gifts, some +newly coined money. The wedding day has +come. The clergy and the well-to-do of the +neighborhood are present at the dinner, which is +sumptuously served. Lipa seems petrified with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +fear, for she barely knows her husband. The +festivities last a long time; at intervals the +voices of women can be heard outside hurling +curses at the usurer. Then Anissme, red, +drunk, and sweating, is shoved into the room +where Lipa has already disrobed. Five days +later, Anissme comes to his mother and bids her +good-bye. He confides in her that some one +has given him advice, and that he has decided +either to become rich or to perish. Now that +her husband has departed, Lipa again becomes +gay.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, they have arrested a reaper accused +of having circulated a bad piece of +money which he says he received from Anissme +the night of the wedding. Tzibukine goes +home, examines the money that his son has +given him, and decides that it is all counterfeit. +He orders Axinia to throw every bit of it into +the well. But, instead of obeying, she pays it +out as wages to the workmen. A week passes; +they find out that Anissme has been thrown into +prison as a counterfeiter. Tzibukine despairs; +he feels his strength diminishing. Varvara continues +to pray and to watch, while Stepan +and Axinia continue to ply their trade as before. +When, later on, Anissme is sentenced to +ten years at hard labor in Siberia, Varvara suggests +to her husband that he should leave one +of his houses to the child which has just been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +born to Lipa, so that no one will speak badly of +him after his death. But, at this suggestion, +Axinia flies into such a fury, that, in her homicidal +rage, she throws a kettle of boiling water +over the child, who dies later at the hospital. +Finally, she drives the young woman out of the +house. Lipa returns to her mother. Soon +Axinia reigns as absolute mistress of the house. +Tzibukine becomes distracted; he does not take +care of his money any more, because he cannot +tell the good from the bad. Rumor has it that +his daughter-in-law is letting him die of hunger. +Varvara still goes on with her good work. +Anissme is forgotten. The old man, starving, +and driven from home, lodges a complaint +against the young woman. Coming back to +the village, the old man, tottering along the +street, meets Lipa and her mother, who are now +doing tile work.</p> + +<p>"Both bow deeply to him, and he looks at +them with tears in his eyes. Lipa offers him +a piece of oatmeal cake, and the two women +go on their way, crossing themselves several +times...."</p> + +<p>The virtuous Varvara is an extremely characteristic +type, with a subtle psychology, carefully +worked out; her honesty and goodness +form an indispensable contrast to the ambient +horrors.</p> + +<p>The author himself explains the rôle of Varvara +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +and her action in this system of evil. +"Her alms seem to be something strange, joyous +and free, like the red flowers and the lights +that glow before the saintly images." On holidays, +and on jubilees, which last three days, +when coarse and rotten meat is sold to the peasants +who come to pawn their scythes and hats, +or their wives' shawls; when the workingmen +lie in the gutter under the influence of bad +brandy, then "one feels a bit relieved at the +thought that down there, in that house, there +is a good and quiet woman, always ready to help +unfortunates."</p> + +<p>Lipa and her mother are good and timid souls +who suffer in silence, and give to the poor the +little that they possess:</p> + +<p>"It seemed to them that some one up on +high, further up than the azure, there among +the stars, saw what was going on in their village, +and watched. Big as the evil is, in spite +of it, the night is beautiful and calm; justice +is and will be calm and beautiful on God's earth +also; the universe awaits the moment when it +can melt into this justice, as the light of the +moon melts into the night."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>These, then, are Tchekoff's favorite themes, +on which he has traced numerous variations, always +breathing forth a profound melancholy.</p> + +<p>"The life of our industrial classes," he says, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +"is dark, and drags itself along in sort of a +twilight; as to the life of our common people, +workingmen and peasants, it is a black night, +made up of ignorance, poverty, and all sorts of +prejudices."</p> + +<p>But from this ocean of ignorance, of barbarity, +of misery which makes up the life of a +peasant, Tchekoff has taken out the things of +most importance, things that always happen +in the most solemn moments of their existence.</p> + +<p>"All," he says, in describing a religious procession +in the country, "the old man, his wife +and the others, all stretch forth their hands to +the ikon of the holy Virgin, regard her ardently, +and say through their tears: 'Protectress! +Virgin protectress!' And all seem to have +understood that the space between Heaven and +Earth is not empty; that the rich and the +mighty have not swallowed up everything; +that there is protection against all wrongs, +slavery, misery, the fatal brandy...."</p> + +<p>Besides, in a story entitled "My Life," +Poloznev, speaking of the peasants, expresses +himself in the following manner:</p> + +<p>"They were, for the most part, nervous and +irritable people, ignorant, and improvident, +who could think of nothing but the grey earth +and black bread; a people who were crafty, +but were stupid about it, like the birds, who, +when they want to hide themselves, only hide +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +their heads. They would not do the mowing +for you for twenty rubles, but they would do it +for six liters of brandy, notwithstanding the +fact that with twenty rubles they can buy eight +times as much. What vice and foolishness! +Nevertheless, one feels that the life of the +peasant has a great deal of depth. It makes no +difference that he, behind his plough, resembles +an awkward beast, or that he gets intoxicated. +In spite of all, when you look at him closely, +you feel that he possesses the essential thing, +the sentiment of justice."</p> + +<p>This love of justice Tchekoff has had occasion +to observe even among convicts. "The +convict," he says, in his book on the prison of +Sakhaline, of which he made a profound study +during his stay on the island, "the prisoner, +completely corrupted and unjust as he himself +is, loves justice more than any one else does, +and if he does not find it in his superiors, he +becomes angry, and grows baser and more distrustful +from year to year."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In the last works of Tchekoff the pessimistic +tendency grows greater and greater. It seems +as if the writer had gone through a sort of +moral crisis, brought on by the conflict of his +old despair and his new hopes. At this time, +Russian society itself began to shake off its +apathy, and this awakening, sweeping like a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +vivifying wave into the soul of the sad artist, +opened for him, at the same time, perspectives +of new ideas.</p> + +<p>This second aspect of Tchekoff's talent is +perceptible in the story called "The Student." +A seminarist, Velikopolsky by name, tells the +gardener Vassilissa and her daughter Lukeria +about St. Peter's denial of Christ. As a result +of the impression which this story makes on +her Vassilissa suddenly breaks into tears; she +weeps a long time and hides her face as if she +were ashamed of crying. Lukeria, who has been +watching the student fixedly, blushes and her +face takes on the tender and sad expression +which is characteristic of those whose life is +made up of deep suffering. After taking leave +of them, the student thinks that Vassilissa's +tears and the emotion of her daughter come +from sorrows connected with the things he has +just told them.</p> + +<p>"If the old woman wept, it was not because +he knew how to tell the story in a touching +manner, but because Peter was near to her, and +because she was interested, heart and soul, in +what was going on in the mind of the +apostle...."</p> + +<p>Joy suddenly fills his heart, and he stops a +moment to take a long breath. "The past," +he muses, "is bound to the present by an uninterrupted +chain of events." "And it seems +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +to him that he has just seen the two ends of +this chain: he has touched one, and the other +has vibrated...."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In an ironical manner and by using very +personal material, Tchekoff paints more than +anything else, life in its passive or negative +manifestations. Nevertheless, it is not satire, +at least not in its general trend, for in his work +we find too much human tenderness for satire. +He does not laugh at his characters, and does +not nail them to the pillory in an outburst of +indignation. In his writing, the fundamental +idea is fused with the form; his talent is calm, +thoughtful, observing; but it seems, at times, +that this calmness, this seeming indifference, is +only a mask. A critic, speaking of Tchekoff, +has said: "He is a tender crayon." It would +be hard to find a more suitable expression. +The delicacy of tone, the softness of touch in +the outlines, the polish of some of the details, +the capricious incompleteness of others are, in +fact, the mark of his talent.</p> + +<p>Tchekoff was such a voluminous author that +it would require a veritable effort to remember +the throng of characters which exists in his +books; and it is more than difficult not to confuse +their individual doings and achievements. +This abundance is connected with a peculiarity +in the author's talent. He does not exhaust his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +subject; the psychology of his characters is +emphasized by two or three expressive traits +only, and this epitome is enough to make the +theme of a story, the simplicity and naturalness +of which demand, nevertheless, a high degree +of art. The author is not interested in outlining +the details, but the picture that he has +sparingly conjured up stands out lifelike; he +is always in a hurry to observe and to tell. +Therefore the brevity and quantity of his +stories. His stories seldom exceed ten pages in +length, while some do not exceed four. They +constitute a series of sketches, of miniatures of +rare value, among which can be found some real +gems. One cannot say as much for his longer +works, where certain parts are exaggerated, as +in "The Valet de Chambre," "Ward No. 6," +"The Steppe," and "The Duel."</p> + +<p>The characters of the latter novel are especially +weak and bad. There is but one exception, +the zoologist von Koren, a man of determination, +who believes that the suppression of +useless people and degenerates would be a meritorious +piece of work. This idea is suggested +to him by the sight of a functionary called +Layevsky, an insignificant and lazy person, +who has taken the wife of one of his friends +and fled with her to the Caucasus.</p> + +<p>"The Valet de Chambre" is an equally unsatisfactory +story. The principal character is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +a young man who is supposed to be a revolutionist. +He enters the service of a Petersburg +dandy in hopes of meeting there a minister +whom he wants to kill. The employer of the +pseudo-lackey, who is not aware of any of his +projects, is a masterful presentation of a type +which we know as the sybaritical citizen; the +character of the valet is so fantastical that the +account of his adventures belongs absolutely +to the "genre" of the newspaper novel.<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>"Ward No. 6" is one of the most powerful, +if not the most powerful story that Tchekoff +has written. It is an analysis of moral degeneration, +leading progressively to insanity, +in a doctor who is seized by the pervasive banality +of the village in which he practises. Tchekoff, +like many other Russian writers, has shown +himself a master in the study of certain psychological +anomalies. Certain conversations +between the doctor, who himself is going mad, +and a patient who has long since lost his reason, +interesting as they are from a philosophical +standpoint, leave the world of reality and run +free according to the imagination of the author, +who takes advantage of this to formulate +some of his favorite theories.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Tchekoff has also tried himself out on the +drama, and he has there established himself in +a peculiar manner. His plays, like his other +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +literary productions, belong to two distinct +periods.</p> + +<p>There are some amusing little trifles that do +not amount to much. Among these are: "The +Bear," "The Asking in Marriage," and others. +Then come the more serious plays, where one +feels for a moment the influence of Ibsen. We +find here again the same heroes, each of whom +talks about his own particular case, and acts +only in starts. These are specimens of "failures" +belonging to the most tiresome provincial +society.</p> + +<p>In "Ivanov," the author studies the mentality +of a "failure." Dominated by a sickly +self-love, he has known nothing but losses. He +continually complains of his real and his imaginary +sufferings. After squandering all his fortune, +he marries a young girl, whom he wants +to have act as his nurse. This empty life ends +in suicide.</p> + +<p>In "Uncle Vanya," we have Vanya, a man +full of goodness, modesty, and self-abnegation +contrasted with the celebrated professor Serebriakof, +an egoist, unfeeling, scornful, and ungrateful. +The latter, who has recently remarried, +comes back to the estate which Uncle +Vanya, the brother of his first wife, has managed +for him. For several years Vanya has +been working incessantly; he has saved in +every possible way so that he can send as much +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +money as possible to his brother-in-law, this +professor, fondled and pampered by the whole +family, who see in him their glorification. But +Serebriakof soon gets tired of the country; besides, +he thinks that the doctor—a friend of +the family who is taking care of him—does +not understand his sickness, and he begins to +mistrust him. He wants to go away, to travel, +in order to recover his health, and, in order to +make money, he proposes to sell the estate, +which legally belongs to Sonya, the daughter +of his first wife.</p> + +<p>Up to this time Uncle Vanya and the other +members of the family as well, had sacrificed +themselves entirely to this celebrated man. But +at this proposition Vanya realizes that their +idol is nothing but an abominable egoist, and he +begins to despise his brother-in-law. What is +more, he secretly loves the young and beautiful +wife of the professor, while she suffers from +the everlasting complaints and caprices of her +husband. However, a general reconciliation +takes place. The professor and his wife leave +for the city, and all goes on as before; Uncle +Vanya and the family will sacrifice themselves +for the glory of Serebriakof, to whom all the +revenues of the estate are sent.</p> + +<p>The "Three Sisters," that is to say the sisters +of Prozorov, live with their brother in a +vulgar, tiresome town,—a town lacking in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +men of superior minds, a town where one person +is like the next.</p> + +<p>The great desire of the three sisters is to go +to Moscow, but their apathy keeps them in the +country, and they continue to vegetate while +philosophizing about everything that they see. +However, at the arrival of a regiment, they +become animated, and have sentimental intrigues +with the officers till the very day of +their departure.</p> + +<p>"They are going to leave; we shall be alone; +the monotonous life is going to begin again," +cries one of the sisters.</p> + +<p>"We must work; work alone consoles," says +the second.</p> + +<p>And the youngest exclaims, embracing her +two sisters, while the military band plays the +farewell march:</p> + +<p>"Ah, my dear sisters, your life is not yet +completed. We are going to live. The music +is so gay! Just a little bit more, and I feel that +we shall know why we live, why we suffer...."</p> + +<p>This certainly is the dominant note of Tchekoff's +philosophy: the impotency of living mitigated +by a vague hope of progress.</p> + +<p>The last, and perhaps the most important +play of Tchekoff, is "The Cherry Garden."<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +Human beings, locked up in themselves, morally +bounded, impotent and isolated, wander +about in the old seignioral estate of the Cherry +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +Garden. The house is several centuries old. In +former times a happy life was led there; feasts +were given, and generals and princes were the +hosts. The Cherry Garden gave tone to the +neighborhood, but many years have passed!... +Now other houses have taken its place: +the estate is mortgaged, the interest is not paid, +and the only guests now are the postman or a +railway official who lives close by. The occupants +of the house do not think of doing anything +about this state of things. For them the +past is gone. All that is left is a dislike for +work, carelessness, improvidence, and ignorance +of the necessities of the present. Like all that +dies, they evoke a certain pity, a certain fatality +hangs over them. The inhabitants of the +Cherry Garden set forth their ideas about one +another; but in reality none of them see anything +but themselves, in their small and very +limited moral world, and they analyze with difficulty +the embryos of thought that are left to +them. Thus, they cannot grasp in full the evil +that is falling on the old home, and they remain +impassive when some one proposes to alleviate +this evil by energetic means. People speak to +them of the downfall to which they are doomed; +a means of safety is proposed, but they turn a +deaf ear and continue in their narrow and fruitless +dream. Finally, when the estate is sold, +they look upon this event as a fatal and unexpected +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +blow. They say good-bye to the cradle +of their family, weeping silently, and depart.</p> + +<p>They are now thrown out into the world. +The old existence has gone, as well as the seignioral +estate. The Cherry Garden is to be +torn down; the blinds are all lowered, and in +the half-darkened rooms, the old servant, who +is nearly a century old, wanders about among +the disordered furniture.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Tchekoff is a true product of Russian literature, +an autochthon plant, nourished by his +natal sap. His humor is completely Russian; +we hear Tolstoyan notes in his democracy; the +"failures" of his stories are distantly related +to the "superficial characters" of Turgenev; +finally, the theory of the redemption of the past +by suffering which he puts in the heart of the +hero of the "Cherry Garden" makes us think +of Dostoyevsky. The qualities which call to +mind all these great names in Russian literature +are found in the works of Tchekoff along +with characteristics which show a very original +talent. If one wishes to look for foreign +influence, one can relate Tchekoff to de +Maupassant and Ibsen, of whom he reminds +one in snatches, although still in a very vague +way. And that is indeed fortunate, for, in general, +Scandinavian symbolism hardly goes hand +in hand with the Russian spirit, which likes to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +make <i>direct</i> answers to "cursed questions," and +whose ideal, elaborated since 1840 in the realm +of strict realism, is so definite that it does not +necessitate going back to the circumlocutions +of metaphors and allegories.</p> + +<p>While Tchekoff lived his literary aspect was +enigmatical. Some judged him to be indifferent, +because they did not find in his writings +that revolutionary spirit which is felt in almost +all modern writers. Others thought of him as +a pessimist who saw nothing good in Russian +life, because he described principally resigned +suffering or useless striving for a better life. +Since the death of Tchekoff, which made it +necessary for the critics to study his works as +a whole, and especially since the publication of +his correspondence, his character has come to +the fore, as it really is: he is a writer, who, by +the very nature of his talent, was irresistibly +forced to study the inner life of man impartially, +and who, consequently, remains the +enemy of all religious or philosophical dogmas +which may hinder the task of the observer.</p> + +<p>The division of men into good and bad, according +to the point of view of this or that +doctrine, angered him:</p> + +<p>"I fear," he says in one of his letters, +"those who look for hidden meanings between +the lines, and those who look upon me as a +liberator or as a guardian. I am neither a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +liberal nor a conservative, neither a monk nor +an indifferent person. I despise lies and violence +everywhere and under any form.... I +only want to be an artist, and that's all."</p> + +<p>One realized that this unfettered artist, with +his hatred of lies and violence, although he belonged +to no political party, could be nothing +but a liberal in the noblest and greatest sense +of the word. One also realized that he was not +the pessimist that he was once believed to be, +but a writer who suffered for his ideal and who +awakened by his works a desire to emerge from +the twilight of life that he depicted.</p> + +<p>To some he even appeared as an enchanted +admirer of the future progress of humanity. +Did he not often say, while admiring his own +little garden: "Do you know that in three or +four hundred years the entire earth will be a +flourishing garden? How wonderful it will be +to live then!" And did he not pronounce these +proud words: "Man must be conscious of being +superior to the lions, tigers, stars, in short, to +all nature. We are already superior and great +people, and, when we come to know all the +strength of human genius, we shall be comparable +to the gods."</p> + +<p>These great hopes did not prevent him from +painting with a vigorous brush the nothingness +of mankind, not only at a certain given moment +and under certain circumstances, but always +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +and everywhere. Is this a paradox? No. If +he did not doubt progress, he would be most +pessimistic, if I may so express myself. He +would suffer from that earthly pessimism, in +face of which reason is weak; the pessimism +which manifests itself by a hopeless sadness in +face of the stupidity of life and the idea of +death.</p> + +<p>"I, my friend, am afraid of life, and do not +understand it," says one of Tchekoff's heroes. +"When, lying on the grass, I examine a lady-bird, +it seems to me that its life is nothing but +a texture of horrors, and I see myself in it.... +Everything frightens me because I understand +neither the motive nor the end of things. I +understand neither persons nor things. If you +understand I congratulate you.</p> + +<p>"When one looks at the blue sky for a long +time, one's thoughts and one's soul unite mysteriously +in a feeling of solitude.... For a +moment one feels the loneliness of the dead, and +the enigma of hopeless and terrible life."</p> + +<p>This universal hopelessness; this sadness, +provoked by the platitudes of existence compared +with the unrelenting lessons of death, of +which Tchekoff speaks with such a nervous +terror, can be found in almost all the works of +the best known Russian writers. We find it in +Byronian Lermontov, who sees nothing in life +but "une plaisanterie;" in Dostoyevsky, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +has written so many striking pages of realism +on the bitterness of a life without religious +faith; and in the realist Turgenev, we find the +same kind of thing. Turgenev even reaches a +stage of hopeless nihilism, and one of his heroes, +Bazarov,—in "Fathers and Sons,"—reflecting +one day on the lot of the peasant, considering +it better than his, says sadly, "He, at +least, will have his little hut, while all I can hope +for is a bed of thorns." Finally, all the tortuous +quests of the ideal toward which Tolstoy +strove, were suggested to him, as he himself +says, by his insatiable desire to find "the meaning +of life, destroyed by death."</p> + +<p>It is sometimes maintained that this state of +intellectual sadness is innate in the Russians; +that their sanguinary and melancholy temperaments +are a mixture of Don Quixote and Hamlet. +Foreign critics have often traced this +despair to the so-called mysticism peculiar to +the Slavonic race.</p> + +<p>What is there mystical in them? The consciousness +of the nothingness, of the emptiness +of human life, can be found deep down in the +souls of nearly all mankind. It shows itself, +among most people, only on rare tragic occasions, +when general or particular catastrophes +take place; at other times it is smothered by +the immediate cares of life, by passions that +grip us, and, finally, by religion. But none of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +these influences had any effect on Tchekoff. +He was too noble to be completely absorbed by +the mean details of life; his organism was too +delicate to become the prey of an overwhelming +passion; and his character too positive to give +itself over to religious dogmas. "I lost my +childhood faith a long time ago," he once +wrote, "and I regard all intelligent belief with +perplexity.... In reality, the 'intellectuals' +only play at religion, chiefly because they have +nothing else to do." Tchekoff, in his sober +manner, has seen and recognized the two great +aspects of life: first, the world of social and +historical progress with its promise of future +comforts; secondly, an aspect that is closely +related to the above, the obscure world of the +unknown man who feels the cold breath of +death upon him. He was an absolute positivist; +his positivism did not make him self-assertive +nor peremptory; on the contrary, it oppressed +him.</p> + +<p>But why should this sad state of mind, which +has been expressed by great men in all literatures, +be so exceptionally prominent among the +Russians, and particularly among the modern +ones? The reason is, without a doubt, because +the political and social organization of Russia +has always been a prison for literature. Oppression +had reached its height during Tchekoff's +life. This period was the moment of suffocation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +before the storm. If Tchekoff were +alive to-day, now that the tempest has burst +forth, his sadness would be lessened, or it would +at least have before it the screen which, according +to Pascal, people wear before their eyes +that they may not see the abyss, on the edge +of which they pass their lives. Up to the present +time, the Russians have lacked these +screens.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III<br /> +VLADIMIR KOROLENKO</h2> + + +<p>"A long time ago, on a dark autumn evening, +I was being rowed down a rather uninteresting +Siberian stream. Suddenly, at a +bend in the river, I saw a bright fire burning +ahead of us at the foot of some black mountains. +It did not seem far away.</p> + +<p>"'Thank Heaven,' I cried with joy, 'we have +nearly reached our stopping-place!'</p> + +<p>"The boatsman turned, looked at the fire +over his shoulder, and again grasped the oars +with an apathetic gesture:</p> + +<p>"'That is still a long way off,' he murmured.</p> + +<p>"I did not believe him, for the fire seemed +to stand out very clear against the infinite +shadows. However, he was right; we were still +far away.</p> + +<p>"Just so those fires, the conquerors of darkness, +deceive us into thinking that they are near, +while they only cast their distant, illusive rays +into the night...."</p> + +<p>It is with this sober description in "Little +Fires" that one of the last volumes of Korolenko's +"Sketches and Stories" opens. This +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +simple picture makes a warm and clear impression +on one's very soul. It is itself a +precious and welcome light.</p> + +<p>At times when life is sombre, and when +shadows fill the heart, when, under the blows +of despair and anguish, courage finally fails, +the mere existence of some brave spirit suffices +to give a new birth to hope and to rekindle the +flame so that the distance is again lighted up, +and we again put our shoulders to the wheel.</p> + +<p>Thus for more than thirty years in Russian +literature Korolenko has played the part of +one of these clear, alluring lights. He has not +written a single book in which we do not find +a fire that warms us with its caresses even from +afar, not one in which we do not feel the vibration +of a loving heart, which dreams of giving +light and joy to all unfortunates, and is confident +that if they have not yet had their equal +share, they will surely have it some day.</p> + +<p>Korolenko was born in 1853 in Zhitomir, in +Little Russia. On his father's side he is descended +from an old Cossack family, and by his +mother he is related to Polish nobility. This +double origin, so to speak, is shown very clearly +in his works, which are filled with the melancholy +and dreamy poetry of the Little Russians, +and also with the perennial hope so common +among the Poles.</p> + +<p>His father was a judge and enjoyed a reputation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +for strict integrity. It was, in fact, +often hard for him to ward off those who +wanted to thank him for his services. One day +he had to accept a gift. A merchant, whose +case he had won, sent him a cart filled with +various objects, among which was a beautiful +large doll. The little daughter of the judge +saw it, and at once took possession of it. The +judge, when he found out what had happened, +ordered the gifts to be returned immediately; +but, because of the grief of the little girl, they +had to give up all thoughts of returning the +doll.</p> + +<p>The judge, who was a man of firm principles, +maintained a severe discipline in his family. +He made a special study of medicine and +hygiene, and put his knowledge into practice +by treating the sick of the neighborhood. His +children, although always well dressed, had to +go around barefoot. Their father was convinced +that this was the best way to toughen +them. Besides, they were compelled, every +morning, summer and winter, to take a cold +plunge bath. The children did not like this +way of doing things. Early in the morning +they used to run to the stable in their shirts, +and there, cowering in a corner, trembling with +cold, they would wait for their father to leave +the house.</p> + +<p>Korolenko remembers well this Spartan-like +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +education, which inured him to the severity of +the seasons. Without this training he certainly +would have perished in savage and freezing +Siberia, where he lived in exile for several years.</p> + +<p>At the death of the father, the family with +its six children was left without resources. The +mother, a very good and kind woman, opened +a boys' boarding-school, and Vladimir, then +fifteen years of age, helped her as well as he +could, and also earned money by giving lessons +outside.</p> + +<p>In 1870, after having finished his studies in +his native town, Korolenko entered the Technological +Institute at St. Petersburg, where he +spent two years in extreme poverty. He had +to earn his living as well as he could, by giving +lessons or doing copying. His mother could +not help him at all, as she herself had to struggle +against adversity. The following will show +how sparingly he had to live in his youth: +during his two years, he had a real substantial +meal only about once in two months, and then +in a restaurant run on philanthropic principles, +where he paid only 30 copecks (about 30 cents). +His regular meals consisted of bread, tea, +sausage and potatoes. But this was an epoch +in which living was cheap: the wave of democracy +was spreading, and the "intellectuals" +were trying to get into closer touch with the +people. The movement was so powerful that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +many of the younger generation who could have +done other things took up this work; others, +on principle, married humble peasants. In +1872 Korolenko left for Moscow, and there +entered the Academy of Agriculture. He was +expelled after two years and sent to Kronstadt +for having taken part in student manifestations. +Several years later, we find him again in St. Petersburg +without a permanent position; he +was employed as a reader in a publishing house, +and was also attempting to do some writing. +His first efforts took the form of a series of +sketches, published under the title, "Episodes +in the Life of a Seeker." He was at this time +accused of being too much inspired by the +scenes of sadness and injustice of which he had +been a witness. In 1879 he was imprisoned and +then deported to Viatka. He remained there +a year. Thence he was sent to the miserable +town of Kama, and a few months later to +Tomsk, where he learned that they wanted to +exile him to Siberia. In a letter, published by +a newspaper, he eloquently protested against +the persecutions of which he was the unhappy +victim. His protestation was answered by his +transfer to the frozen region of the province +of Yakutsk in Eastern Siberia! He passed +three years in the midst of the "taiga," the +immense virgin forest which covers this country, +in a village of nomads whose miserable huts, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +very low and smoky, were scattered along the +shores of the Aldane. Here he wrote several +stories, and the "Dream of Makar," which +was published two years later, and greatly +praised by the critics for its originality and its +setting. The dreary country around Yakutsk +and the life that is lived there made such a +profound impression on the young man that +even to-day he speaks of that time with real +emotion.</p> + +<p>"My hut was at the extreme end of the +town. During the short day one could see +the small plain, the mountains which surrounded +it, and the fires in the other huts, in +which lived people who were either descended +from Russian colonists or deported Tartars. +But in the morning and evening a cold grey +mist covered everything so thickly that one +could not see a foot ahead.</p> + +<p>"My little hut was like a lost island in a +boundless ocean. Not a sound about me.... +The minutes, the hours passed, and insensibly +the fatal moment approached when the 'cursed +land' pierced me with the hostility of its freezing +cold and its terrible shadows, when the high +mountains covered with black forests rose +menacingly before me, the endless steppes, all +lying between me and my country and all that +was dear to me.... Then came the terrible +sadness ... which, in the depths of your +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +heart, suddenly lifts up its sinister head, and +in the terrible silence among the shadows murmurs +these words: 'This is the end of you ... +the very end ... you will remain in this tomb +till you die....'</p> + +<p>"A low and caressing whine brought me out +of my heavy stupor: it was my friend, Cerberus, +my intelligent and faithful dog, who had +been placed as a sentinel near the door. Chilled +through and through, he was asking me what +was the matter and why, in such terribly cold +weather, I did not have a fire.</p> + +<p>"Whenever I felt that I was going to be +beaten in my struggle with silence and the +shadows, I turned to this wholesome expedient,—a +large fire."</p> + +<p>In 1885, Korolenko, having returned from +Siberia, went to Nizhny-Novgorod, and in a +relatively short space of time wrote a series of +stories which, two years later, were collected in +book form. Afterward, he became the editor +of the celebrated St. Petersburg review, the +"Russkoe Bogatsvo,"—a position which he +still holds.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In all of Korolenko's works we distinctly feel +the living breath that inspires the artist, and +the ardor of a fervent ideal. His god is man; +his ideal, humanity; his "leitmotiv," the +poetry of human suffering. This intimate connection +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +with all that is human is to be found +in his psychological analysis as well as in his +descriptions of natural phenomena. Both God +and nature are in turn spiritualized and humanized. +Korolenko looks at life from a human +standpoint; the world which he describes is +made up wholly of men and exists for them +only. He has a very clear philosophy, and a +conscience aware of the duties it has to perform. +If he has not opened up hitherto unknown +paths, nor made new roads, he has himself +nevertheless passed through terrible experiences; +he has been a prey to profound sorrows +and doubts, and in spite of all, he has +kept his love for the people intact, and deeply +pities their ignorance and abasement. His work +constantly recalls to our minds the theory that +the cultivated classes are in debt to the people +for the education which they have received at +the people's expense. This is the great moral +principle which governs the conscience of the +Russian "intellectuals." It is in this sense then, +that Korolenko may be said to continue the +literature of 1870, and to be the successor of +Zlatovratsky and Uspensky. But he has reincarnated +this past in new forms, which naturally +result from the activity of his far-sighted, +powerful intelligence. We do not find in his +work either the nervousness, often sickly, which +pervades the works of Uspensky, or the optimism +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +of Zlatovratsky, which often excessively +idealizes the life of the Russian peasant, who is +the principal hero of all his works. Korolenko, +because he puts a high value on human personality, +perfectly appreciates the terrible struggle +that man has to make in order to secure his +rights. A desire for justice on the one hand, +and a defence of man's dignity on the other, +form the very essence of the talent of this author, +and it is with these feelings that he observes +the people on whom injustice weighs most +heavily and who have merely remnants of human +dignity left in their make-up,—for in general, +these people are not those whom fate has overcome. +Most of them lead a hard and gloomy +life beset with misfortunes. Many of them are +vagabonds, escaped convicts, drunkards, murderers, +who are bowed down with misery, and +have no wish except to escape the mortal dangers +of the Siberian forests and marshes. On +opening any of Korolenko's books we find ourselves, +to use his own words, in "bad company." +He does not flatter his heroes, he does not make +gentlemen of them; they are not even men, but +rather human rubbish.</p> + +<p>"Because I knew a lot about the world," he +writes, "I knew that there were people who had +lost every vestige of humanity. I knew that +they were corroded with vice and sunk deep in +debauchery, in which they lived contented. But +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +when the recollection of these beings surged +through my mind, enveloped in the mists of the +past, I saw nothing but a terrible tragedy, and +felt only an inexpressible sorrow...."</p> + +<p>This author does not give any judgment on +life; he does not condemn it and does not nourish +a preconceived spite against it, but his sad +heart overflows with pity, and, if he approaches +this life, it is with the balm of love, in order to +try to dress its terrible wounds.</p> + +<p>For Korolenko, the sufferings of existence +atone for its injustice; he does not perceive +the iniquities that surround him except through +the prism of sorrow.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>From the very beginning of his literary career, +in his first book, "Episodes in the Life +of a Seeker," Korolenko shows himself to be a +seeker after truth. With him, the understanding +of life, so ardently sought after, is never +summed up in a single solution. He dreams of +it constantly; at times, he seems to have found +it, but he loses track of it again and starts all +over.</p> + +<p>This groping about resulted in a moral crisis +in which he looked forward to death with joy. +Beset with the thought of suicide, he often +prowled around railroad platforms and looked +at the car-wheels.</p> + +<p>"I went there and came back again," he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +writes, "depressed by my realization of the +stupidity of life. The snow was falling all +around me, and shaping itself into a frozen +carpet, the telegraph poles shivered as if they +were cold through and through, and on the +other side of the road, on a slope, shone the sad +little light of the watchman's tower. There, in +the darkness, lived a whole family. Through +the shadows the little red fire seemed to be as +desolate as the family. The children were +scrofulous and suffered; the mother was thin +and sickly. To procreate and to bury! Such +was the life of the father, probably the most +unfortunate of all, because the household depended +wholly upon him, and he saw no gleam +of hope anywhere. He bore this condition of +things, because, in his simplicity, he believed +in a superior will, and thought that his misery +was inevitable. The resignation of this man, +the terrible bareness of his obscure existence, +oppressed me. If I could bear the sight of it, +it was only because I hoped; I thought that +we should soon find the road which makes life +happier, more agreeable to every one. How, +where, in what manner? What a mystery! But +the future beauty of life was in the search for +it."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>The observations that Korolenko was able to +make were many and diverse. By going all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +over Russia he gathered inexhaustible riches, +in the form of anecdotes and actual experiences. +This can be easily realized when we consider the +sumptuous variety of his descriptions. Where +do we not go, and whom do we not meet in his +books? First, we are in a peaceful little town +of the southwest, then in the thick woods of +Poliyessye, in the snow-covered and frozen +Siberian forests, or in the valleys of Sakhaline, +inhabited by half-breed Russians and escaped +convicts, not to mention the innumerable +sectarians who fill the Siberian prisons. And +Korolenko never repeats. Not even a detail +occurs more than once. Each of his works is +a little world in itself. The author, moreover, +unlike other writers, is never satisfied with pale +sketches; each character is shown in full relief, +each picture is absolutely finished. This wholeness, +this finish which does not hurt the harmony +of the proportions, is a precious quality, +very rare in our time.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>The "Sketches of a Siberian Tourist," published +in 1896, in which bandits of various odd +types tell thrilling tales of nocturnal attacks +and other adventures, is a kind of artistic novel. +The postillion is the most original character in +the book. Huge of stature, audacious and +clever, he exercises a mysterious influence over +the brigands, whom he inspires with a superstitious +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +terror. Most of them, thinking him +invulnerable, do not dare attack the travelers +whom he is driving.</p> + +<p>That same year another work of Korolenko's +appeared, called: "In Bad Company,"—a +sort of autobiography which added to his renown. +The story, poetically simple, is laid in a +provincial town. The hero is a little, seven-year-old +boy called Volodya. He is the son of +the local judge. The mother has been dead for +a long time, and the father, in his sorrow, more +or less loses track of his children, who roam +about unwatched.</p> + +<p>The little town has its historic legends; it +boasts of the ruins of a castle, which in times +gone by was inhabited by rich Polish counts, +whose descendants, having become poor, have +long since left their manorial home. The castle +has served as a refuge for a nomadic population. +Expelled by the count's agent, this little +band has taken up its abode in a dilapidated +chapel in the crypts of a cemetery.</p> + +<p>The chief of this barefoot brigade is called +Tibertius Droba. He has two children: +Vanek, a large, dark-haired lad, whom one sees +wandering about the village with a sullen look +on his face, and Maroussya, a small and thin +child, who is gradually fading away in the +darkness of her cellar-like home.</p> + +<p>While strolling about one day, Volodya, impelled +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +by his childish curiosity, decides, with +two of his friends, to explore the chapel. He +meets there Tibertius' children and they strike +up a friendship. The description of the ruins +and of the superstitious fear of the children +gives an opportunity for some exquisite pages. +If the little vagabonds are hungry, poor Volodya, +who himself is without love or caresses, +suffers still more, but every time that he brings +the children some apples or cakes he feels that +he is less unhappy, because these offerings are +accepted with such an outpouring of gratitude. +Gradually, the little lad gets to know all the +inhabitants, and becomes especially intimate +with Maroussya, whose eyes have an expression +of precocious desolation.</p> + +<p>"Her smile," says Korolenko, "reminded me +of my mother during the last few months of her +life; so much so, that I almost used to weep +when I watched this little girl."</p> + +<p>One day, Volodya brings her some apples, +flowers, and a doll that his little sister has +given him.</p> + +<p>"Why is she always so sad?" he asks Maroussya's +brother.</p> + +<p>"It is on account of the grey stone," he +replies.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the grey stone," repeated Maroussya, +like a feeble echo.</p> + +<p>"What grey stone?" +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The grey stone that has sucked the life +out of her," explained Vanek, gazing at the sky. +"Tibertius says so, and Tibertius knows everything."</p> + +<p>"I was very much puzzled, but the force with +which Tibertius' omniscience was affirmed impressed +me. I looked at the little girl, who +was still playing with the flowers, but almost +without moving. There were dark rings under +her eyes and her face was pale. I did not +exactly understand the meaning of Tibertius' +words, but I felt dimly that they veiled some +terrible reality. The grey stone was, in fact, +sucking out the life of this frail child. But +how could grey stones do it? How could this +hard and formless thing worm itself into +Maroussya's very soul, and make the ruddy +glow disappear from her cheeks and the brilliancy +from her eyes? These mysteries puzzled +me more than the phantoms of the castle."</p> + +<p>Volodya's father is not aware that he is +spending part of his days in the cemetery, and +knows nothing of his son's new friends. But +one day the secret is discovered, and a family +storm follows. The judge demands a full confession. +Volodya heroically remains silent. +Finally, Tibertius himself pleads the child's +cause so eloquently that Volodya is not scolded +and the father allows him to go and say good-bye +to his little friend, who has meanwhile died +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +of privation. The day after the little girl's +funeral the whole band disappears without +leaving a trace behind them. "Later on," says +Korolenko, "when we were about to leave our +home, it was on the grave of our poor little +friend that my sister and I, both of us full of +life, faith, and hope, interchanged our vows of +universal compassion...."</p> + +<p>Another short story, called "The Murmuring +Forest," which was published in the same +year, made as much of a success as "Bad Company."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>But it is in "The Blind Musician" that +Korolenko attains perfection. This masterly +psychological study does not present a very +complicated plot. From the very start the +reader is captivated by a powerful poetic quality, +free from all artifice, fresh, spontaneous, +and breathing forth such moral purity, such +tender pity, that one literally feels regenerated.</p> + +<p>Here is a brief outline of this exquisite story. +One very dark night, a child of rich parents is +born in the southwest of Russia. Peter—the +child—is blind. His whole life is to be but a +groping in the shadows toward the light. The +mother adores the poor child and suffers more +than he. But she has not enough moral +strength to bring him up, and give him the +necessary comfort and energy. His father, a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +countryman, thinks only of his business. Happily, +there is on the mother's side an uncle called +Maxim, one of the famous "thousand" of +Garibaldi, who has a noble and generous disposition. +It is he who brings up the child, with +a tenderness just touched by severity. Peter's +young mind is constantly enriched with new +pictures. Thanks to the extreme acuteness of +his hearing, he catches the very slightest sounds +of nature. When barely five years of age the +boy shows his love for music; he spends hours, +motionless, listening to the playing of one of +the servants who has made for himself a kind +of flute. Soon Peter begins to study music, +and especially the violin. His rapid progress +astonishes his teachers. However, in spite of +his love for music and the comfort that it gives +him, the blind boy suffers from his infirmity. +To distract his mind from his own suffering, +his uncle takes him one day to a place where +there are some blind beggars. Peter listens to +their plaintive melody: "Alms, alms for a poor +blind man ... for the love of Christ"; and +as if he had heard the voice of some phantom, +the child returns home, frightened, confused. +From that day, he is transformed. Until then, +he had thought only of himself, he had become +grey with his own sorrow. Afterward, he suffers +for others; his personal sorrow diminishes, +and his life becomes an expression of the sorrows +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +of his fellows in misery, an ardent and +passionate prayer for others who also are deprived +of sight.</p> + +<p>For several years he has been friends with a +young girl of his neighborhood. They marry, +and Evelyn, his wife, brings some happiness to +the poor blind man. But soon there comes a +time of indescribable anguish. Evelyn gives +birth to a boy, and Peter is tortured by a presentiment +of impending evil. Will the son be +blind like his father? The few moments when +the doctors are testing the infant's sight pass +like so many centuries. Finally the physician +says: "The pupil is contracting, the child is +not blind." Peter, seated by the window, pale +and motionless, rises quickly at these words. +In a moment fear has disappeared and hope is +transformed into certainty and fills the blind +man's heart with joy. "The child is not blind." +One might say that these few words of the +doctor had burned a path in his brain.</p> + +<p>"His whole frame vibrated like a taut cord +which had been snapped. A flash went through +him, like lightning in a sunless sky, conjuring +up in him strange phantasms. Whether they +were sounds or sights he could not determine. +But if they were sounds they were sounds which +he could see. They sparkled like the vault of +the sky, shone like the sun, waved like the rustling, +whispering grass of the steppes. These +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +were the sensations of a moment. What followed +he was unable to recall. But he stubbornly +affirmed that in this moment he had +<i>seen</i>. What had he seen? How had he seen? +Had he really seen? This always remained a +mystery. People said that it was impossible. +He, however, affirmed that in that moment he +had seen the earth, his wife, his mother, his son, +and Uncle Maxim.... He was standing up, +and his face was so illumined and so strange +that every one around him was silent.... +Later on, there remained nothing but the remembrance +of a sort of joyous satisfaction, +and the absolute conviction that, at that moment, +he had seen...."</p> + +<p>A year later, at Kiev, at a concert for charity, +Peter made his début. An enormous crowd +gathered to hear the blind musician. From the +very first the audience was captivated. Moved +to its depths, the crowd became frantic. And +Uncle Maxim heard something familiar in the +playing of his nephew.</p> + +<p>He saw a large, crowded street, and a clear, +gay wave of scolding and jesting humanity. +Then, gradually, this picture faded into the +background. A groaning was heard. It detached +itself from the clamor of the crowd and +passed through the hall in a sweet but powerful +note, which sobbed and moved one's heart. +Maxim knew it well, this sad melody: "Alms, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +alms for the poor blind man ... for the love +of Christ."</p> + +<p>"He understands suffering," murmured the +uncle. "He has had his share, and that is why +he can change it into music for this happy +audience."</p> + +<p>"And the head of the old warrior sank on his +breast. His work was done. He had made a +good man. He had not lived in vain. He had +but to look at the crowd to be convinced of +that."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Korolenko belongs to the school of Turgenev. +In all of his works he remains true to +the principles which his master summed up in +a letter: "One must penetrate the surroundings, +and take life in all its manifestations; +decipher the laws by which it is governed; get +at the very essence of life, while remaining always +within the boundaries of truth; and +finally, one must not be contented with a superficial +study."</p> + +<p>Korolenko lives up to all of these principles. +Without tiring, he watches life in all of its +phases. He uses a large canvas for his studies +of inanimate nature, as well as of individuals in +particular and the masses in general. That is +why his work gives us such an exact reproduction +of life.</p> + +<p>Like Turgenev, he describes nature admirably. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +His descriptions are not irrelevant ornaments, +but they constitute an organic and integral +part of the picture. In both Turgenev +and Korolenko the surrounding country reflects +the feelings and emotions of the heroes, and +takes on a purely lyric character. One might +almost say that these country scenes breathe, +speak a human language, and whisper mysterious +legends.</p> + +<p>Korolenko has given us several splendid landscapes. +In some of these nature seems to be +in a serene mood, like a good mother whose +harmonious strength attracts man and shows +him the need of reposing on her bosom. In +others, nature is like a strong, free element +which incites man to lead an independent life. +Thus, in the beautiful prose poem, "The Moment," +in which the action passes in Spain, it +is the ocean beating against the prison walls +that arouses Diatz from his torpor and makes +him attempt to escape.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>But, in spite of the importance of the background +in Korolenko's work, it is really in the +conscience of his characters that the essential +drama takes place. More than anything else, +it is psychology that beguiles the artist; it is +only through psychology that Korolenko depicts +men and their mentalities. He studies the +strong and the weak, the simple and the complex; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +exaltation, triumph, revolt, and downfall +all interest him equally.</p> + +<p>A simple analysis of his story, "Makar's +Dream," will show his psychological genius to +greater advantage than could any critical essay.</p> + +<p>In the very heart of the dense woods of the +"taiga," Makar, a poor little peasant, who has +become half savage by association with the +Yakutsk people, dreams of a better future.</p> + +<p>Makar does not dream, however, when he is +normal; he hasn't time to, for he has to chop +wood, plough, sow, and grind grain. He only +dreams when he is drunk. As soon as he is under +the influence of liquor, he weeps and says +that he is going to leave everything and go to +the "sacred mountain" to gain salvation for +his soul. What is the name of this mountain? +Where is it? He does not know exactly; he +only knows that it is very far away. On Christmas +eve, Makar extorts a ruble from two political +refugees, and, instead of bringing them +some wood for the money, he quickly buys some +tobacco and brandy. After drinking and +smoking a great deal, Makar goes to sleep and +has a dream. He dreams that the frost has +got the better of him in the woods, that he has +died there, and that the priest Ivan, who has +also been dead a long time, takes him to the +great Tayon—the god of the woods—to be +judged for his former deeds. Even there his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +natural knavery does not forsake him; he tries +to fool Tayon. But the latter has everything +that Makar has ever done, both good and bad, +written down, and becoming angry, he says: +"I see that you are a liar, a sluggard, and a +drunkard."</p> + +<p>He orders Makar to be transformed into a +post-horse, to be used by the police commissioner. +And Makar, this Makar who never in +his lifetime was known to say more than ten +words at a time, suddenly finds that he has the +faculty of speech. He begins by saying that +he does not want to be a horse, not because he +is afraid of work but because this decision is +unfair. If one works geldings, one feeds them +with oats; but people have imposed upon him +and tortured him all his life and have never fed +him, no, not even with oats.</p> + +<p>"Who imposed upon you and tortured +you?" asks old Tayon, moved by compassion.</p> + +<p>"Everybody! The men who demanded taxes, +the heat and the cold, rain and dryness, the pitiless +earth, and the forest."</p> + +<p>The beam of the balance wavers; the wooden +dish, filled with sins, rises, while the golden one +sinks.</p> + +<p>Makar continues: "You have everything +written down, have you? Well, look and see +whether Makar has ever had any kindness +shown to him. He is here before his judges, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +dirty, his hair disordered, and his clothes in +rags. He is ashamed. However, he realizes +that he was born just like the others, with clear +eyes in which both heaven and earth were reflected, +and with a heart ready to open and receive +all the beauty of the world."</p> + +<p>Makar thus passes in review his miserable life. +Old Tayon is moved.</p> + +<p>"Makar, you are no longer on earth, and you +shall receive justice."</p> + +<p>Makar begins to weep, and Tayon weeps too.... +And the young gods and the angels, they +also shed tears.</p> + +<p>Again the balance moves. But this time it +is in the opposite direction.</p> + +<p>Makar has received justice from the hands +of Tayon.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Korolenko does not try to reconcile us to +reality, but to mankind. In all of the catastrophes +in his books, in the most sombre descriptions, +he comforts us with a consolation, +an ideal, a "little fire" that burns in the distance +and attracts us. But to get to that fire +we have to fight against evil. And it is perhaps +in answer to Tolstoy's doctrine of passive resistance +that Korolenko wrote that beautiful +story called, "The Legend of Florus," the subject +of which was probably taken from "The +War of the Jews," by Flavius Josephus. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>This work takes us back to the time when +Judæa was bowed down under Roman rule. The +Jews bear their lot without a murmur, and this +resignation encourages Florus, the governor of +Judæa, to oppress them more.</p> + +<p>Soon there are two parties formed: the +"pacifics" want to rid themselves of Roman +cruelty by humble submission, while the others +advise opposing this cruelty to the utmost. +The chief of the latter party is Menahem, the +son of a famous warrior who has inherited +from his father his generous passions and his +hatred of oppression. Menahem's words inspire +respect even in his enemies. But he does +not succeed in making peace among his people. +In vain he cries to them, as his father before +him had cried: "It is disgraceful to bow down +to sovereigns, especially since these sovereigns +are men; no human being should bow down to +any one excepting God, who created men that +they might be free." With great trouble he +finally succeeds in rousing a part of the people +to rebellion. Then he leaves the city with his +followers, resolved to defend his country. +Menahem has no illusions as to the outcome; +he knows that he will be conquered by the +Romans. Nevertheless he is fearless, for his +whole being is filled with a single thought,—the +idea of justice, which imposes upon men +certain obligations which they must not scorn. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + +<p>During his stay in Siberia Korolenko had a +very good chance to observe the deported convicts. +Most of them are thieves, forgers, and +murderers. The others, urged on by a heroic +desire to live their own true lives, have been +sent to this "cursed land" because of "political +offences."</p> + +<p>Korolenko is not resigned to the sadness of +life, he is not an enemy to manly calls to +active struggle, but he neither wants to, nor +can he, break the ties that bind him to the real +life of the present. He does not wish either to +judge or to renounce this life. Nor does he +try, by fighting, to perpetuate a conflict which +is in itself eternal. If he struggles, it is rather +in discontent than in despair. Not all is evil +in his eyes, and reality is not always and entirely +sad. His protestations hardly ever take +the form of disdain or contempt; he does not +rise to summits which are inaccessible to mankind. +In fact, his ideal is close to earth; it is +the ideal which comes from mankind, from tears +and sufferings. If the thoughts and feelings +of the author rise sometimes high above the +earth, he never forgets the world and its interests. +Korolenko loves humanity, and his +ideals cannot separate themselves from it. He +loves man and he believes that God lives in their +souls.</p> + +<p>We find these theories in the sketch called +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +"En Route." The vagabond, Panov, is one +of a party of deported convicts. At one of +the stops, an inspector arrives who remembers +having seen Panov when a young man. The +old man goes over the history of his life, which +has been marked with constant success, with +pleasure. He shows the vagabond his little +son, and with cruel egotism boasts of his happiness. +Standing before him, his back bent, +and a sad light in his eyes, Panov listens to the +story. He feels vaguely that he has not lived +and that he lacks personality. There is nothing +in store for him except the useless existence +of prison life. The egotistical and debonair +inspector, in his simplicity, does not understand +the anguish of the homeless prisoner, and, +by his amicable chatter, subjects him to horrible +moral torture. It is too much for Panov. +When the inspector leaves, Panov, gripping the +edge of his hard cot in his convulsive hands, +falls to the ground. He breathes heavily, his +lips move, but he does not speak. "That night +Panov got drunk."</p> + +<p>Two very different types appear in the novel +called, "The Postillion of the Emperor." We +have here the idealist Misheka and the sectarian +Ostrovsky, a transported prisoner who is embittered +by his hard lot, and by life in general.</p> + +<p>If Misheka protests against the complicated +conditions of life to which he cannot entirely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +submit, it is rather by instinct than through +reason. He is attracted by something invisible, +something distant and strange, to the repugnant +world which surrounds him. As a postillion +of the State he has frequent communications +with the distant world which glows +vaguely on his mental horizon. Everything +displeases him: both the savage country in +which he has to live, and the world of stupid, +degenerate, and miserable postillions whom he +mercilessly criticizes. His random attempts to +get away fail. Despairing, he becomes an accomplice +in a crime so that he can leave this +solitary place and go where his restless soul +leads him.</p> + +<p>At the side of Misheka we have the tragic +figure of Ostrovsky, who is the exasperated victim +of the evil all around him.</p> + +<p>The author and the travelers, driven by +Misheka, have seen the burning of Ostrovsky's +house, which the latter burned himself so that +no one could profit by it. This action strikes +Misheka as wonderful.</p> + +<p>"He begins to tell the story of the fire. +Several years before, Ostrovsky had been deported +for having given up the orthodox faith. +His young wife and child followed him. They +had been given a plot of land in a broad and +deep valley, between two walls of rock. The +place seemed fertile. It was not hard to sell +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +wheat to the miners and Ostrovsky worked diligently +and steadily. But the inhabitants had +kept something from him: although the wheat +grew in the valley, it never ripened, because +each year, without fail, in the month of July +it was destroyed by the cold winds from the +northeast."</p> + +<p>The first few years Ostrovsky attributed his +failure to chance. He carefully cared for his +crop in the hopes of a better season.</p> + +<p>Alas, his wife died of sorrow, and autumn +brought him nothing but straw. Ostrovsky, +without weeping, dug a grave in the frozen +ground and buried his wife. Then he asked +permission to go to the mines, and borrowed +some money for the trip from his neighbors. +The latter gladly loaned it to him, thinking +thus to get rid of him and to get the profit of +his house and goods. But Ostrovsky fooled +them in their naïve simplicity; he heaped up +all of his possessions in his little cottage and +then set fire to it. He no longer thought +of justice; he was nothing but a despairing +man.</p> + +<p>The patriarch of the village in which he had +taken refuge tried to recall to him the faith for +which he had been exiled:</p> + +<p>"Do you remember," answered Ostrovsky, +"the first visit I paid you to ask for advice? +Ah, so you have forgotten that and you speak +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +of God.... You are nothing but a crafty +dog! All of you are dogs! There is nothing +here but woods and rocks, and you are all just +as insensible as the very rocks that surround +you.... And your cursed land, and your sky, +and your stars...." "He wanted to say +something more, but he did not dare blaspheme, +and there was silence again in the little cottage...."</p> + +<p>This Ostrovsky is among the very best of +Korolenko's heroes. The sight of this despairing +and lonely man, who wanders about in the +Siberian forests with his little daughter, calls +louder for justice than all the speeches in the +world.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Through the wealth of his talent and knowledge, +Korolenko is of tremendous social value +in three fields of work,—practical affairs, +journalism, and art.</p> + +<p>Among the many services which he has rendered +to humanity, let us first mention his +brilliant defence of the half-savage Votiaks, +accused of ritual murder in the famous Malmige +case. Although he had just suffered +great grief himself—he had lost two children—he +traveled to a distant town in order to be +at the trial. He took his seat on the bench +of the defenders. He used all of his knowledge, +and all the love in his heart to defend the unhappy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +Votiaks, whose acquittal he succeeded in +securing.</p> + +<p>As a publicist, he has written some very valuable +articles. Among them are observations on +the famine year (he spent two months in one +of the worst districts). In other articles he +has analyzed a moral malady peculiar to our +state of society:—honor. In the recent Russian +duels he studied the perverse notions of +honor and the moral changes produced by +sickly egotism. He has studied the causes that +bring about the complete loss of individuality. +Finally, in 1910, he published under the title, +"Present Customs (Notes of a Publicist under +Sentence of Death)" a series of documents +gathered here and there, which constitute an +eloquent and passionate plea in favor of the +abolitionist thesis.</p> + +<p>When the great Tolstoy read the preface of +this work, he wrote to Korolenko, "I often +sobbed and wept. Millions of copies of this +work ought to be distributed; it ought to be +read by every one who has a heart. No discourse, +no novel or play, can produce the effect +that your 'Notes' do."</p> + +<p>But above all, it is as the pure artist that +Korolenko merits most attention. It is his +talent that has already made him famous, and +it is his talent that will make him immortal in +Russian literature. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<p>Korolenko is at present one of the most +popular writers among the educated classes. +They have amply proved this to him, especially +in 1903 and 1908, when they celebrated his +50th birthday and the 30th anniversary of his +literary activity. On the occasion of these +celebrations, delegations from many cities and +universities came to St. Petersburg to congratulate +and to thank the author who, through +so many trials, had never ceased to uphold the +cause of truth and goodness, and to claim for +each human being the right to work, happiness, +and free thought.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV<br /> +VIKENTY VERESSAYEV</h2> + + +<p>Veressayev is well known in France for his +"Memoirs of a Physician," a work that has +been translated into almost every language. +However, his reputation in Russia is not based +on this book, which is considered his masterpiece, +but rather on his stories and tales. Let +us, however, first take a glance at the life of this +author, a life so closely connected with the subjects +of his works that it forms an indispensable +commentary on them.</p> + +<p>Veressayev, whose real name is Vikenty +Smidovich, was born in 1867, in Tula. His +father was a Pole and his mother a Russian. +His father, a very pious and strictly moral man, +was a well known and well liked physician. In +1877, the boy entered the local school and received +his degree there seven years later. In +1884, he left for the University of St. Petersburg, +where he enrolled in the department of +historical sciences. Four years later, when he +was twenty-four and a half, he received his +degree of licentiate of letters.<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Most of his +class-mates became school-teachers, but he preferred +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +to pursue his studies. Medicine tempted +him. He left for Zhouriev (formerly Dorpat, +already famous for its department of medicine) +and entered the university, where, at the end of +six years, he received his doctor's degree.</p> + +<p>Two years before, in 1892, a cholera epidemic +had broken out in Russia. Young Smidovich, +then a fourth-year student, asked to be sent +immediately to a province in the East, where the +epidemic was spreading like wildfire. He remained +there several months, in fact until the +plague had gone. As a doctor's assistant in an +infirmary organized in one of the mining districts +of the government of Ekaterinoslav, he +witnessed a peasant revolt in which several doctors +were killed and others cruelly burned by +the exasperated and ignorant mob. Veressayev +has traced these sad events with tremendous +power in his story, "Astray."</p> + +<p>His doctor's degree in his pocket, he went +to Tula, where he practised for several months, +but soon the position of house-surgeon was +offered to him in the Botkin Hospital in St. Petersburg. +He remained there seven years, +till 1901, when, by order of the Minister of the +Interior, who has charge of all hospital appointments, +he was forced to retire from office +and was expelled from St. Petersburg and forbidden +to reside in either of the two capitals, +Moscow or St. Petersburg. The reason for this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +was, that the name Veressayev appeared on the +petition of the "intellectuals" which had been +given to the Minister of the Interior, protesting +against the brutal attitude of the police +during a student manifestation in the Kazan +cathedral on March 4, 1901. This petition +brought severe punishment to almost all the +people whose names were signed to it. Veressayev +went abroad; he visited Italy, France, +Germany and Switzerland.</p> + +<p>Gifted with poetic inspiration, he had begun +writing at an early age. He was not more than +fourteen when he translated some poems of +Koerner and Goethe into Russian verse. Later, +when at college, he wrote some short prose tales, +which were published in various papers. But it +was in 1896, when the "Russkoe Bogatsvo," +the large St. Petersburg review, had published +his two important stories, "Astray" and "The +Contagion," that renown came to him. It came +so suddenly that it troubled him and was almost +a blow to his modesty, which is one of the sympathetic +traits of his personality.</p> + +<p>In fact, there came a time when the attention +of the literary world, especially among the +younger generation, became so wrapped up in +his works that Gorky and Tchekoff sank to a +second level. This enthusiasm was caused by +the fact that Veressayev's works answered a +general need. They brought into the world +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +of literature a series of characters who summed +up the rising fermentation of new ideas and +seemed to be spokesmen, around whom the +Russian revolutionary forces gathered,—forces +which, up to this time, had been scattered. +An era of struggle for liberty began.</p> + +<p>It is rather important, I think, for the +proper understanding of this period to say a +few words concerning its history.</p> + +<p>The struggle of the younger generation +against the autocracy began about 1860, at +the time of the freeing of the serfs, a period +known in Russia as the "epoch of great reforms." +These ameliorations, which extended +into almost every domain of Russian life, left +intact the autocracy, which, under pretence of +protecting itself, fought successfully against +all activity and thus brought about, among the +younger generation, a general movement +towards freedom and socialism. But the autocracy +found its best help in the ignorance of +the people. Urban commerce, little developed +at that time, practically interested only the +peasants—which means nine-tenths of the +population of Russia. It was natural, then, +that the peasants should become the principal +object of the revolutionary propaganda, and +that tremendous efforts should be made on all +sides in order to awaken them from their dangerous +sleep. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<p>The peasant uprisings in the history of +Russia, especially the two revolts directed by +Stepan Razin in the 17th century, and Pugachev +in the 18th, proved the fact that the +masses could unite in a general insurrection. +This time, the "intellectuals" joined. As they +advocated a sort of communism, periodic redivisions +of land according to the growth of +the population, and as they harped on the +tradition that land was a gift of God which +no one had a right to own, we can easily see +that the agricultural proletariat would welcome +with open arms the socialistic ideas.</p> + +<p>Although this popular movement did not +affect many people, it was attacked with such +pitiless cruelty, that the revolutionists decided +to have recourse to the red terror in order to +fight the white terror which was cutting down +their ranks. The secret goal of this movement +was to replace the autocratic régime with +political institutions emanating from the will +of the people. In order to accomplish its reforms +more quickly, this party, which called +itself the "Popular Will," incited several attempts +at murder; Russia then witnessed dynamite +outrages against imperial trains and +palaces, and finally, the assassination of the +Emperor Alexander II. For a moment the autocratic +régime seemed to totter under these +sudden and fierce blows, but it soon recovered. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +The white terror proved to be stronger than +the red. Many executions and banishments +helped to crush the partisans of the "Popular +Will;" then, when the movement had been +checked, the authorities began to repress even +the slightest desire for independence on the +part of the press, the universities, or any other +institutions which could do good to the people. +Dejection and disillusion dominated this period +from 1880 to 1900, which has been so faithfully +portrayed in the works of Tchekoff.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that their +ideals had come to nought, those of the red +terror had not disappeared, and hope remained +in their breasts.</p> + +<p>Tchekoff was still living when new symptoms +of fermentation appeared in Russia, and he +could have alluded to this in his later works. +But he did not have a fighting nature, and, in +his solitude, he looked at conditions with +melancholy scepticism. There was need of a +man, a writer—like Gorky several years later—born +right in the midst of this movement, +who would be the very product of it, and for +whom its ideas would be a reason for existence.</p> + +<p>Veressayev was this man and writer, and it +is as much by his political opinions as by his +literary talents that he gained such a wide-spread +reputation. If his works are not always +irreproachable from a literary standpoint, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +they are always accurate in describing exactly +what the author himself has seen and lived +through.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Veressayev, in three great stories, gives us +the three phases of the movement between 1880 +and 1900. These three stories, "Astray," +"The Contagion" and "At the Turn," are of +such extreme importance, that in the following +pages there will be a detailed analysis of each +of them.</p> + +<p>The two protagonists of the story, "Astray," +are Dr. Chekanhov and his cousin Natasha. The +former is at the end of his moral life, the latter +is on the threshold, and both of them are +"astray," because the one has not found the +road on which to travel through life, and the +other is just beginning to look for it. The +entire existence of Chekanhov is dominated by +the idea that it is <i>his duty to serve the people</i>, +which was the basis of the activity of the +"narodnikis." According to him, the "intellectuals," +who represent a small and privileged +fraction of the population, are the debtors of +the people and ought to pay their debt by giving +the people knowledge and comfort. This +theory is burned into his very soul; it is the +leading thought that directs all of his actions. +At this epoch, few men showed such absolute +devotion. From 1880 to 1890, after the cruel +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +suppression of the movement of the "narodnikis," +there was a stop in this revolutionary +activity. Unaware of this pacification, Chekanhov +makes great exertions; as a doctor, he combats +disease and saves several people. But how +exhaust the source of this evil, this misery, +which is increased by a despotic social order? +Chekanhov spends his energy in vain; where +else shall he apply his strength?</p> + +<p>The famine of 1891! Dr. Chekanhov speaks +only of his despair: "A terrible malady beats +down on one after another of the inhabitants; +it is an epidemic of typhoid caused by the privations +which left us numb and weak." In 1892 +an epidemic of cholera broke out. In spite of +the prayers of his parents, the young man +rushes off to the most infected district. One +day, he penetrates into an infected hovel. The +children are sprawling everywhere, the mother +is foolish and stupid, and the father, weakened +by prison labor, has come down with cholera. +The wife forbids the doctor, whom she accuses +of poisoning the sick, to approach her husband. +Scorning the danger, in order to encourage the +sick man, the doctor drinks out of the very cup +which the invalid has used. Nothing counts +with him as long as he can inspire confidence +and save people from death.</p> + +<p>"What good is there in love between good +and strong people," adds Chekanhov, after having +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +noted down this cure in his "Journal," +"since it results only in miserable abortions? +And why are the people held down to work which +is so rough and unpleasant? What motive supports +them in their painful labor? Is it the +desire to preserve their infected hovels?"</p> + +<p>At the end of these reflections could not +Chekanhov, absolutely in despair, have abandoned +his task? No, he knew how to keep up +his devotion. Sacrificing his life for others, +Chekanhov begins to love life again. He says +to himself: "Life is good ... but will it be +for a long time?" We do not catch the answer.</p> + +<p>Furious voices are heard, and a savage and +cruel mob calls him a poisoner and hurls itself +upon him, beating and striking him.</p> + +<p>Exhausted by the blows and jeered at by +those whom he had considered his brothers in +need and for whom he had put himself in constant +peril, he lies stretched out on his bed, +suffering severely; but he nourishes no grudge +against his tormentors; on the contrary, his +apostle-like character is moved with pity at the +thought of these uncultured and ignorant beings +so unconscious of the evil that they are +doing. And several days before his death he +writes the following tragic words in his "Journal," +almost terrifying in their simplicity:</p> + +<p>"They have beaten me! They have beaten +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +me like a mad dog because I came to help them +and because I used all my knowledge and +strength, in one word, gave all that I had. I +am not thinking now about how much I loved +these people and how badly I feel at the way +they have treated me. I simply did not succeed +in gaining their confidence; I did succeed in +making them believe in me for a while, but soon +a mere trifle was enough to plunge them back +among their dark shadows and to awaken in +them an elemental, brutal instinct. And now I +have to die. I am not afraid of death, but of a +tarnished life full of empty remorse. Why have +I struggled? In the name of what am I going +to die? I am only a poor victim stripped of +the strength of an ideal and cared for by no +one.... It had to be so, for we were always +strangers to them, beings belonging to another +world; we scornfully avoid them, without trying +to know them, and a terrible abyss separates +us from them."</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note how Chekanhov is +regarded by the new generation and especially +by the woman he loves, his cousin Natasha. +She believes in him, she expects a gospel of life +from him; but Chekanhov cannot respond to +her; he adheres to such vague expressions as: +"work," "idea," "duty towards the people." +He says to her: "You want an idea which will +dominate you entirely and which will lead you +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +to a definite goal; you want me to give you a +standard and say: 'Fight and die for it.' I +have read more than you, I have had more +experience than you, but like you, <i>I Do Not +Know</i>, and that is our torture." According +to Chekanhov, all of his generation are in the +same position: it is <i>Astray</i>, without a guiding +star, it is perishing without realizing it.... +Finally, in order to avoid the pressing questions +of Natasha, who would like to work and sacrifice +herself for the poor, he points out to her the +salutary work of the village school-mistress. +A few days later he dies, welcoming death with +joy.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>While the people who were ending their existence +and those who were beginning it were so +carefully looking for a field of action, the uncultivated +ground of Russian life was gradually +being cleared by the slow evolution of an +economic movement. Between 1895 and 1900, +as a result of the natural development of national +commerce, the number of city workingmen +grew to vast proportions and they formed +an important class, which, on account of its +situation, was much more qualified than the +peasants to interest itself in the ideas of socialism +and liberty. So from the very midst of +the people certain individuals appeared capable +of adopting progressive ideas; Marxism +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +awaited them, the theory which is the basis of +European democratic socialism. This doctrine +was nothing new in Russia. But formerly, +the proletariat of the cities had been very little +developed and the Marxian doctrines had been +of theoretical interest only.</p> + +<p>"The Contagion" has for its heroine +Natasha,—the Natasha that we have already +met, but how transformed! She has at last +found her bearings. If, in 1892, she was waiting +for the right road to be shown to her, in +1896 she was enthusiastically following the new +road opened by the doctrines of Marx.</p> + +<p>In Zharoshenko's famous picture, "The +Student," Uspensky notes something new in +this type of femininity. He calls it "the masculine +trait"; it is the mark of thought. He +sees there the harmonious fusion of a young +girl and an adolescent boy, with an expression +neither feminine nor masculine, but exceptionally +human. And this transforms Zharoshenko's +"Student" into a luminous personification, +unknown up to this time, a type which +synthesizes "le type humain."</p> + +<p>In the work of Veressayev this student is +Natasha. Reflection has ripened her mind since +her last talk with poor Chekanhov. She has +become a regular "mannish woman," having +seen and thought a great deal. She has traveled; +she has lived in St. Petersburg and in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +south of Russia. Full of courage and energy, +she claims to be fully satisfied with her lot; she +begs her companions to follow the road she has +found, and when they refuse she becomes angry +with them. In company with her comrade +Dayev she vigorously attacks the convictions +of the men of Kisselev, who see sufficient safety +in the workingmen's associations; she rises +up, in the name of Marxism, against the +"narodnikis," whom she considers ingenuous +idealists; she refuses to endorse the theories +of the "intellectuals," who oppose the thought +of any great work, since they believe that +smaller deeds are more immediately realizable. +When one of them, a doctor, Troïtsky, ends +his conversation with her with these words: +"It is not necessary to wear one's brains out +trying to solve difficult problems while there is +so much immediate need and so few workers," +she puts an end to the discussion. Shrugging +her shoulders, in a trembling voice she answers: +"How can you live and think as you do? New +problems confront us, and you stand before +them and do nothing, because you have lost +confidence. I can't work any longer with you, +because it would mean dedicating myself blindly +to 'spiritual death.'"</p> + +<p>Veressayev does not show us how she solves +the problems of which she speaks. The adepts +of this sort of social apostleship usually propagate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +their ideas among the workingmen, help +them, and play a part in conspiracies. Natasha +offers herself up. But the censorship has not +allowed Veressayev to carry his subject on, and +he has limited himself to showing us Natasha +in company with her friends and disciples, giving +herself up to oratorical tilts, discussing +principles, and uttering long discourses full of +passion, faith, and juvenile impatience,—discourses +which unfortunately are mistaken in +their reasoning.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In realizing from the socialist ideal the logical +and inevitable consequence of capitalism, +which continues according to a law independent +of human will, the Marxian doctrine dissipates +the doubts and consolidates the faith of those +who adopt it. According to this faith, the +socialists do not have to create socialism, they +only have to coöperate in the historical process +which will inevitably make socialism grow. In +thus recognizing the supremity of the law of +history, socialism, utopian up to this time, becomes +scientific and, under its new form, it is +no longer subject to the influence of personal +opinions, no matter how full of genius they +may be. But this "scientific socialism," which, +on account of the backwardness of political +economy, could be only a step ahead, was taken +by the younger generation of Russia as the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +"dernier mot" of the science. The result was, +that several narrow and exclusive dogmas were +grafted on this doctrine. Thus, the theory of +"class struggle" transformed itself into the +absolute negation of all community interests +between the diverse social strata. The "materialistic"—or +rather "economic"—point of +view, according to which the products of spiritual +activity in the history of humanity lose all +independence, being only the consequences of +economic organization, generated scorn for all +idealism; and the proletariat character of +the socialistic movement impelled society to +divide into two hostile and irreconcilable parts, +one of which is made up of the proletariats, the +other of the elements opposed to socialism. To +this last party the enormous mass of half-starved +peasants joined itself. The peasants, +according to the Marxian doctrine, cannot understand +socialism until they have become proletariats +themselves, instead of becoming miserable +landed proprietors. And this "proletariazation" +of about 100,000,000 peasants, the +fervent Marxists consider a fatal and desirable +event in the near future.</p> + +<p>These theories, carried to excess, were sure +to excite a reaction. It manifested itself by a +neo-idealistic movement, which found the principal +cause of social progress in the tendency +of humanity to attain supreme development and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +perfection. Then there were the "narodnikis" +who considered the "proletariazation" of the +Russian peasant impossible and inopportune. +There were also the various groups of Socialists +who applauded the criticism that Bernstein +made on the Marxian orthodoxy. So several +deviations were made from the original theory; +there were grave dissensions and interminable +and bitter controversies. All this occupies a +large part of "At the Turn," one of Veressayev's +novels, in which these events are traced +with almost stenographic exactitude.</p> + +<p>The characters are, Tanya, a fanatic Marxist; +her brother, Tokarev, whose soul is a field +for spiritual battles; and Varenka, a village +school-mistress. There are several eccentric +characters around them, such as Serge, a young +apostle of a somewhat Nietzschean egoism, Antsov +and others. Tanya is none other than +Natasha of "Astray," with this great difference, +however, that Tanya has found truth already +formulated for her, and does not have +to grope about for it. Nevertheless, the essential +characteristics of the two girls are the same. +They both have the same joyous self-denial, the +same love of life, the same courage in face of +difficulties, and also the same faith in a better +future. Tanya has lived during the whole winter +with her comrades in a region devastated +by the famine, and she has spent there all that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +she possesses. At Toliminsk, where she arrives +after a long walk, she speaks of her meagre living +and tells amusing stories without suspecting +her wonderful heroism.</p> + +<p>But this young girl, full of the joy of life +and ready for any sacrifices, is pitiless towards +her theoretical adversaries and has absolutely +no compassion for them. The passage in +"Crime and Punishment," in which Dostoyevsky +depicts one of his heroes in the following +manner: "He was young, he had abstract ideas, +and was, consequently, cruel," perfectly fits +Tanya. Veressayev tells the following incident: +"One day, when she was at the station, some +peasants rushed down from the platform. A +railroad guard struck one of the peasants. +The peasant put his head down and ran off.... +Tanya, knitting her brows, said: 'That's good +for him! Oh, these peasants!' And her eyes +lighted up with scorn and hate...."</p> + +<p>Just as Tanya brings Natasha to our mind, +so does Varenka make us think of Dr. Chekanhov; +the same feeling of duty governs them +both. But, while Chekanhov wanted to devote +himself to the social problem, without ever succeeding +in doing so, because he did not exactly +see the principles, Varenka was able to devote +herself to her work without mental reservation. +However, she refuses to, because she has not +enough enthusiasm for this sort of research. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +Her understanding, which is deeper and +broader than Tanya's, sees the error, the narrowness +of her doctrine; she cannot admit it, +and, fired by a desire to devote herself body and +soul to some useful work, she chooses the laborious +profession of a school-mistress in the +village. But this humble and unpleasant career +does not satisfy her. Little by little ennui and +anguish drive her to suicide.</p> + +<p>Between Tokarev, Tanya's brother, and +Varenka, the contrast is complete. While still +a student, he had accepted, with all the ardor +of youth, the idea of duty, and he desired to +give himself up to the cause of justice and +truth; but, having encountered many obstacles, +he felt, when he had reached his thirtieth year, +that the sacred fire was going out.</p> + +<p>He now dreamed only of his personal happiness, +and of poor theories that justified this +egoism. An assured material existence, comfort, +a happy domestic life, work without risks, +without sacrifices, but useful enough in appearance +to satisfy the conscience, attracted him irresistibly. +He then went to work to tear out +his former ideas, which had taken a pretty firm +root. Urged on by his conscience, which protested, +he forced himself at times to resurrect +his youthful enthusiasm; he thought a great +deal about morals, about duty, and he read +many books treating this subject; he says: "I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +feel that something extremely necessary has left +me. My feelings about humanity have disappeared +and nothing can replace them. I read +a great deal now, and I am directing my +thoughts towards ethics. I try to give morality +a solid basis and I try to make clearer to myself +the various categories of duty.... And I +blush to pronounce the word, 'Duty.'"</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Tokarev tries, at times, to justify +his inclinations towards peaceable bourgeois +prosperity to the struggling youth who +surround his sister Tanya. These cruel young +people, however, answer him only with sarcastic +remarks, and caustic arguments, and do not +hesitate to express their doubts as to the sincerity +of his opinions. To his conscience, they +are like a living reproach from the past. Once +he also was intolerant towards others as these +people are towards him to-day. And that is +why he suffers under their condemnation of +him. He defends himself weakly, and after one +of his oratorical tilts, he falls into such spiritual +depression, that he almost thinks of suicide.</p> + +<p>These, then, are the three main characters of +Veressayev's novel. In the background we have +the secondary characters. We have the proud +proprietor and his wife, both of them liberals; +we have the pedagogue Osmerkov, who does not +like talented people because they bother everybody; +and then there are the respectable inhabitants +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +of Gniezdelovka, Serge's father and +mother, who are entirely absorbed with their +household and with cards.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>"The Comrades" is a variation on this +theme: old school friends, who formerly had +been wrapped up in a great ideal, are now +living a life of shabby prosperity, and they +feel that they have deteriorated, although they +do not dare to confess it to each other.</p> + +<p>And Veressayev profits by this to generalize +on the causes of this fatal fall after the unselfish +enthusiasms of youth. He sees them especially +in a mysterious force: "The Invisible," already +studied by Maeterlinck, Ibsen, Tchekoff, and +especially by de Maupassant; and he sees them +in the unhappy conditions of Russian history, +which created a social and political organization +favorable only to those who crawl along +and not to those who plan.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Let us now analyze the stories in which +Veressayev describes the life of the people.</p> + +<p>The story of "The Steppe" is as follows: +One beautiful autumn evening two men meet on +the steppe. One of them, the forger Nikita, is +returning to his native land; he is wounded in +the leg and it is hard for him to walk. He is +looking for work. The other is a professional +beggar. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + +<p>The beggar, who is never hungry because he +has no scruples, offers Nikita something to eat. +After resting a short while, the travelers continue +on their way. In the first village that +they come to, the pilgrim beggar makes a +speech to the inhabitants and sells them certain +"sacred properties" which he keeps in his bag. +After pocketing gifts of money and various +other things, the false pilgrim pursues his way, +still accompanied by Nikita. On the road once +more, he offers to share with his comrade the +fruits of his "work," but the latter refuses.</p> + +<p>"What a fool!" cries the beggar, and bursts +out laughing. But Nikita, indignant, gives +him a heavy blow and leaves him for good.</p> + +<p>"For a Home" and "In Haste" gave +Veressayev an opportunity to note one of the +characteristic traits of the ambitious villagers: +their strong desire to preserve their homes and +to propagate the race.</p> + +<p>In the first of these stories, two old people, +Athanasius and his wife, want to marry their +daughter Dunka, but the "mir,"—the assembly +of peasants,—egotistical and inflexible +towards people who are growing weak, oppose +them. "We have not enough land for our own +children," is the answer of the "mir." Dunka +remains unmarried, and dies at an early age. +Her mother soon follows her. Old Athanasius +lives alone in his freezing "isba," which is in a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +state of ruin, while the neighboring isbas, solid +and austere, "spitefully watch him die."</p> + +<p>In the last story, we have a widower who is +the father of five children, and is therefore +looking everywhere for a woman with some +bodily defect, because he knows that other +women will not want to have anything to do +with him.</p> + +<p>It is the same wish to preserve his home that +makes a peasant go to the city to earn his +living while he leaves his family in the country +to take care of the house.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>The peasant is, besides, entirely engrossed +with the difficulties of existence. Necessity +often urges him to desperate acts.... Some, +who are almost starving, ingratiate themselves +with the raftsmen. They force wages down by +asking only 5 copecks (5 cents) a day.... +If they are contented with this absurd pay, it +is because they avoid seeing how their little +children are suffering at home. "It's hard +living at present; there is not enough space; +ground is scarce and there are too many +people." "Men haven't room enough," says a +sad-looking man with prominent cheek-bones. +"But," he goes on, "they tell me that sickness +has struck our village, and that the men are +losing blood! Is that true?" "Yes, it's true!" +"So much the better! That will clean out the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +people; it will be easier to live then," he concludes, +thoughtfully. (From "In the Cold +Spell.")</p> + +<p>In almost all the work of Veressayev a voice +proclaims that the Russian peasant is near his +end; that he is not useful to any one. The +poverty of the villages is painted in the most +sombre colors. The people are unanimous in +believing that the struggle for life has become +terrible. "On what will you live?" one asks +the other. "The earth does not nourish us. +The holdings are small; in summer, one must +cultivate, and in winter the cottages have to +be closed while we look for work or charity. +What is there to eat? Hay! Let us thank God +that the cattle have enough of that. Oats? We +have to give four hectoliters and two measures +of our oats to the common granary.... And +taxes and clothes? coal-oil, matches, tea, +sugar? Tell me, how can one live?"</p> + +<p>The unfortunates even go so far as to bless +war and epidemics. "Everything went better +then. Men lived peacefully in the fear of God, +the Lord took care of every one. War, smallpox, +famine came and cleaned out the populace; +those that remained, after having got the +coffins ready, lived easier. God pitied us. Now +there is no more war; He leaves us to our own +poor devices."</p> + +<p>Speeches like this abound in the works of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +Veressayev. A dull sadness, bordering on +despair, breathes forth from the pages. It +seems, at times, as if the Russian peasant could +never awake from his torpor, because the author +represents him as full of infinite egoism, +without any spirit of solidarity, sacrificing +everything for love of his sorry little house +and his morsel of ground, which is insufficient +to nourish him. But we must remember that +the Marxian point of view, which the author +takes, explains in part the horror of such pictures.</p> + +<p>According to Veressayev the poor peasants +can better their position only by getting +rid of their land, in order to become free +proletarians. But if the peasant class is unfortunate, +it is so, for the most part, because it is +the most exploited and the most oppressed. It +is not, then, the getting rid of their land that +will bring the peasants salvation; on the contrary, +they must fight for it against their oppressors. +The peasants are beginning to understand +the necessity of this struggle, and +their late uprisings in several provinces have +shown that they lack neither solidarity nor organization.</p> + +<p>In the story called, "The End of Andrey +Ivanovich," which is about the working class of +Russia, we see the transformation of a peasant +into a "city man." In his new surroundings, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +it is true, the wine-shop plays an important +rôle, but schools are organized there which inspire +a taste for reading, and "thought" +gradually awakens.</p> + +<p>Andrey has not yet rid himself of his rustic +unsociability; however, he is beginning to become +civilized, and is receiving city culture. +He tries to free himself from his misery, from +his degradation. He beats his wife when he +is drunk, but, at the same time, he gets angry +at a friend when he beats his mistress.... +According to his own confession he reads many +useless things, nevertheless he can become interested +in a serious work. If he drinks to +excess, it is to "drive away the thoughts" that +torment him. He wants to analyze every question +and find out what is at the bottom of it. +He is the spiritual brother of Natasha, Chekanhov, +and Tanya.</p> + +<p>The sequel to this story is "The Straight +Road." This time we are transported into the +world of factory workers, a world lamentable +for its misery, despair, and crime. Andrey +Ivanovich's wife, Alexandra Mikhailovna, being +without resources after the death of her +husband, with a little daughter in arms, enters +a book-binding establishment, belonging to a +man named Semidalov. But the foreman, a +vicious and evil-minded man, reigns as despot. +It is he who gives out the work. The young +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +girls who listen to his advances are sure of +being shown partiality; the others are badly +treated. As Alexandra wants to live honestly, +her work in the shop is made very hard. Her +best friend, Tanya, who inadvertently spilled +oil on some paper and could not pay for the +damage, had to give herself to the foreman. +Finally Tanya despairs and ends by drowning +herself. Alexandra is saved, thanks to a "loveless" +marriage with the locksmith, Lestmann. +She accepts this union so that she will not have +to starve and can remain "straight." Thus, +the "straight road" which Alexandra wanted +to follow has forced her finally to sell herself, +to marry a man whom she does not love.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Each page of Veressayev's work exists +merely to throw light on this or that social +question, considered from a well defined point +of view. The secret of his success rests mostly +in the frank, sincere manner in which he has +approached certain problems. At the same +time, all of his work breathes forth a deep and +tender love for those who suffer. In reality, +there is not a single book by Veressayev which +might not be a confession; all that he writes +he has already experienced himself, and his +work vibrates with a delicate and personal emotion. +It is only necessary to read "The Memoirs +of a Physician," which is almost an autobiography, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +in order to perceive the moral relationship +that exists between Veressayev and the +heroes of his stories.</p> + +<p>This book is the confession of a physician +from the time of his early studies. The young +man is <a class="corr" name="TC_1" id="TC_1" title="astonishd">astonished</a> at the number of maladies +that exist and by the unbelievable variety of +keen suffering that nature inflicts upon the +human species, man. Soon he is obliged to +make a discovery that stuns him: that medicine +is incapable of curing many evils. It only +gropes about, trying thousands of remedies before +it arrives at a sure result. The scruples +and anxiety of the student increase, especially +after an autopsy on a woman in the amphitheatre, +when the professor announces that the +woman has succumbed because the surgeon, who +was operating, swooned, and ends by saying: +"In such difficult operations the very best surgeons +are not safe from accidents of this kind." +After this, the professor shook hands with his +colleague and every one left. At that time, +doubt entered the mind of the young man. And +so, within a period of ten years, he passes from +extreme optimism to the same degree of pessimism.</p> + +<p>We follow him in the hospitals, where he is +scandalized by the brutality of the teaching, +which makes use of the unwilling bodies of sick +people. "Not being able to pay for their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +treatment in money, they have to pay with +their bodies." Finally, the student becomes a +doctor himself. Full of faith and knowledge, +he starts practice in a small market-town of +central Russia. But his work soon cools him +down; in the clinic he had studied mostly exceptional +cases; now he is disconcerted by +simple and every-day sicknesses. His ignorance +leads to the following tragic case:</p> + +<p>One day, a poor and widowed washerwoman +brings him her sick child, whom she does not +want to take to the hospital because her two +oldest children died there. The child is a weak +boy of eight years who has caught scarlet-fever. +At first, the inside of the throat begins +to swell, and, to prevent an abscess, the doctor +orders rubbings with a mercurial ointment. +The next day, he finds the boy all aquiver and +covered with pimples. "There is no mistake," +he says, "the rubbing has spread the infection +into the neighboring organs and a general +poisoning of the blood has taken place. The +little boy is lost.... All that day and night +I wandered about the streets. I could think of +nothing, and I felt crushed by the horror of the +thing. Only at times this thought came into +my mind: 'I have killed a human being!'" +The child lived ten days more. The night before +his death Veressayev comes to see him. +The poor mother is sobbing in a corner of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +miserable room. She pulls herself together, +however, and taking three rubles out of her +pocket, offers them to the trembling doctor, +who refuses them. Then this woman falls down +on her knees and thanks him for having pitied +her son. "I'll leave everything, I'll give up +everything," sobs the doctor.... "I have +decided to leave for St. Petersburg to-morrow +in order to study some more even if I die of +hunger!"</p> + +<p>Once the resolution was made to pursue his +studies in a more practical manner, he becomes +the house-surgeon of a hospital. But even +there a mass of problems disturb him. He sees +how dangerous the simplest operations are; he +is frightened by the unrestraint of the doctors, +who try new methods on the sick, methods the +effects of which are not known, methods that +result in the patient's being inoculated with +more sickness. Medicine cannot progress without +direct experimentation, and experience is +gained at the expense of the more unfortunate. +Nevertheless, Veressayev does not argue +against this way of working; he shows the +facts, and leaves it to the reader to decide. On +the other hand, he does not hide his fear of the +common ignorance of all doctors. Every individual +differs from his neighbor. How distinguish +their idiosyncrasies? Once the scope +of a sickness is known, what remedy shall be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +used? Some say this, others, that. How shall +one choose? Veressayev has felt all of this; +he has tried to harden himself against the unreasonable +ingratitude of some, the scepticism +of others; he realizes that patience, resignation, +and heroism are needed in order to struggle +against and support the mortifications in +the career of a doctor. How much easier it +would be not to consider medicine as infallible; +to study it as an art rather than as a science. +But people prefer to believe that doctors know +everything. They do not want to see the reality, +and this is the reason why sad, and at times +tragic conflicts arise between patient and +physician.</p> + +<p>Finally, what could the most perfect medical +science and the cleverest doctor do against the +enormous mass of sickness and suffering that +are the inevitable result of the social evils, of +which poverty is the most conspicuous? How +can one tell a man that his trade is running +him down and that he does not get enough +nourishment? How can one order a man to +eat better food, to get more sleep and more +pure air? First, and most important, is the +necessity of curing the social organism.</p> + +<p>It is easy to see why this book made many +enemies for its author. There is too much +frankness and conscientiousness in these +studies not to anger those who have their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +greatest interest in concealing the truth! The +upright man who sees primarily in medicine a +means to relieve human suffering, cannot realize +without sadness the many abuses hidden under +the name of this science.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>"In the War," recently published, is the +story of Veressayev's campaign in Manchuria. +In this work, the author has painted vividly +the peregrinations of his moving hospital, and +also the terrible sufferings of the Russian army. +By the thousands, the starved children of the +campaign, the Russian foot-soldiers, stoics and +fatalists, sacrificing their lives for a strange +and incomprehensible cause, pass before the +eyes of the reader. And in the background, +detaching themselves from the crowd, in their +gold and silver embroidered uniforms, are "the +heroes of the war, these vultures of the advance +and rear-guard, who enrich themselves at the +expense of the unfortunate soldiers." A number +of these great chiefs, whose infamy was +evident at the end of the war, since they had +shown themselves incapable of dealing with the +foreign enemy, had distinguished themselves by +the ferocity they exhibited in quelling internal +troubles. As to the military doctors, the +greater number of them went into the campaign +only for commercial gain. Among the +nurses who accompanied them, aside from those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +who were real heroines of goodness and devotion, +there were many who prostituted themselves +shamefully.</p> + +<p>Corruption, carelessness, disorder, and cowardice +are shown on every page of this story, +as well as the terrible suffering endured by +the wounded in the hospitals. The wounded +were the real martyrs of this frightful campaign.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Veressayev, like all of his heroes and heroines, +wants to help the people, and for this reason +he gets in touch with the revolutionists who +consecrate their work to political and social +regeneration, under the various titles, "narodnikis," +Marxists, Socialists, idealists and so on.... +Which of these does he prefer? We do +not know. We find the influence of Marx in +his ideas, but we cannot affirm that he is an absolute +Marxian. It seems as if Veressayev, +troubled by the innumerable divergencies of +opinion, asks himself secretly: "Will this war +lead to the unity of opinion and program, so +necessary for victory, or by its quarrels will it +only retard the harmony so much sought +after?"</p> + +<p>It is not discussion that will finally lead to +unity, but rather life itself, with all its realities.</p> + +<p>It would be most interesting to read a sequel +to the three famous novels of Veressayev—"Astray," +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +"The Contagion," and "At the +Turning"—in which he would give us the +psychology of his former heroes under present +conditions. To-day, the people are not +"astray"; the field is big enough for every +one to find the place that best suits his ideas, +tastes, and temperament. Dr. Chekanhov, if he +were living now, instead of being maltreated by +the people, would certainly be their well beloved +champion, and perhaps represent them in the +Duma; the timid Tokarev, in spite of his aversion +to the ideas of the revolutionists, could +find a place in the liberal party of the Reforming +Democrats, or at least among the Octobrists; +the unfortunate Varenka would not be +worn out by her work as school-mistress, for +she would be supported by the peasants. The +peasants themselves are not the miserable and +resigned creatures of Veressayev's earlier +stories. Certainly, liberty is not yet a legal +thing in Russia, and the Duma is still an unstable +institution, but the end of absolutism is +near, for a great event has taken place in the +empire of the Tsar, namely, this awakening of +the feeling of human dignity, and the spirit of +revolt among the lower strata of the Russian +people, which in the past, by its unconsciousness, +formed the granite pedestal of autocracy. +The struggle is terrible, but confidence in final +victory redoubles the energy of the strugglers. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +A certain Russian was right when he said: +"Formerly, life was formidable, but now it is +both formidable and gay."</p> + +<p>In reading the works of Veressayev, Tchekoff, +and other painters of modern Russian +society, it is easy to note that not one of +them anticipated this sudden change of scenery +on the Russian political stage, a change which, +however, was being prepared in the souls of the +peasants. But let us not reproach them! +Russia will always remain an enigma.</p> + +<p>There is a very old story about the son of +the peasant Ilya Murometz. After remaining +lazily resting in his "isba" for thirty years, he +suddenly arose, and began to walk with such +fury that the earth trembled. How could these +writers conceive the time when this lazy giant +would make up his mind to walk? It is enough +to have the assurance that now, no matter what +happens, since he <i>has</i> arisen, he will not lie +down again.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V<br /> +MAXIM GORKY</h2> + + +<p>Maxim Gorky is the most original and, after +Tolstoy, the most talented of modern Russian +writers. He was born in 1868 or 1869—he +does not know exactly when himself—in a +dyer's back shop at Nizhny Novgorod. His +mother, Barbara Kashirina, was the daughter of +the aforementioned dyer; and his father, +Maxim Pyeshkov, was an upholsterer. The +child was christened Alexis. His real name, +then, is Alexis Pyeshkov, and Maxim Gorky<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +is only his pseudonym. When he was four, he +lost his father, and three years later, his mother. +He was then taken by his grandfather, who had +been a soldier under Nicholas I, a hard, authoritative, +pitiless old man, before whom all +trembled. And it was under his rude tutelage +that the child first began to read. When he was +nine, he was sent to work for a shoemaker, an +evil sort of man who maltreated him.</p> + +<p>"One day," Gorky tells us, "I was warming +some water for him; the bowl fell, and I burned +my hands badly. That evening I ran away, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +my grandfather having scolded me severely. I +then became a painter's apprentice."</p> + +<p>He did not remain long in this position. +From this time on, his unsatisfied soul was +seized with the "wanderlust." First apprenticed +to an engraver, and then as a gardener, +he finally became a scullion on one of the boats +that plies up and down the Volga. Here he felt +more at ease.</p> + +<p>On board, in the person of the master-cook, +named Smoury, he unexpectedly met a teacher. +This cook, who had been a soldier, loved to read, +and he gave the child all the books that he had +in an old trunk. They consisted of the works +of Gogol, Dumas' novels, the "Lives of the +Saints," a manual of geography, and some +popular novels. Surely, a queer collection!</p> + +<p>Smoury inspired his scullion, then sixteen +years of age, "with an ardent curiosity for the +printed word." A "furious" desire to learn +seized the young fellow; he went to Kazan, a +university city, in the hope of "learning gratuitously +all sorts of beautiful things." Cruel +deception! They explained to him that "this +was not according to the established order." +Discouraged, a few months later, he took a +position with a baker. He who dreamed of the +sun and the open air had to be imprisoned in a +filthy and damp cellar. He remained there for +two years, earning two dollars a month, board +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +and lodging included; the food, however, was +putrid, and his lodging consisted of an attic +which he shared with five other men.</p> + +<p>"My life in that bakery," he has said, "left +a bitter impression. Those two years were the +hardest of my whole life." He has thus described +his recollections in one of his stories:</p> + +<p>"We lived in a wooden box, under a low and +heavy ceiling, all covered with cobwebs and permeated +with fine soot. Night pressed us between +the two walls, spattered with spots of mud and +all mouldy. We got up at five in the morning +and, stupid and indifferent, began work at six +o'clock. We made bread out of the dough +which our comrades had prepared while we +slept. The whole day, from dawn till ten at +night, some of us sat at the table rolling out +the dough, and, to avoid becoming torpid, we +would constantly rock ourselves to and fro while +the others kneaded in the flour. The enormous +oven, which resembled a fantastic beast, opened +its large jaws, full of dazzling flames, and +breathed forth upon us its hot breath, while its +two black and enormous cavities watched our +unending work....</p> + +<p>"Thus, from one day to the next, in the +floury dust, in the mud that our feet brought in +from the yard, in the suffocating and terrible +heat, we rolled out the dough and made cracknels, +moistening them with our sweat; we hated +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +our work with an implacable hatred; we never +ate what we made, preferring black bread to +these odorous dainties."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>At this period of his life, he had occasion +to study at first hand certain places where he +received original information which he later used +in writing "Konovalov" and "The Ex-Men," +which have thus acquired an autobiographical +value. In fact, he worked a long while with +these "ex-men;" like them, he sawed wood, +and carried heavy burdens. At the same time, +he devoted all his spare time to reading and +thinking about problems, which became more +and more "cursed" and alarming. He had +found an attentive listener and interlocutor in +the person of his comrade, the baker Konovalov. +These two men, while baking their bread, found +time to read. And the walls of the cellar heard +the reading of the works of Gogol, Dostoyevsky, +Karamzine, and others. Then they used +to discuss the meaning of life. On holidays, +Gorky and <a class="corr" name="TC_2" id="TC_2" title="Konavolov">Konovalov</a> had for the moment an +opportunity to come out of the hole—this +word does not exaggerate—in which they +worked, to breathe the fresh air, to live a bit +in nature's bosom, and to see their fellow men.</p> + +<p>"On holidays," Gorky tells us, "we went +with Konovalov down to the river, into the +fields; we took a little brandy and bread with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +us, and, from morning till evening, we were in +the open air."</p> + +<p>They often went to an old, abandoned house +which served as a refuge for a whole tribe of +miserable and wandering people, who loved to +tell of their wandering lives. Gorky and his +companion were always well received on account +of the provisions which they distributed so generously.</p> + +<p>"Each story spread out before our eyes like +a piece of lace in which the black threads predominated—they +represented the truth—and +where there were threads of light color—they +were the lies. These people loved us in their +way, and were attentive listeners, because I +often read a great deal to them."</p> + +<p>Often, these expeditions were not without +their risks. One day, two of the baker's workmen +happened to drown in a bog; another time, +they were taken in a police raid and passed the +night in the station house.</p> + +<p>It was also at this time that Gorky frequented +the company of several students, not +care-free and happy ones, but miserable young +fellows like those whom Turgenev described as +"nourished by physical privations and moral +sufferings."</p> + +<p>On leaving the bakery, where his health, very +much weakened by the lack of air and by bad +food, did not permit him to remain any longer, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +he joined those vagabonds, those wanderers, +whose melancholy companion he had been, and +whose painter and poet he was to be. In their +company, he traveled through Russia in every +sense of the word, now as a longshoreman, now +as a wood-chopper. Whenever he had a copeck +in his pocket he bought books and newspapers +and spent the night reading them. He suffered +hunger and cold; he slept in the open air in +summer, and, in winter, in some refuge or cellar. +The feverish activity of so keen an intellect in +an organism so crushed had, as its consequence, +one of the attempts at suicide which are so +frequent among the younger generation of the +Russians.</p> + +<p>In 1889, at the age of twenty-one, Gorky +shot himself in the chest, but he did not succeed +in killing himself. Soon afterwards, he became +gate-keeper for the winter at Tzaratzine; +but the summer had hardly come before he began +his vagabondage again, in the course of +which he undertook a thousand little jobs in +order to keep himself alive. On the road, he +noticed those pariahs whom society does not +want or who do not want society. And of +these, in his short stories, he has created immortal +types.</p> + +<p>Life was still very hard for him at this time. +He has given us a moving sketch of it in his +story entitled: "Once in Autumn." The hero, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +who is none other than the author himself, +passes the night under an old, upturned boat, +in the company of a prostitute who is just as +poor and just as abandoned as himself. They +have broken into a booth in order to steal +enough bread to keep them from starving. +Gorky is sad; he wants to weep; but the poor +girl, miserable as she is, consoles him and covers +him with kisses.</p> + +<p>"Those were the first kisses any woman ever +gave me, and they were the best, for those that +I received later always cost me a lot and never +gave me any joy.... At this time, I was already +preparing myself to be an active and +powerful force in society; it seemed to me +at times that I had in part accomplished my +purpose.... I dreamed of political resolutions, +of social reorganization; I used to read +such deep and impenetrable authors that their +thoughts did not seem to be a part of them—and +now a prostitute warmed me with her body, +and I was in debt to a miserable, shameful creature, +banished by a society that did not want +to accord her a place. The wind blew and +groaned, the rain beat down upon the boat, the +waves broke around us, and both of us, closely +entwined, trembled from cold and hunger. And +Natasha consoled me; she spoke to me in a +sweet, caressing voice, as only a woman can. +In listening to her tender and naïve words, I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +wept, and those tears washed away from my +heart many impurities, much bitterness, sadness +and hatred, all of which had accumulated there +before this night."</p> + +<p>At daybreak, they say good-bye to each +other, and never see one another again.</p> + +<p>"For more than six months, I looked in all +the dives and dens in the hope of seeing that +dear little Natasha once more, but it was in +vain...."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>We find him again at Nizhny Novgorod at +the time of the call for military recruits. Gorky +was reformed, for, he says, "They do not +accept those who are fallen." Meanwhile, he +became a kvass merchant and exercised this +trade for several months. Finally, he became +the secretary of a lawyer, named Lanine. The +latter, who had a very good reputation, took a +deep interest in the poor boy whom life had +treated so ill. He became interested in his intellectual +development and, according to Gorky +himself, had a great influence on him. At +Nizhny Novgorod, as at Kazan, Gorky felt himself +attracted by the circle of young people who +discussed the "cursed" questions, and he soon +was noticed by his comrades. They spoke of +him as "a live and energetic soul."</p> + +<p>Easy as life was for Gorky in this city, where +he remained for a while, the "wanderlust" +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +again seized him. "Not feeling at home among +these intelligent people," he traveled. From +Nizhny Novgorod, he went, in 1893, to Tzaratzine; +then he traveled on foot through the +entire province of the Don, the Ukraine, entered +into Bessarabia, and from there descended +by the coast of the Crimea as far as Kuban.</p> + +<p>In October, 1892, Gorky found himself at +Tiflis, where he worked in the railroad shops. +That same year, he published in a local paper +his first story, "Makar Choudra," in which already +a remarkable talent was evident.</p> + +<p>Leaving Tiflis after a short sojourn there, +he came to the banks of the Volga, in his native +country, and began to write stories for the +local papers. A happy chance made him meet +Korolenko, who took a great interest in the +"debutante" writer. "In the year 1893-1894," +writes Gorky, "I made the acquaintance of +Vladimir Korolenko, to whom I owe my introduction +into 'great' literature. He has done +a great deal for me in teaching me many +things."</p> + +<p>The important influence of Korolenko on the +literary development of Gorky can best be seen +in one of the latter's letters to his biographer, +Mr. Gorodetsky. "Write this," he says to his +biographer, "write this without changing a +single word: It is Korolenko who taught Gorky +to write, and if Gorky has profited but little by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +the teaching of Korolenko, it is the fault of +Gorky alone. Write: Gorky's first teacher was +the soldier-cook Smoury; his second teacher +was the lawyer Lanine; the third, Alexander +Kalouzhny, an 'ex-man;' the fourth, Korolenko...."</p> + +<p>From the day when he met Korolenko, +Gorky's stories appeared mostly in the more +important publications. In 1895, he published +"Chelkashe" in the important Petersburg review, +"Russkoe Bogatsvo;" a year later, +other publications equally well known published, +"Konovalov," "Malva," and "Anxiety." +These works brought Gorky into the literary +world, where he soon became one of the favorite +writers. The critics, at first sceptical, soon +joined their voices with the enthusiastic clamor +of the people.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Gorky's wandering life has given his works +a peculiar and universally established form. +He is, above all others, the poet of the "barefoot +brigade," of the vagabonds who eternally +wander from one end of Russia to the other, +carelessly spending the few pennies that they +have succeeded in earning, and who, like the +birds of the sky, have no cares for the morrow.</p> + +<p>But this does not suffice to explain this author's +popularity, especially among the younger +generation. The "barefoot brigade" is not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +a novelty in Russian literature. We find it in +the works of Reshetnikov, Uspensky, Mamine, +Zhassinsky, and others. It is true that, up to +this time, the vagabonds had been represented +as the dregs of the people, as hopeless drunkards, +thieves, and murderers. The writers who +represented them were satisfied in rousing in +their readers pity for the victims of this social +disorder, victims so wounded by fate, that they +have not even a realization of the injustice with +which they are treated. And it is only in the +works of the great dramatist Ostrovsky that we +find any happy vagabonds, with a deep love of +nature and beauty.</p> + +<p>Gorky's vagabonds have, like Ostrovsky's, +exalted feelings for natural beauties, but they +possess, besides, a full consciousness of themselves, +and they declare open war against +society. Gorky lives the lives of his heroes; he +seems to sink himself into them, and, at the +same time, he idealizes them, and often uses them +as his spokesmen. Far from being crushed by +fate, his vagabonds clothe themselves with a certain +pride in their misery; for them, the ideal +existence is the one they lead, because it is free; +with numerous variations, they all exalt the irresistible +seduction of vagabondage:</p> + +<p>"As for me, just listen! How many things +I've seen in my fifty-eight years," says Makar +Choudra. "In what country have I not been? +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +That is the only way to live. Walk, walk, and +you see everything. Don't stay long in one +place: what is there out of the ordinary in that? +Just as day and night eternally run after one +another, thus you must run, avoiding daily life, +so that you will not cease to love it...."</p> + +<p>"I, brother,"—says, in turn, Konovalov,—"I +have decided to go all over the earth, in +every sense of the word. You always see something +new.... You think of nothing.... +The wind blows, and you might say that it +blows the dust out of your soul. You feel free +and easy.... You are not troubled by any +one. If you are hungry, you stop, and work +to earn a few pennies; if there is no work to +be had, you ask for some bread and it is given +to you. So you see many countries, and the +most diverse beauties...."</p> + +<p>Likewise, in "Tedium," Kouzma Kossiyak +thus clearly expresses himself:</p> + +<p>"I would not give up my liberty for any +woman, nor for any fireplace. I was born in a +shed, do you hear, and it is in a shed that I am +going to die; that is my fate. I am going to +wander everywhere until my hair turns grey.... +I get bored when I stay in the same place."</p> + +<p>In their feeling of hostility to all authority, +and all fixed things, including bourgeois +happiness and economical principles, some of +Gorky's characters resemble some of those superior +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +heroes of Russian literature, like Pushkin's +Evgeny Onyegin, Lermontov's Pechorine, and, +finally, Turgenev's Rudin, who, in their way, +are vagabonds, filled with the same independent +spirit in their respective social, intellectual, or +political circles.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, Gorky's wandering beggars +are closely related to those "free men" to +whom M. S. Maximov attributes a historic rôle +which was favorable to the extension of the +Russian empire. "Russia," he says, in his book, +"Siberia and the Prison," "lived by vagabondage +after she became a State; thanks to the +vagabonds, she has extended her boundaries: +for, it is they who, in order to maintain their +independence, fought against the nomad tribes +who attacked them from the south and the +east...."</p> + +<p>There is a marked difference between these +two classes: men of the former look for a place +on this earth where they can establish themselves; +while men of the other class, those who +are out of work, drunkards, and lazy men, have +no taste for a sedentary life.</p> + +<p>But if Gorky has not created the type of +vagabond which is so familiar to those who +know Russian literature, on the other hand, he +has remodeled it with his original, energetic, and +vibrantly realistic talent. His nomad "barefoot +brigade," picturesquely encamped, is surrounded +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +with a sort of terribly majestic halo in +these vast stretches of country, a background +against which their sombre silhouettes are set +off. From the perfumed steppes to the roaring +sea, they conjure up to the eye of their old +co-mate the enchanting Slavic land of which +they are the audacious offsprings. And Gorky +also lovingly gives them a familiar setting, +painted with bold strokes, of plains and mountains +which border in the distance the glaucous +stretch of the sea. The sea! With what fervor +does Gorky depict the anger and the peace of +the sea. It always inspires, like an adored mistress:</p> + +<p>"... The sea sleeps.</p> + +<p>"Immense, sighing lazily along the strand, +it has gone to sleep, peaceful in its huge +stretch, bathed in the moonlight. As soft as +velvet, and black, it mingles with the dark +southern sky and sleeps profoundly, while on +its surface is reflected the transparent tissue of +the flaky, immobile clouds, in which is incrusted +the gilded design of the stars."</p> + +<p>Thus, like a "leitmotiv," the murmuring of +the water interrupts the course of the story. And +the steppe, this steppe "which has devoured so +much human flesh and has drunk so much blood +that it has become fat and fecund," surrounds +with its immensity these miserable wandering +beings and menaces them with its storm: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Suddenly, the entire steppe undulated, enveloped +with a dazzling blue light which seemed +to enlarge the horizon ... the shadows trembled +and disappeared for a moment ... a +crash of thunder burst forth, disturbing the +sky, where many black clouds were flying +past....</p> + +<p>"... At times the steppe stretched forth +like an oscillating giant ... the vast stretch +of blue and cloudless sky poured light down +upon us, and seemed like an immense cupola of +sombre color."</p> + +<p>The wind passed "in large and regular +waves, or blew with a sharp rattle, the leaves +sighed and whispered among themselves, the +waves of the river washed up on the banks, +monotonous, despairing, as if they were telling +something terribly sad and mournful," the entire +country vibrated with a powerful life +that harmonized with the souls of the people.</p> + +<p>In "Old Iserguile," Gorky writes: "I should +have liked to transform myself into dust and +be blown about by the wind; I should have liked +to stretch myself out on the steppe like the +warm waters of the river, or throw myself into +the sea and rise into the sky in an opal mist; +I should have liked to drink in this evening so +wonderful and melancholy.... And, I know +not why, I was suffering...." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gorky's stories, always short enough, have +little or no plot, and the characters are barely +sketched. But, in these simple frames, he has +confined the power of an art which is prolific, +supple and profoundly living. Let us take, for +example, "The Friends." Dancing Foot and +The One Who Hopes are ordinary thieves, the +terror of the villagers whose gardens they rob. +One day, when they are especially desperate, +they steal a thin horse which is browsing at the +edge of the woods. The One Who Hopes gets +an incurable sickness, and it is perhaps on account +of his approaching death that he feels +scruples at this crime. Dancing Foot expresses +the scorn that the weakness of his companion +inspires him with, but he ends by giving in and +returns the animal. One hour later, The One +Who Hopes falls dead in front of Dancing Foot, +who is tremendously upset in spite of his affected +indifference.</p> + +<p>A dry outline cannot possibly convey the emotion +contained in this little drama, where the +low mentality of the characters is rendered with +the mastery which Gorky usually shows in creating +his elemental heroes. Among other works +that should be noted are "Cain and Arteme," +so poignantly ironical in its simplicity, "To +Drive Away Tedium," "The Silver Clasps," +"The Prisoner," and that little masterpiece, +"Twenty-Six Men and a Girl," in which we see +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +twenty-six bakers pouring out an ideal and mystical +love on Tanya, the little embroiderer, who +they believe, is as pure as an angel. One day, a +brutal soldier comes to defy them, and boasts +that he will conquer this young girl. He succeeds. +Then the twenty-six insult their fallen +idol; the tragedy is not so much in the insults +that they hurl at her, as in the suffering they +undergo through having lost the illusion that +was so dear to them.</p> + +<p>Let us note, incidentally, the existence of a +sort of comic spirit in these works which relieves +the tragedy of the situations. In spite +of their dark pessimism, the actors in these +little dramas have an appearance of gaiety +which deceives. It is by this popular humor +that Gorky is the continuator of the work of +Gogol; this is especially noticeable in "The +Fair at Goltva."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In studying Gorky, one is often struck by +the homogeneity of the types which he has described. +Open any of his books, and you will +always meet that "restless" type, dissatisfied +with the banality of his existence, trying to get +away from it, and leaning irresistibly towards +absolute liberty, far removed from social and +political obligations.</p> + +<p>Who are these "restless" people? Toward +what end are they striving? What do they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +represent? First, they have an immense reserve +force which they do not know what to do with; +they have got out of the rut, the rut which they +despise, but it is hard for them to create another +sort of existence for themselves. Bourgeois +happiness repulses them, while all sorts +of duties are hateful to them. They consider +the people who are contented with this sort of +a life as slaves, unworthy of the name of man, +and they show the same disdain for the peasants, +for the leading classes, and for the workingmen. +The simple farmer excites the scorn of the +"barefoot brigade:"</p> + +<p>"As for me," says one of them, "I don't like +any peasants.... They are all dogs! They +have provincial States, and they do for them.... +They tremble, they are hypocrites, but +they want to live; they have one protection: +the soil.... However, we must tolerate the +peasant, for he has a certain usefulness."</p> + +<p>"What is a peasant?" asks another. And +he answers the question himself: "The peasant +is for all men a matter of food, that is to say, +an animal that can be eaten. The sun, the +water, the air, and the peasant are indispensable +to man's existence...."</p> + +<p>One might think that this hostility was the +fruit of a feeling of envy provoked by the fact +that the peasant seems to enjoy so many advantages. +But, on the contrary, the "barefoot +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +brigade" admits that the peasant subjugates +his individuality for any sort of profit, and that +he cannot feel the yoke which he has voluntarily +taken in the hope of getting his daily +bread.</p> + +<p>These workingmen "who pitifully dig in the +soil" are unfortunate slaves. "They do nothing +but construct, they work perpetually, their +blood and sweat are the cement of all the edifices +of the earth. And yet the remuneration which +they receive, although they are crushed by their +work, does not give them shelter or enough food +really to live on."</p> + +<p>The enlightened classes are always characterized +in Gorky's works by violent traits. The +architect Shebouyev accords a sufficiently great, +but scarcely honorable, place to the category of +intelligent men to whom he belongs.</p> + +<p>"All of us," he says, "are nonentities, deprived +of happiness. We are in such great numbers! +And our numbers have been a power for +so long a time! We are animated by so many +desires, pure and honest.... Why is there so +much talk among us and so little action? And, +all the while, the germs are there!... All +these papers, novels, articles are germs ... +just germs, and nothing else.... Some of +us write, others read; after reading, we discuss; +after discussing, we forget what we have read. +For us, life is tedious, heavy, grey, and burdensome. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +We live our lives, but sigh from fatigue +and complain of the heavy burdens we are carrying."</p> + +<p>The journalist Yezhov, in "Thomas Gordeyev," +expresses himself in the same manner, but +even more decisively:</p> + +<p>"I should like to say to the intelligent classes: +'You people are the best in my country! Your +life is paid for by the blood and tears of ten +Russian generations! How much you have cost +your country! And what do you for her? +What have you given to life? What have you +done?...'"</p> + +<p>The absence of all independence, of any passion +even a little sincere, the complete submission +of heart and mind to the old prescribed +morality, the constant effort to realize mere +personal ambitions—all of these are the reproaches +that Gorky addresses to cultivated +man, whose moral disintegration he proves has +been produced by routine and prejudice.</p> + +<p>In contrast to them, the vagabonds are the instinctive +enemies of all slavery, in any form +whatsoever. The complete independence of +their personality means everything to them. +And no material conditions, no matter how prosperous, +will induce them to make the least compromise +on this point. One of these "restless" +types, Konovalov, tells how, after he had bound +himself to the wife of a rich merchant, he could +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +have lived in the greatest comfort, but he abandoned +everything, the easy life, and even the +woman, whom he loved well enough, in order to +go out and look for the unknown. This is a +common adventure on the part of Gorky's +heroes.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>What is the cause of this restlessness?</p> + +<p>"Well, you see," explains Konovalov, "I became +weary. It was such weariness, I must tell +you, little brother, that at moments I simply +could not live. It seemed to me as if I were the +only man on the whole earth, and, with the exception +of myself, there was no living thing anywhere. +And in those moments, everything was +repugnant to me, everything in the world; I +became a burden to myself, and if everybody +were dead, I wouldn't even sigh! It must have +been a disease with me, and the reason why I +took to drink, for, before this time, I never +drank."</p> + +<p>For the same reasons, in "Anguish," a workingman +leaves his mistress and his employer, the +miller. Where does this anguish come from? +Perhaps it is the simple result of a psychological +process which, Konovalov admits, is nothing +other than a disease. It is very possible that, in +impulsive acts, a psychiatrist would see something +analogous to alcoholism, or the symptoms +of some other anomaly. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>Turgenev had already analyzed a similar case +in "The Madman." When Michael Poltev is +asked what evil spirit led him to drink and +to risk his life, he always refers to his anguish.</p> + +<p>"'Why this anguish?' asks his uncle.</p> + +<p>"'Why?... When the brain is free, one +begins to think of poverty, injustice, Russia.... +And that's the end! anguish hastens on.... +One is ready to send a bullet through one's +head! There's nothing left to do but get +drunk!...'</p> + +<p>"'And why do you associate Russia with all +of that? Why, you are nothing but a sluggard!'</p> + +<p>"'But I can do nothing, dear uncle!... +Teach me what I ought to do, to what task I +ought to consecrate my life. I will do it +gladly!...'"</p> + +<p>Gorky's characters give the same explanation +of their "ennui," and almost in identical terms. +This disgust comes in great part from not +knowing how to adapt oneself to life, nor how +to become a "useful" man.</p> + +<p>"Take me, for instance," says Konovalov, +"what am I? A vagabond ... a drunkard, +a crack-brained sort of man. There is no reason +for my life. Why do I live on earth, and to +whom am I useful? I have no home, no wife, +no children, and I don't feel as if I wanted any. +I live and am bored.... What about? No +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +one knows. I have no life within myself, do +you understand? How shall I express it? +There's a spark, or force lacking in my +soul...."</p> + +<p>Another character, the shoemaker Orlov, in +"Orlov and His Wife," especially reflects this +pessimistic disposition. In the same way as +Konovalov, he is born with "restlessness in his +heart."</p> + +<p>He is a shoemaker; and why?</p> + +<p>"As if there weren't enough of them already! +What pleasure is there in this trade for me? I +sit in a cellar and sew. Then I shall die. They +say that the cholera is coming.... And after +that? Gregory Orlov lived, made shoes—and +died of the cholera. What does that signify? +And why was it necessary that I should live, +make shoes and die, tell me?"</p> + +<p>These creatures are under the impression that +they are superfluous; therefore their pessimistic +conclusions. All of them <a class="corr" name="TC_3" id="TC_3" title="pasionately">passionately</a> want to be +able to express the meaning of life in general, +their life in particular, but the task is too much +for them.</p> + +<p>Gorky's heroes consider themselves "useless +beings," but they never humiliate themselves. +Their restlessness of spirit does not permit them +to resign themselves to the reigning banality or +to take part in it without protesting. At the +same time, some of them are gifted with sufficient +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +personality to possess an unshaken faith +in themselves, in their strength, which keeps +them from letting the responsibility of their torments +fall back upon society.</p> + +<p>Promtov, the hero of "The Strange Companion," +makes these restless seekers the descendants +of the Wandering Jew: "Their +peculiarity," he ironically says, "is, that +whether rich or poor, they cannot find a suitable +place for themselves on earth, and establish +themselves in it. The greatest of them are +satisfied with nothing: money, women, nor +men."</p> + +<p>What, then, do these "greatest" want?</p> + +<p>Their desires evidently take a multitude of +forms, and have the most diverse shades; but +the greatest number of them are impatient for +extraordinary happenings, eager for exploits. +Some of them declare that they would be willing +to throw themselves on a hundred knives if +humanity could be relieved by their doing so. +But simple daily activity, even if it is useful, +does not satisfy them.</p> + +<p>The shoemaker Orlov leaves his cellar, as he +calls it, and accepts a position in the hospital +where they are taking care of cholera patients. +His devotion makes him an "indispensable +man;" he is reborn, and, according to his own +words, he is "ripe for life." It seems as if his +end were going to be attained. But not so. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +Restlessness seizes him again. Orlov questions +the value of his work. He saves sick people +from the cholera. Is he doing good? The +greatest care is taken of these people, but how +many people are there outside of the hospitals, +one hundred times as many as there are inside, +who are just as unfortunate, but, in spite of +that fact, are not helped by any one?</p> + +<p>"While you live," he declares, "no one will +refuse to give you a drink of water. And if +you are near death, not only will they not allow +you to die, but they will go to some expense to +stop you. They organize hospitals.... They +give you wine at 'six and a half rubles a bottle.' +The sick man gets well, the doctors are +happy, and Orlov would like to share their joy; +but he cannot, for he knows that, on leaving the +threshold of the hospital, a life 'worse than the +convulsions of the cholera' awaits the convalescent...." +And again he is seized by the desire +to drink, and to be a vagabond, and by a +wish to experience new sensations.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>These, then, are the vagabonds whom we can +class in the category of the "restless." After +these, come those whom the author terms the +"ex-men," and whom he studies, under this title, +in one of his longest stories. The ex-men are +closely related to the "restless;" however, they +differ from them in that they push their opinions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +to an extreme, for they are, more than the others, +miserable and at bay against society.</p> + +<p>"What difference would it make if it all +went to the devil," one of them philosophizes—"I +should like to see the earth go to pieces suddenly, +provided that I should perish the last, +after having seen the others die.... I'm an +ex-man, am I not? I am a pariah, then, estranged +from all bonds and duties.... I can +spit on everything!"</p> + +<p>Thomas Gordeyev's father develops another +thesis; a rich and rational bourgeois, he tries +to inculcate in his son from his infancy—a +son who later augments the ranks of the +"restless"—the most perfect spirit of egotism.</p> + +<p>"You must pity people," he says, "but do +it with discernment. First, look at a man, see +what good you can get out of him, and see +what he is good for. If you think he is a +strong man, capable of work, help him. But +if you think him weak and little suited for +work, abandon him without pity. Remember +this: two boards have fallen into the mud, one +of them is worm-eaten, the other is sound. +What are you going to do? Pay no attention +to the worm-eaten plank, but take out the sound +one and dry it in the sun. It may be of service +to you or to some one else...."</p> + +<p>The reader will note the absolute egotism in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +all of Gorky's types. The "restless" are interested +only in their own misery, and they +think that all men are like them; nor do they +try to stop or bridle their passions.</p> + +<p>Strong passions are one of the most precious +privileges of mankind. This truth is well shown +in the story: "Once More About the Devil."<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +Here, the men have become shabby and insignificant +since there has been propagated among +them, with a new strength, the gospel of individual +perfection. The demon stifles, in the +heart of Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, all the passions +that can agitate a human soul,—ambition, +pity, evil, and anger; this operation makes +Ivan an absolutely perfect being. On his face +there appears that beatitude which words cannot +express. The devil has crushed all "substance" +out of him, and he is completely +"empty."</p> + +<p>One understands that Gorky's heroes cannot +find what would be good for them, nor feel the +least satisfaction in doing their fellow men a +good service. They only dream of action; +their sole desire is to affirm their <a class="corr" name="TC_4" id="TC_4" title="individualty">individuality</a> +by "manifesting" themselves, little matter +how. Old Iserguille is persuaded that "in life, +there is room for mighty deeds" and, if a man +likes them, he will find occasion to do them. +Konovalov is most enthusiastic over Zhermak,<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +to whom he feels himself akin. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'd like to reduce the whole earth to dust," +dreams Orlov, "or get up a crowd of comrades +and kill off all the Jews ... all, to the very +last one! Or, in general, do something that +would place me high above all men, so that I +could spit on them from up there, and cry to +them: 'Dogs! Why do you live? You're all +hypocritical rascals and nothing more....'"</p> + +<p>These people demand a boundless liberty, but +how obtain it? All of them dream of a certain +organization which will let them feel relieved +of all their duties, of all the thousands of petty +things that make life hard, of all the small details, +conventions, and obligations which hold +such an important place in our society. But +the time for heroic deeds has passed away, and +the "restless" fight in vain against the millions +of men who are determined to keep their habits +and advantages.</p> + +<p>Thus they are obliged to shake the dust off +their feet and to leave the ranks in which they +are suffocating. No matter what they do or +what they try to do, their motto is, "each one +for himself."</p> + +<p>"Come," says a vagabond poetically to +Thomas Gordeyev, "come with me on the open +road, into the fields and steppes, across the +plains, over the mountains, come out and look +at the world in all its freedom. The thick +forests begin to murmur; their sweet voice +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +praises divine wisdom; God's birds sing its +glory and the grass of the steppe burns with +the incense of the Holy Virgin.</p> + +<p>"The soul is filled with an ardent yet calm +joy, you desire nothing, you envy no one.... +And it is then that it seems as if on the +whole earth there is no one but God and +you...."</p> + +<p>The material inconveniences of such an existence +hardly affect Gorky's characters. Promtov, +one of the prophets of individualism, says, +in speaking of himself:</p> + +<p>"I have been 'on the road' for ten years, +and I have not complained of my fate to God. +I don't want to tell you anything of this period, +because it is too tedious.... In general, it is +the joyous life of a bird. Sometimes, grain is +lacking, but one must not be too exacting and +one must remember that kings themselves do not +have pleasures only. In a life like ours, there +are no duties—that is the first pleasure—and +there are no laws, except those of nature—that +is the second. Without a doubt, the gentlemen +of the police force bother one at times ... +but you find fleas even in the best hotels. As +a set-off, one can go to the right, or to the +left, or straight ahead, wherever your heart bids +you go, and if you don't want to go anywhere, +after having provided yourself with bread from +the hut of some peasant, who will never refuse +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +it, you can lie down until you care to resume +your travels...."</p> + +<p>This is the final point at which all of the +"restless" arrive, believing that there they will +find what they have always lacked. Even the +author himself shares their views up to a certain +point:</p> + +<p>"You have to be born in civilized society," +he says, speaking of himself, "in order to have +the patience to live there all your life without +having the desire to flee from this circle, where +so many restrictions hinder you, restrictions +sanctioned by the habit of little poisoned lies, +this sickly center of self-love, in one word, all +this vanity of vanities which chills the feelings +and perverts the mind, and which is called in +general, without any good reason and very +falsely, civilization.</p> + +<p>"I was born and brought up outside of it, +and I am glad of that fact. Because of it, I +have never been able to absorb culture in large +doses, without feeling, at the end of a certain +time, the terrible need of stepping out of this +frame.... It does one good to go into the +dens of the cities, where everything is dirty, +but simple and sincere; or even to rove in the +fields or on the highroads; one sees curious +things there. It refreshes the mind; and all +you need in order to do it is a pair of sturdy +legs...." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<p>What then is the teaching that we get out of +Gorky's works? For, faithful to Russian tradition, +he does not practise art for art's sake. +His "barefoot brigade" and his "restless" +men are generally considered as representative +of his own ideals. The principle of "Do what +seems to you to be good"—a principle which +is expressed by a wandering and free life—ought +to be justified, one thinks. Critics have +risen up against this ideal, trying to prove how +incompatible the kind of existence that he conceives +is with a solid political organization, and +how far from reality the men are whom he represents.</p> + +<p>Doubtless, in real life, people are not as +original and not as heroic as Gorky represents +them to be. And he himself agrees that their +inventive faculties are very highly developed. +He shows this in putting the following words +into the mouth of Promtov:</p> + +<p>"I have very probably exaggerated, but +that's not of much importance. For, if I have +exaggerated what happened, my method of exposition +has shown the true state of my soul. +Perhaps, I have served you with an imaginary +roast, but the sauce is made of the purest +truth."</p> + +<p>The end that he is after, Gorky has shown us +in his story, "The Lecturer," which contains +his theories on literature. In the person of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +lecturer, he addresses himself to the men who +represent the majority of the Russian cultivated +classes. He begins by analyzing himself carefully +and discovers in himself many good feelings +and honest desires, but he feels that he +lacks clear and harmonious thought, a thing +which keeps all the manifestations of life in +equilibrium. Numerous doubts torment him, +and his mind has been so moved with them, his +heart so wounded, that, for a long time, he has +lived "empty inside."</p> + +<p>"What have I to say to others?" he asks +himself. "That which was told them long ago, +that which has always been told them, none of +which makes any one any better. But have I +the right to teach these ideas and convictions, +if I, who was brought up according to them, +act so often in opposition to them?"</p> + +<p>With his usual sincerity, it is not to be wondered +at that he answered this question in the +negative, and, to cite the words of one of his +characters, that he "refused to live in the chains +which had already been forged for free thought, +and to class himself under the label of an +ism."</p> + +<p>He has not thought it profitable to hide his +doubts and has not feared to declare openly +that none of the existing philosophies suit him, +and that he is trying to follow his own path. +All of his work is but the absolute image of his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +own uncertainties, of his passionate researches, +and of his constant "restlessness."</p> + +<p>At times people have believed that he was a +disciple of Nietzsche. And, in truth, he has +come under his influence, like so many other +Russian authors. But he has gone on mostly +by himself, aided by his acute sensibility, which +has not, as yet, allowed him to adopt any one +system to the exclusion of all others, or to +formulate a system for his personal use.</p> + +<p>"I know one thing," he says, "it is not happiness +that we should hope for. What should +we do with it? The meaning of life does not lie +in the search for happiness, and the satisfaction +of the material appetites will never suffice to +make a man fully contented with himself. It +is in beauty that we must look for the meaning +of life, and in the energy of the will! Every +moment of our lives ought to be devoted to +some better end...."</p> + +<p>However, he has very neatly set forth what +he considers the task of the author. According +to him, the man of to-day has lost courage; he +interests himself too little in life, his desire to +live with dignity has grown weaker, "an odor +of putrefaction surrounds him, cowardice and +slavery corrupt his heart, laziness binds his +hands and his mind." But, at the same time, +life grows in breadth and depth, and, from day +to day, men are learning to question. And it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +is the writer who ought to answer their questions; +but he should not content himself with +straightening out the balance sheet of social +deterioration, and in giving photographs of +daily life. The writer must also awaken in the +hearts of men a desire for liberty, and speak +energetically, in order to infuse in man an ardent +desire to create other forms of life.... +"It seems to me," says Gorky, "that we desire +new dreams, gracious inventions, unforeseen +things, because the life which we have created +is poor, dreary, and tedious. The reality which +formerly we wanted so ardently, has frozen us +and broken us down.... What is there to +do? Let us try: perhaps invention and imagination +will aid man in raising himself so that +he may again glance for a moment at the place +which he has lost on earth."</p> + +<p>All of Gorky's characters curse life, but +without ceasing to love it, because they "have +the taste for life." Their complaints are only +a means by which the author hopes to raise up +around him "that revengeful shame and the +taste for life" of which he so often speaks. +Here is the artful Mayakine, who, indignant at +the debasement of the younger generation, is +ready to take the most cruel means in order +"to infuse fire into the veins" of his contemporaries. +Varenka Olessova, the heroine of a +story, incessantly repeats that people would be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +more interesting if they were more animated, +if they laughed, played, sang more, if they were +more audacious, stronger, and even more coarse +and vulgar. Gorky admires also the beautiful +type, vigorous, with a rudimentary mentality, +which meets with his approval simply because +he sees in it a nature which is complete, untouched, +and filled with a love of life.</p> + +<p>Gorky suffers miseries inherent in the mere +fact of existence, but he has found no remedy; +he looks for consolations in the cult of beauty, +in the strength of free individuality, in the flight +towards a superior ideal. But he does not know +where to find this superior ideal, which vivifies +everything. This is perhaps the reason why +people have thought they saw in his work the +Nietzschean influence, which praises an insistence +on individuality in defiance of current conventions, +and gives us just as vague a solution +as Gorky does.</p> + +<p>But this enthusiasm for an ideal, vague as +it is, this passionate appeal for energy in the +struggle, has awakened powerful echoes in the +hearts of the Russians, especially the younger +of them. Gorky suddenly became their favorite +author, and it is to this warm reception that he +owes a great part of his renown. He has carried +the young along with him, and they have +put their ideals in the place which he had left +empty. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> + +<p>If we now pass on to the first novels and +dramas of Gorky, we shall be struck by the +fact that, in spite of the talent shown in them, +they are very inferior to his short stories. His +former mastery is not found, except in his later +novels, which we shall take occasion to mention +presently.</p> + +<p>"Thomas Gordeyev" contains some very +fine passages, but is not very successful as a +whole. Thomas's father is a merchant on the +banks of the Volga; he is an energetic man who +carries out all his ideas. Whatever he is engaged +on, whether business affairs, or a debauch, +or repentance thereof, he gives himself entirely +to the impression of the moment. Like other +men of his class, moreover, he lives a life which +is a singular mixture of refinement and savagery. +He spends his time in drinking and working, as +much for himself as for his only son, Thomas, +whose mother died in giving birth to him. The +child grows up under the care of his aunt and +shows a serious disposition toward study. +Gradually, he feels the motives that make men +act, and he questions his father about them.</p> + +<p>Before dying, the latter says to his son: +"Don't count on men, don't count on great +events." In spite of the wealth which he inherits +Thomas is not happy; he has no friends; +his colleagues, the merchants, and especially his +father's old friend, Mayakine, are repulsive to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +him on account of their cupidity and their unscrupulousness. +Thomas does not love money +and does not understand its power, two things +that people cannot forgive him for. Besides, +he does not know how to make use of the forces +that are burning within him. After having +vainly sought for moral relief in debauchery, +he ends by proposing to strike a bargain with +Mayakine so that he can be freed from responsibility +and go out and look for happiness. He +will give Mayakine his personal fortune if the +latter will look after his business affairs. But +the old roué, who hopes to get possession of +the fortune in a surer way, refuses, and their +conversation turns into a quarrel.</p> + +<p>As he does not work, Thomas indulges in +many extravagances in company with a journalist +of very advanced ideas. Finally, one day +when he is at a fête at which are present all +the wealthy members of the merchant class, the +young man, disgusted with their vices, rises to +apostrophize them in the most bitter terms. +They throw themselves on him, and he is arrested +as a madman and put into an asylum. +He comes out, only to abandon himself to drink.</p> + +<p>In "The Three," Gorky tells us the life +story of Ilya Lounyev, a poor creature, born +in poverty, whose life is full of deceptions, misfortunes, +even crimes. Several times, Ilya has +tried to lead a decent life; but it is his sincerity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +that makes him lose his position with the merchant +for whom he works. He has believed in +beauty and in the purity of love, and he is deceived +by the woman he loves. Gradually all +the baseness of the world becomes clear to him. +In a moment of jealousy he kills his mistress's +lover, an old miser. Several months later he +publicly confesses his crime, and, in order to +escape from human justice, he commits suicide.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In his first two dramas, "The Smug Citizen," +and "A Night's Refuge," as in his short +stories, Gorky shows us his usual characters.</p> + +<p>The Bessemenovs, comfortable, petty bourgeois, +have given their children an education. +Their daughter, Tatyana, becomes a school-teacher, +but her profession does not please her. +Peter, their son, has been expelled from the +university, in spite of his indifference toward +"new" ideas. The children are continually +harassed by their father, who bemoans the fact +that he has given them an education. Besides, +another sadness troubles him: Nil, his adopted +son, whom he has had taught the trade of a +mechanician,—an alert and industrious fellow,—wants +to marry Polya, a girl without a fortune. +The father is beside himself, for, if Nil +marries, he will never be in a condition to pay +back the money that has been spent on him. +But Nil protests: he is young, and, some day, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +he will repay his debt. He has not noticed that +Tatyana is in love with him; and the young +girl has not strength enough to live through +the sorrow of seeing herself abandoned forever. +She tries to commit suicide, but does not succeed. +While Tatyana is bemoaning her fate, +Peter has fallen in love with a young woman +quite different from any of the members of his +family. Helen understands how sad Peter's +position is among these ignorant people, and +she decides to marry him, for pity as much as +for love. The father is no more satisfied with +this match than he was with Nil's, and with +death in his soul he is present at the dismemberment +of his family. While Helen takes Peter, +Nil goes off with Polya. The mother, a humble +and kind woman, does not understand the cause +of all this dissension and, while consoling the +weeping Tatyana, she asks her husband: "Why +are our children punishing us so? Why do +they make us suffer?" This play is not dramatically +effective and has never had a great +success on the stage.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, Gorky's second attempt, +"A Night's Refuge," has been enormously successful. +Here, the author takes us into the +world of the barefoot brigade. Vasska Pepel, +Vassilissa's lover, the proprietor of the night +refuge in which he sleeps, loves the sister +of his mistress, Natasha by name, a timid and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +dreamy young girl, who blooms like a lily in +this mire. The old vagabond, Luke, advises the +young girl to run off with Vasska, who wants to +begin a new life. But Vassilissa, jealous and +evil as she is, has noticed the coldness which her +lover shows towards her. She avenges herself +by striking her younger sister whenever she can. +Her plan was, with the aid of Vasska, to kill +her husband, Kostylev, and then to live openly +with her lover. But when she sees Vasska ready +to leave with Natasha, she starts a terrible scene, +which ends in Vasska's killing Kostylev without +meaning to. Vassilissa and her lover are arrested +and Natasha disappears.</p> + +<p>Although the characters of this play are vagabonds, +they differ from most of Gorky's creations, +whose fiery and enthusiastic souls usually +discover a real beauty in the life they have +chosen. Alcoholism, prostitution, and misery +have shut off these people who live in the cellar. +They have fallen so low, that conscience is a +useless luxury for them. It belongs to the rich +only. One of them, who is asked if he has a +conscience, replies with sincere astonishment: +"What? Conscience?" And when the question +is asked again, he answers, "What good +is conscience? I'm not a rich man." The +life of these people is worse than a nightmare: +to-morrow they will be cold, hungry, and drunk, +just as they were yesterday. Sometimes, perhaps, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +they feel like struggling against their evil +lot, but no one stretches forth a helping hand to +them. They do not dare think of the future, +and they would like to forget the past. One of +them expresses his fear of life thus:</p> + +<p>"At times, I'm afraid, brother; can you +understand that?... I tremble.... For, what +is there after this?" And this fear smothers all +the energy in them. They are poor and scantily +clothed, not only in the material sense of the +word, but also in the moral sense. Money would +not be necessary to save them, but a word of +sympathy, of love, a word that would give them +the courage really to live.</p> + +<p>And it is here that old Luke appears. He +treats the men as if they were children, and +gains their confidence. In his words there is +manifested a real experience of things and +people. As he says, "They moulded me a lot," +and that is why he became "tender." He knows +just the right word for every one. He assures +the dying woman that: "Eternal rest means +happiness. Die, and you will have rest, you +will have no cares, and no one to fear. Silence +will calm you! All you have to do is remain +lying down! Death pacifies and is tender. You +will appear before God, and He will say to you: +'Take her to Paradise so that she may rest. +I know that her life has been hard; she is tired, +give her peace.'" And the sick woman, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +has dragged out her existence so long, is consoled.</p> + +<p>To the drunkard, a former actor who has +fallen, Luke says: "Stop drinking, pull yourself +together and be patient. You will be cured, +and you will begin a new existence...." And +he succeeds in awakening a hope of a better life +in the soul of the poor comedian, while he himself, +perhaps, hardly believes in the possible regeneration +of his protégé.</p> + +<p>After Luke's departure, the temporary +dreams of these miserable people vanish. One +evening, when they are all gathered around a +bottle of brandy, they strike up a song. A +friend, a baron by birth, rushes into the cellar +and announces that the actor has hung himself, +and that his corpse is hanging in the court. A +deathlike silence follows these words. All look +at each other in fright. "Ah, the fool!" +finally murmurs a vagabond, "he spoiled our +song...." The hope in a better life that +Luke had awakened in the actor made him kill +himself, when he saw that he had not enough +strength to realize this hope.</p> + +<p>This drama is the quintessence of all that +Gorky has, up to this time, written on the +"ex-man," whom he has thoroughly "explored." +And the figure of old Luke is one of +his most original and lifelike creations.</p> + +<p>His third important play, which, however, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +has never enjoyed the popularity of "A Night's +Refuge," is called: "The Children of the Sun." +The "children of the sun" are the elect of +heaven, richly endowed with talent and knowledge. +They live in a world of noble dreams, of +elevated thoughts, enveloped though they are in +the greyness of life. There pass before them +long processions of tired and oppressed people. +The latter, also, have been generated by the +strong sun; but the light has gone out for +them, and they travel on life's highway without +joy or faith, among those who are proud of +their beauty or learning. The "children of the +sun" are the aristocrats of the soul. They +have but one end: to make life beautiful, good, +and agreeable for all. They continually think +of making it easier, of soothing suffering, and +of preparing a better future. Their mission is +a large one. They are not idle, but are men who +have the most elevated ends in view.</p> + +<p>Between "the children of the sun" and "the +children of the earth" there is a deep abyss. +They do not understand each other. The "children +of the sun" cannot admit the miseries and +ugliness of daily life. They have compassion +for the people who work below them. The +"children of the earth" feel the superiority of +the "children of the sun," but their narrow-mindedness, +continually absorbed by the necessity +of finding shelter and food, cannot rise to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +the preoccupations of so elevated an order. +However, life brings these two worlds together +in a common work; but their mere meeting on +the ground of practical interests produces a +collision.</p> + +<p>A third category constitutes the intermediary +link. This is made up of the university people, +the representatives of the liberal professions. +As "intellectuals," they cannot equal the "children +of the sun," but they can understand them. +They conceive the grandeur of their moral activity. +At the same time, these men are close to +the people. They are often obliged to mingle +in the life of the people, and more than the +"children of the sun," they are capable of enlarging +their minds and ennobling their duties. +But, while they know and understand the duties +of the people completely, they are not yet strong +enough to help them. This, then, is the general +meaning of the play.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Although this play is cleverly constructed, +with a last act which is pathetic and moving in +its intensity, and produces a profound impression, +on the whole, unfortunately, it has the +general harshness of problem plays. Under its +lyric vestments, its solid and massive character +appears too often. Gorky, a born observer, +inheritor of the realistic traditions of his country, +could not help turning aside, one day, from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +this ideological art, visibly influenced by Tolstoy's +dramas. The direct part that the romanticist +has played in the political events of his +country sufficiently proves that he has taken a +different road from that taken by the apostle +of Yasnaya Polyana. With maturity, he felt +the need of hastening the dénouement of the +crisis in Russia, in actively participating in its +emancipation. From that time on, he chose his +heroes from a less singular environment. Instead +of the philosophic vagabonds, the neurasthenic +"restless" ones, and the ex-men, he chose +the plebeian of the city and country, who is +gradually awakening from a sleep of ignorance +and slavery. A remarkable story, called "In +Prison," all atremble with new sensations, inaugurates +this new style. A victim himself of +the intolerance of "over-men," Gorky has incarnated +his own revolts and hopes in the soul of +his hero, Misha, a brother of the revolutionary +students who do not hesitate to sacrifice their +life or liberty for a principle or ideal.</p> + +<p>Written at the same time, the story called +"The Soldiers" gives proof of an equally careful +incorporation of the claims of the oppressed +in a literary work.</p> + +<p>The school-mistress, Vera, has conceived the +daring project of teaching the soldiers who are +quartered in the village. She gets some of them +together at the edge of the neighboring woods +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +and there she tries to show them the ignominy +of the rôles they play in times of uprisings. +Angered by this unexpected talk, the soldiers +threaten the young girl. But her coolness and +sincerity finally make them listen to her with a +respect mingled with admiration.</p> + +<p>A third story, called "Slaves," in a masterful +way retraces the catastrophes of the now historical +journey of January 9, 1905, at the end +of which, a crowd of 200,000 men, led by the +famous pope Gapon, went to the Tsar's palace +to present their demands to him, and were received +with cannon shots.</p> + +<p>These stories were followed by three works +of great merit: "Mother," "A Confession," +and "The Spy."</p> + +<p>The novel "Mother" takes us into the midst +of revolutionary life. The heroes of this book +belong, for the most part, to that workingman +and agricultural proletariat whose rôle has +lately been of such great importance in the Russian +political tempests. With marvelous psychological +analysis, Gorky shows how some of these +simple creatures understand the new truth, and +how it gradually penetrates their ardent souls.</p> + +<p>Pavel Vlassov, a young, intelligent workingman, +is thirsty for knowledge, and is the +apostle of the new ideal. He throws himself +heart and soul into the dangerous struggle he +has undertaken against ignorance and oppression. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +The Little Russian, Andrey, is all feeling +and thought, and the peasant Rybine is inflamed +by action. Sashenka is a young girl +who sacrifices herself entirely to the Idea, and +the coal-man Ignatius is driven by an obscure +force to help in a cause which he does not understand. +Finest of them all is Pelaguaya +Vlassov, the principal character of the book, +and Pavel's mother.</p> + +<p>Old and grey, Pelaguaya has passed her +whole life in misery. She has never known anything +but how to suffer in silence and endure +without complaint; she has never dreamed that +life could be different. One day her father had +said to her:</p> + +<p>"It's useless to make faces! There is a fool +who wants to marry you,—take him. All girls +marry, all women have children; children are, +for all parents, a sorrow. And are you, yes or +no, a human being?"</p> + +<p>She then marries the workingman Michael +Vlassov, who gets drunk every day, beats her +cruelly and kicks her, and even on his death-bed, +says: "Go to the devil.... Bitch! I'll die +better alone."</p> + +<p>He dies, and his son Pavel begins to bring forbidden +books into the house. Friends come and +talk; a small group is formed. Pelaguaya +listens to what is said, but understands nothing. +Gradually, however, there begins to filter into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +her old breast, like a stream of joy, an understanding +of something big, of something in +which she can take part. She discovers that +she too is a free creature, and, obscurely, there +is formed in her mind the notion that every +human being has a right to live. Then she +speaks: "The earth is tired of carrying so +much injustice and sadness, it trembles softly +at the hope of seeing the new sun which is +rising in the bosom of mankind." So the obscure +and miserable woman gradually rises to +the dignity of "The Mother of the Prophet." +And when Pavel accepts, like the martyrdom +of the cross, his banishment to Siberia, with +a joyous heart she sacrifices her son to the +Idea.</p> + +<p>Her soul opens wide to the new truth that is +lighting it. With the most touching abnegation, +she tries to carry on the work of the absent +one. But the police are watching. One +day, when she is about to take the train to a +neighboring town to spread the "good word" +there, she is recognized and apprehended. Seeing +that she is lost, the Mother, whose personality +at this moment grows absolutely symbolic, +cries out to the crowd:</p> + +<p>"'Listen to me! They condemned my son +and his friends because they were bringing the +truth to everybody! We are dying from work, +we are tormented by hunger and by cold, we +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +are always in the mire, always in the wrong! +Our life is a night, a black night!'</p> + +<p>"'Hurrah for the old woman!' cries some +one in the crowd.</p> + +<p>"A policeman struck her in the chest; she +tottered, and fell on the bench. But she still +cried:</p> + +<p>"'All of you! get all your forces together +under a single leader.'</p> + +<p>"The big red hand of the policeman struck +her in the throat, and the nape of her neck hit +against the wall.</p> + +<p>"'Shut up, you hag!' cried the officer in a +sharp voice.</p> + +<p>"The Mother's eyes grew larger and shone +brightly. Her jaw trembled.</p> + +<p>"'They won't kill a resurrected soul!'</p> + +<p>"'Bitch!'</p> + +<p>"With a short swing the policeman struck +her full in the face.</p> + +<p>"Something red and black momentarily +blinded the Mother; blood filled her mouth.</p> + +<p>"A voice from the crowd brought her to +herself:</p> + +<p>"'You haven't the right to strike her!'</p> + +<p>"But the officers pushed her, and hit her on +the head.</p> + +<p>"'... It's not blood that will drown what's +right.'...</p> + +<p>"Dulled and weakened, the Mother tottered. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +But she saw many eyes about her, glowing with +a bold fire, eyes that she knew well and that +were dear to her.</p> + +<p>"'... They will never get at the truth, +even under oceans of blood!'</p> + +<p>"The policeman seized her heavily by the +throat.</p> + +<p>"There was a rattling in her throat:</p> + +<p>"... 'The unfortunates!'</p> + +<p>"Some one in the crowd answered her, with +a deep sigh."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>"A Confession" is the story of a restless +soul who untiringly searches for the God of +truth and goodness. Found as a child in a +village of central Russia, Matvey was first +taken by a sacristan, and, after his death, by +Titov, the inspector of the domain. In order +to debase Matvey, whose superiority irritates +him, Titov asks him to participate in his extortions. +Having become the son-in-law of his +adopted father, Matvey, on account of his love +for his wife, accepts the shameful life. But the +God in whom Matvey has placed his distracted +confidence, seems to want to chastise him cruelly. +After having lost, one after the other, his wife +and child, he goes away at a venture. He +enters a monastery where, among the dissolute +monks, whose vices are most repugnant, his +soul gradually shakes off the Christian dogma. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +On one of his pilgrimages, he gets to Damascus. +Among the workingmen, where chance has taken +him, he feels his heart opening to the truth, +which he follows up with the determination of +a real Gorkyan hero. The life of the people +appears to him in its sublime simplicity. And +it is in the midst of a dazzling apotheosis—which +reminds one of the most grandiose pages +of Zola's "Lourdes"—that he finally confesses +the God of his ideal: it is the people.</p> + +<p>"People! you are my God, creator of all +the gods that you have formed from the beauty +of your soul, in your troubled and laborious +search!</p> + +<p>"Let there be no other gods on the earth but +yourself, for you are the only God, the creator +of miracles!"</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>"The Spy" is a study of the Russian police. +The novel treats of the terrible Okhrana, whose +mysterious affairs have become the laughing-stock +of all the foreign papers.</p> + +<p>The principal character, about whom circle +the police spies and secret agents, is a poor +orphan, weak and timid, called Evsey Klimkov, +whom his uncle, the forger Piotr, has taken into +his house and brought up with his son, the +strong and brutal James. Beaten by his +schoolmates and by his cousin, the child lives +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +in a perpetual trance. Life seems formidable +to him, like a jungle in which men are the pitiless +beasts. Everywhere, brute force or hypocrisy +triumph; everywhere, the weak are oppressed, +downtrodden, conquered. And in his +feverish imagination, daily excited by facts +which his terror distorts, Evsey delights in conceiving +another existence, all made of love and +goodness, an existence that he unceasingly opposes +against the hard realities of daily life, +with the stubborn fervor of a mystic.</p> + +<p>Having entered the service of the old bookseller +Raspopov, the young man does his duty +with the faithfulness of a beast of burden. His +home no longer pleases him at all; there, things +and people are still hostile to him; but his uncle +Piotr seems enchanted with his new position. +Evsey spends his days in arranging and classifying +the books which his master has bought. +A young woman, Raïssa Petrovna, keeps house +for the book-dealer, and as every one knows, +they live like man and wife. In this queer environment, +the faculties of the young man become +sharpened, and serve him well. It does +not take long for him to find out what they are +hiding from him. A few words addressed by +Raspopov to a certain Dorimedonte Loukhine +reveal to Evsey the part that is being played +by his patron. Raspopov, who is an agent of +the secret police, gives Dorimedonte—who, by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +the way, is deceiving him with Raïssa—the +names of the buyers of the forbidden books in +which he trades. And here it is that the tragedy +suddenly breaks forth.</p> + +<p>Raïssa, tired of being tormented by Raspopov, +who accuses her of poisoning him, +strangles the old man in a moment of cold anger, +under the very eyes of Evsey. Thanks +to Dorimedonte, this crime goes unpunished. +Evsey, having become the lodger of the two +lovers, now enters the Okhrana, at the advice +of his new master. After a while, Raïssa, +haunted by remorse, commits suicide, and Dorimedonte +is killed by some revolutionists.</p> + +<p>All the interest of the book, however, is centered +in the picture of the police institutions. +From the chief Philip Philipovich to the agent +Solovyev, Gorky presents, with consummate art, +the mass of corrupt and greedy agents who +wearily accomplish their tasks.</p> + +<p>Among them, young Evsey leads a miserable +and ridiculous existence. Bruised by an invincible +power, he sees himself compelled to arrest +an old man who has confided his revolutionary +ideas to him; then a young girl with +whom he is in love; finally, his own cousin, a +revolutionary suspect.</p> + +<p>Gradually his eyes are opened. He realizes +that he cannot extricate himself from the position +in which he has placed himself. Tired of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +leading a life which his conscience disapproves +of, he thinks of killing his superior, who has +driven him to do so many infamous deeds. He +will thus get justice. His project miscarries; +maddened, he throws himself under a passing +train.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>These three remarkable works, riddled by the +Russian censor, so that the complete version +has appeared only abroad, have recently been +followed by two important stories: "Among +the People" and "Matvey Kozhemyakine."</p> + +<p>With his accustomed power, Gorky shows us, +in the first of these stories, the spread of socialism +among the agricultural proletariat. He +depicts village life with its pettiness and ignominy. +The village is for the most part a backward +place, hostile to everything that makes a +breach in tradition. The hatching of socialism +goes on slowly. From day to day, new obstacles, +helped on by the ignorance of the +peasants, hinder those who are trying to carry +out their belief. Even the village guard, +Semyon, pursues them with his hatred.</p> + +<p>But Igor Petrovich, the propagator of these +new ideas, finds, in a few old friends and in a +village woman who becomes his mistress, some +precious helpers. Thanks to them, he gradually +gets up a little circle of firm believers who +gather in a cave in the woods. Every evening, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +they read, discuss, and dream of a better organization, +out there in the cave. All would +have gone well, if some of them had not betrayed +the leader to the police. While being +led to the city prison, the leader spoke to the +soldiers who were escorting him:</p> + +<p>"The soldiers trembled as they clicked their +bayonets; they silently listened to the legend +of the generous earth which loves those who +work it. Again, their red faces were covered +with drops of melted snow; the drops ran down +their cheeks like bitter tears of humiliation; +they breathed heavily, they snuffled, and I felt +that they kept walking a little faster, as if +they wanted this very day to arrive in that +fairy land.</p> + +<p>"We are no longer prisoners and soldiers; +we are simply seven Russians. I do not forget +the prison, but when I remember all that I +lived through that summer and before that, +my heart fills with joy, and I feel like crying +out:</p> + +<p>"Rejoice, beloved Russian people! Your +resurrection is close at hand!"</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>"Matvey Kozhemyakine" very brilliantly +returns to Gorky's early manner. In this book +no symbolic character interprets the bold +thoughts of the author. It is simply a novel +of Russian provincial life. Its simplicity does +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +not exclude vigor, and it reminds us at times +of Balzac.</p> + +<p>Young Matvey is the son of an old workingman +who has become rich, thanks to his energy +and dishonesty. He has grown up in a large +house, adjoining a rope-yard, with his father +and several servants. His mother, whom he +never knew, left home shortly after his birth, +and entered a convent in order to escape the +torments of life. Later, Matvey's father marries +a young girl, in order to provide a mother +for his son, whom he loves dearly. But his new +mother is not long in finding out the dreary +life which she has to lead with the old man. +In order to escape from the tedium of it, she +listens to the interesting experiences of the wandering +life of the porter Sazanov, and gives her +unfaithful love in exchange.</p> + +<p>Unexpected circumstances disclose this shameful +adultery to Matvey. Instead of revealing +it to his father, he generously guards the secret. +He even goes so far as to protect her from the +fury of a workingman, named Savka, whom +Sazanov's success has rendered bold. Through +gratitude, and later through love, in the absence +of Kozhemyakine, she becomes the mistress +of her step-son. On his return, the father, +finding out about this "liaison," spares his son, +but beats his wife to death, and himself, mad +with fury, falls, struck with apoplexy. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> + +<p>All the newspapers in the world have attacked +Gorky's way of living. As he is forced to +remain away from his beloved country, the great +writer has made his home in the little island of +Capri, the air of which is propitious to his failing +health. Moreover, its impressive scenery +inspires his restless genius.</p> + +<p>Drunk with liberty, taken up with beauty, +always ready to help a man who is in political +and social difficulties, Gorky, from the depths +of his peaceful retreat, wanders out over the +world of ideas in search of truth, as formerly +he used to wander over the earth in search of +bread.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI<br /> +LEONID ANDREYEV</h2> + + +<p>Leonid Andreyev was born of a humble +bourgeoise family in Orel, in 1871. "It +was there that I began my studies," he says. +"I was not a good pupil; in the seventh form +I was last in my class for a whole year, and I +had especially poor reports as to my deportment. +The most agreeable part of my schooling, +which I still remember with pleasure, was +the intervals between the lessons, the 'recesses,' +and the times, rare as they were, when the instructor +sent me from the class-room for inattention +or lack of respect. In the long deserted +halls a sonorous silence reigned which vibrated +at the solitary noise of my steps; on all sides +the closed doors, shutting in rooms full of +pupils; a sunbeam—a free beam—played +with the dust which had been raised during +recess and which had not yet had time to settle; +all of it was mysterious, interesting, full of a +particular and secret meaning."</p> + +<p>Andreyev's father, who was a geometrician, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +died while he was still at school, and the family +was without resources. The young man did +not hesitate, however, in setting out for St. Petersburg, +where he entered the university, +hoping to gain a livelihood by giving lessons. +But it was hard to secure what he wanted. "I +knew what terrible misery was," Andreyev tells +us; "during my first years in St. Petersburg +I was hungry more than once, and sometimes +I did not eat for two days."</p> + +<p>His first literary productions date from this +sombre epoch. Andreyev gives us remarkably +graphic details of this misery. One day, he +gave a daily paper a story about the tribulations +of an <a class="corr" name="TC_5" id="TC_5" title="every-hungry">ever-hungry</a> student: his own life!</p> + +<p>"I wept like a child in writing these pages," +he confesses. "I had put down all of my sufferings. +I was still affected by my great sadness +when I took the manuscript to the editor. +I was told to come back in a few weeks to find +out whether it had been accepted. I returned +with a light heart, keeping down my anguish +in expectation of the decision. It came to me +in the form of a loud burst of laughter from +the editor, who declared that my work was absolutely +worthless...."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, he energetically pursued his +studies, which he completed at the University +of Moscow. "There," he tells us, "life was, +from a material standpoint, less unbearable; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +my friends and the aid society came to my +assistance; but I recall my life at the University +of St. Petersburg with genuine pleasure; +the various classes of students are there more +differentiated and an individual can more easily +find a sympathetic surrounding among such +distinct groups."</p> + +<p>Some time after that, Andreyev, disgusted +with life, attempted suicide. "In January, +1894," he writes, "I tried to shoot myself, but +without any appreciable result. I was punished +by religious penance, imposed upon me by authority, +and a sickness of the heart which, although +not dangerous, was persistent. During +this time I made one or two equally unsuccessful +literary attempts, and I gave myself up +with success to painting, which I have loved +since childhood; I then painted portraits to +order for from 5 to 10 rubles....</p> + +<p>"In 1897, I received my counsellor's degree +and I took up that profession in Moscow. For +want of time I did not succeed in getting any +sort of a 'clientele'; in all, I pleaded but one +civil case, which, however, I lost completely, +and several gratuitous criminal cases. However, +I was actively working in reporting these +cases for an important paper."</p> + +<p>Finally, two strangely impressionistic stories: +"Silence," and "He Was...," published in +an important Petersburg review, brought the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +author into prominence. From that time, he +devoted himself entirely to literature.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Andreyev is considered, to-day, as one of the +most brilliant representatives of the new constellation +of Russian writers, in which he takes +a place immediately next to Tchekoff, whom he +resembles in the melancholy tone of his work. +In him, as in Tchekoff, the number of people +who suffer from life, either crushed or mutilated +by it, by far exceed the number of happy +ones; moreover, the best of his stories are short +and sketchy like those of Tchekoff. Andreyev +is then, so to speak, his spiritual son. But he +is a sickly son, who carries the melancholy element +to its farthest limit. The grey tones of +Tchekoff have, in Andreyev, become black; his +rather sad humor has been transformed into +tragic irony; his subtle impressionability into +morbid sensibility. The two writers have had +the same visions of the anomalies and the horrors +of existence; but, where Tchekoff has only a +disenchanted smile, Andreyev has stopped, dismayed; +the sensation of horror and suffering +which springs from his stories has become an +obsession with him; it does not penetrate merely +the souls of his heroes, but, as in Poe, it penetrates +even the descriptions of nature.</p> + +<p>Thus, the "near and terrible" disk of the +moon hovers over the earth like the "gigantic +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +menace of an approaching but unknown evil"; +the river congeals in "mute terror," and silence +is particularly menacing. Night always comes +"black and bad," and fills human hearts with +shadows. When it falls, the very branches of +the trees "contract, filled with terror." Under +the influence of the disturbing sounds of the +tocsin, the high linden-trees "suddenly begin to +talk, only to become quiet again immediately +and lapse into a sullen silence." The tocsin itself +is animated. "Its distinct tones spread +with rapid intensity. Like a herald of evil who +has not the time to look behind him, and whose +eyes are large with fright, the tocsin desperately +calls men to the fatal mire."<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>Most of Andreyev's characters, like those of +Dostoyevsky, are abnormal, madmen and neurasthenics +in whom are distinguishable marked +traces of degeneration and psychic perversion. +They are beings who have been fatally wounded +in their life-struggle, whose minds now are completely +or partially powerless. Too weak to +fight against the cruel exigencies of reality, +they turn their thoughts upon themselves and +naturally arrive at the most desolate conclusions, +and commit the most senseless acts. +Some, a prey to the mania of pride, despairing +because of their weakness and their "nothingness," +look—as does Serge Petrovich—for +relief in suicide. Others, who have resigned +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +themselves to their sad lives, become passive +observers, become transformed into living +corpses whose sole desire is peace; such a one +is the hero of "At the Window." Others still +instinctively choke in themselves the best tendencies +of their characters and are passionately +fond of futile and senseless amusements, by +means of which they enjoy themselves like children, +until a catastrophe makes them "come +back to themselves." This is the idea of the +original story called "The Grand Slam." In +"The Lie" Andreyev depicts the pathological +process in the soul of a man who, crushed by the +falsehood of his own solitary existence, becomes +insane at the idea that truth is inaccessible to +human reason and that the reign of the Lie is +invincible. The hero of "The Thought"<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +reveres but one thing in the world—his own +thought. Wrapped up in this one idea, he admires +the force and finesse of it, while his reason, +detached from reality and having only +him for an end, begins to weaken, becomes +gradually perverted to the point where this +man, harassed by a terrible doubt, begins to ask +himself whether he is insane. In the long and +pathetic story, "The Life of a Priest," we are +shown the disturbance of the religious feelings +of a country priest who, although he has an +ardent and strong soul, is crushed by his moral +isolation among the ignorant people of a miserable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +village. It is again this moral isolation +that is analyzed in "Silence," in which story +it is the cause of a domestic tragedy. The +same cause provokes a rupture between a father +and a son in "The Obscure Distance," and +brings with it in some way the death of the +neurasthenic student.</p> + +<p>In general, the stories of Andreyev, after +passing through various catastrophes, lead the +reader back to this theme,—the moral isolation +of a human being, who feels that the world +has become deserted, and life a game of +shadows. The abyss which separates Andreyev's +heroes from other men makes them +weak, numb, and miserable. It seems, in fact, +that there is no greater misfortune than for a +man to feel himself alone in the midst of his +fellow-creatures.</p> + +<p>Finally, in "The Gulf," a somewhat imaginary +thesis is developed, based on the terrible +vitality which certain vile instincts keep even +in the purest and most innocent minds, while +the story "He Was ..." shows us the inside +of a clinic, in which there are two dying men +whose illusions of life persist till the supreme +moment.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>If we carefully study a few of Andreyev's +characters we can more easily understand his +feelings and his style. Here is, for instance, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +Serge Petrovich, a student. Although he is +not very intelligent, he is above the average. +His mind is preoccupied with all sorts of questions; +he reads Nietzsche, he ponders over +many things, but he does not know how to think +for himself. The fact that there are people +who can find a way to express themselves appears +to him as an inaccessible ideal; while +mediocre minds have no attraction for him at +all. It is from this feeling that all his sufferings +come. So "a horse, carrying a heavy +burden, breathes hard, falls to the ground, but +is forced to rise and proceed by stinging lashes +from a whip."</p> + +<p>These lashes are the vision of the superman, +of the one who rightfully possesses strength, +happiness, and liberty. At times a thick mist +envelops the thoughts of Serge Petrovich, but +the light of the superman dispels this, and he +sees his road before him as if it had been drawn +or told him by another.</p> + +<p>Before his eyes there is a being called Serge +Petrovich for whom all that makes existence +happy or bitter, deep and human, remains a +closed book. Neither religion nor morality, +neither science nor art, exists for him. Instead +of a real and ardent faith, he feels in himself +a motley array of feelings. His habitual +veneration of religious rites mingles with mean +superstitions. He is not courageous enough to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +deny God, not strong enough to believe in Him. +He does not love his fellow-men, and cannot +feel the intense happiness of devoting himself +to his fellow-creatures and even dying for them. +But neither does he experience that hate for +others which gives a man a terrible joy in his +struggle with his fellow-men. Not being capable +of elevating himself high enough or falling +low enough to reign over the lives of men, he +lives or rather vegetates with a keen feeling of +his mediocrity, which makes him despair. And +the pitiless words of Zarathustra ring in his +ears: "If your life is not successful, if a venomous +worm is gnawing at your heart, know that +death will succeed." And Serge Petrovich, +desperate, commits suicide.</p> + +<p>The hero of "At the Window" is quite different. +This man has succeeded in building +for himself a sort of fortress, "in which he retires, +sheltered from life." Like Serge Petrovich, +although not as often, he is tormented by +restless thoughts, and, from time to time, he +is obliged to defend his "fortress." But usually +he is contented with watching life, that is +to say, that part which he can see from his window. +Nothing troubles the tranquillity of his +mind, not even the desire to live like other men. +One day, he speaks of his theories to a simple, +uneducated young girl whom he thinks of +marrying. She is astonished and stupefied by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +them. She perceives that he leads an insipid +and morose life. Andrey Nikolayevich does not +take into account or understand the stupefaction +of the young girl.</p> + +<p>"This then is your life?" she asks, incredulously.</p> + +<p>"This is it. What more could you want?"</p> + +<p>"But it must be terribly monotonous to live +in that way, apart from the world."</p> + +<p>"What good does one find in mankind? +Nothing but tedium. When I am alone, I am +my own master, but among men you never know +what attitude to take to please them. They +drag you into drunkenness, into gambling; +then they denounce you to your superiors. I, +however, love calmness and frankness. Some of +them accept bribes and allow themselves to become +corrupt; I do not like that.... I adore +tranquillity."</p> + +<p>Moreover, he does not marry the young girl. +He gives her up because he is afraid of the incumbrances +that housekeeping will bring.</p> + +<p>In "The Grand Slam" four provincial "intellectuals" +are locked up in the same fortress, +and, by playing cards, they escape the terrible +problems of a life which is inimical to them. +Their existence has been passed among these +cards, which, by a mysterious phenomenon, +have become real living creatures to them. One +of the players has dreamed all through his life +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +of getting a grand slam, when, one evening, +he sees he has the necessary cards in his hand. +He has but to take one more card, the ace of +spades, and his dream will be realized. But at +the very moment when he is stretching forth +his hand to take it, he falls down dead. His +partners are terrified. One of them, a timorous +and exact old man, named Jacob Ivanovich, is +particularly struck. A thought comes to him; +he quickly rises, after making sure that it was +the ace of spades that the dead man was going +to take, and cries:</p> + +<p>"But he will never know that he was going +to get the ace of spades and a grand slam! +Never.... Never...."</p> + +<p>"Then it appeared to Jacob Ivanovich that, +up to this moment, he had never understood +what death was. Now he understood, and what +he saw was senseless, horrible, and irreparable!... +The dead man would never know!"</p> + +<p>The poignant irony of this story is not unusual +with Andreyev.</p> + +<p>It is again found in the short and symbolic +story "The Laugh." A student, profiting by +the fact that it is carnival time, disguises himself +as a Chinaman and goes to the house of the +girl he loves. The mute, immobile, and stupidly +calm mask, and the whole "get-up" are +so funny, that the unfortunate man rouses irresistible +laughter wherever he goes. The young +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +girl cannot help herself, and, while listening +to his very touching and sincere declaration, +which, at any other time, would have brought +tears to her eyes, she bursts out laughing and +cannot again become serious, although she realizes +that a living and unhappy being is hidden +under this impassive and foolish Chinaman's +mask.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In "The Lie" we see a man who, by isolating +himself from life, has lost the feeling of +reality, and all capacity of discerning the true +from the false. He suffers terribly from the +feeling that something unknown is happening +around him. This man, who would be ready to +sacrifice everything, even his life, in order to +know truth, guesses the lie that comes between +him and the person who is dearest to him. He +falls into a despair that soon turns to fury. +In order to recover his calm, he begs the girl +he loves, whom he suspects of having deceived +him, to reveal the whole truth to him. But he +cannot believe her protestations of innocence. +One word bursts from his being, breaks forth +from the depths of his soul: "Lies! Lies! Lies +everywhere!"</p> + +<p>"In looking at her beautiful pure forehead," +he writes, "I dreamed that truth was there, on +the other side of that thin barrier, and I felt +a senseless desire to break that barrier and at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +least to see the truth. Lower down, beneath +her white breast, I heard the beating of her +heart, and I had a mad desire to open her +breast so that I could read, at least once, what +there was at the bottom of her heart."</p> + +<p>He ends by killing that which he loved, and +thinks that he is satisfied: he believes he has +killed the lie.</p> + +<p>In "The Thought" we see the gradual development +of insanity during the period when +it is doubtful, when the will is almost entirely +annihilated and replaced by a fixed idea, and +when conscience is not entirely abolished. Dr. +Kerzhenzev kills his friend, obeying a mental +suggestion, which now forbids him to do it, now +urges him on. Then, like the "half-insane" +or those sick people who feign madness in order +more easily to attain their end, this man suggests +to himself that he is in reality insane. +This idea gets a hold on him after the murder +and fills his soul with mortal terror, the exposure +of which forms the most supremely +pathetic part of the whole story. All this +drama of a foundering intelligence, complicated +by bizarre contradictions, is developed with a +penetrating power of analysis.</p> + +<p>Andreyev tells us that on the day of judgment +the alienists are divided as to the insanity +of Kerzhenzev. The story ends at this place. +But the principal interest of the story does not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +lie in this or that solution of the problem, which +is not mysterious, for the doctor is doubtlessly +abnormal, and it is only as to the degree of +insanity that there can be any question. The +main interest lies in another direction, in the +subtle analysis of this special mental condition, +which is done with consummate art.</p> + +<p>This story had the honor of occupying an +entire meeting of the psychiatrists attached to +the Academy of Medicine of St. Petersburg. +According to the report of Dr. Ivanov, the +assembly was almost unanimous in declaring the +murderer insane. Another psychiatrist, who +thought he saw proofs of an abnormal mentality +in all the stories of Andreyev, pronounced +the same verdict against Dr. Kerzhenzev, in a +meeting of doctors.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>"All of priest Vassily Fiveyisky's life was +weighed down by a cruel and enigmatic fatality,"—it +is thus that the story, "The Life of +a Pope," opens. "As if struck by an unknown +malediction, he had from his youth been made +to carry a heavy burden of sorrows, sickness +and misfortunes; he was solitary among men +as a planet is among planets; a peculiar and +malevolent atmosphere surrounded him. Son of +an obscure, patient, and submissive village +priest, he also was patient and submissive, and +he was a long time in recognizing the particular +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +rancour of destiny. He fell rapidly and arose +slowly. Twig by twig he restored his nest. +Having become a priest, the husband of a good +woman, the father of a son and a daughter, he +thought that all was going well with him, that +all was solidly established, and that he would +remain thus forever. And he blessed God."</p> + +<p>But fate was always on the watch for him. +It had showed him happiness only to take it +away again. After seven years of prosperity, +his little son is drowned one summer's day in +the river. Death and nameless misfortunes +again invade the home of Vassily. One does not +live there any more, one prowls around gropingly +in a mournful stupor. From morning +till evening, his wife comes and goes, silent and +indifferent to everything, as if she were looking +for some one or something.</p> + +<p>In losing his son, poor Vassily has also lost +his wife, his helpmate and friend, for the unfortunate +woman takes to drink. The faith of +the priest holds in this terrible trial. But +his misery increases immeasurably. The vice +of his wife, his own sick weakness, excite the +meanness of the people. Insults have to be borne +in silence, tears hidden. At home, the priest's +wife has no rest. She has the idea that she can +have another son who will take the place of +the dead one and be a balm to her broken heart. +In her alcoholic desire, a prey to savage fury, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +she demands that her husband gratify her desire.</p> + +<p>"Give him to me, Vassily! Give him back to +me, I tell you...."</p> + +<p>At last her desire is realized: a son is born +to her; but the child, conceived in madness, is +born half-witted. The mother takes to drink +again, and the despair of Vassily increases. +One day the unfortunate woman hangs herself. +The pope comes in, however, in time to save +her; but now another noose has tightened itself +about the priest's heart. One question oppresses +him:</p> + +<p>"Why these sufferings? If God exists, and +if God is love, how is such misery possible?"</p> + +<p>Vassily's faith trembles. He decides to leave +his cassock, to fly, to put his idiot son out to +board and to start life over again. This resolution +relieves him. His wife breathes easier. +It seems to him that she also can begin a new +life. But fate does not loosen its reins.</p> + +<p>One day, on coming back from the harvest, he +finds his house burned. His wife, in a drunken +stupor, had probably set fire to it. She is +dying of her burns. Vassily can only sigh. +This new misfortune does not put an end to the +priest, but rather inspires him. His old faith +comes back, he sees in this supreme test a predestination. +He kneels down and cries:</p> + +<p>"I believe! I believe! I believe!" +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> + +<p>From that time on he devotes himself entirely +to prayer and macerations. He lives in perpetual +ecstasy. The people around him understand +nothing of this change and are astounded. +Every one of them is waiting for something +unusual. And their waiting is not in vain. +One day, when he is delivering the funeral oration +of a workingman, who has been suddenly +killed, Vassily abruptly interrupts the ceremony, +approaches the corpse, which has begun +to decay, and addresses it thus three times:</p> + +<p>"I tell you: arise!"</p> + +<p>But the dead man does not move. Then the +priest looks at this inert and deformed corpse. +He notices the fetid odor that arises from it, +the odor of the slow but sure decomposition, +and he has a sort of sudden revelation. The +scepticism which, for a long time, has been +brooding in his heart suddenly is transformed +into absolute negation, and addressing himself +to Him in whom he had believed, Vassily cries +out:</p> + +<p>"Thou wishest to deceive me? Then why +did I believe? Why hast Thou kept me in +servitude, in captivity, all of my life? No free +thought! No feeling! No hope! All with +Thee! All for Thee! Thee alone! Well, appear! +I am waiting! I am waiting!... Ah! +Thou dost not want to? Very well...."</p> + +<p>He does not finish. In a burst of savage +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +madness he rushes forth from the now empty +church. He rushes straight ahead and finally +falls in the middle of the road. Death has put +an end to his miseries.</p> + +<p>"Silence" also shows us a priest, stubborn +in his prejudices. This man, Father Ignatius +by name, is a sort of rude and authoritative +Hercules. All tremble before his stern air, except +his daughter, who has decided to continue +her studies in St. Petersburg, against the will +of her father. Coming back to her home after +a long absence, she wanders about, sad and +silent. For days at a time she wanders about, +pale and melancholy, speaking little, seeking +solitude. She hides what oppresses her; she +keeps her secret from all. One night, she +throws herself under a train, taking her secret +with her.</p> + +<p>Her grief-stricken mother gets a paralytic +stroke which transforms her into a sort of living +corpse. The father, crushed by these two catastrophes, +which have destroyed all the joy of his +life, becomes the prey of a singular mental +state: his conscience revolts against the severe +maxims and the pitiless prejudices that he has +always defended. Tender love, which he has +hitherto concealed under his pride, now softens +him; he needs affection, and a vague feeling +suggests to him that he himself is to blame for +all of these misfortunes. His past life, his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +daughter, and his wife appear to him as so +many enigmas which raise anguishing questions +in his heart. He calls out, but no one answers. +A death-like silence has invaded the presbytery, +and this silence is especially dreadful near the +paralyzed wife, who is dying without speaking. +Even her eyes do not betray a single thought. +Gradually, a terrible desire to know why his +daughter committed suicide seizes him. At twilight, +softly, in his bare feet, he goes up to the +room of his dead daughter and speaks to her. +He entreats her to tell him the truth, to confess +to him why she was always so sad, why she +has killed herself. Only the silence answers +him. Then he rushes to the cemetery, where his +daughter's tomb irresistibly attracts him; again +he implores, begs, threatens. For a moment he +thinks that a vague answer arises from the +earth; he places his ear on the rough turf.</p> + +<p>"Vera, tell me!" he repeats in a loud and +steady voice.</p> + +<p>"And now Father Ignatius feels with terror +that something sepulchrally cold is penetrating +his ear and congealing his brain; it is Vera, +who is continually answering him with the same +prolonged silence. This silence becomes more +and more sinister and restless, and when Father +Ignatius arises with an effort, his face is as +livid as death."</p> + +<p>Crushed by the same blind destiny which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +annihilated the powerful personality of Father +Ignatius, the piteous and tearful hero of "The +Marseillaise" moves us even more than does the +old priest. The poor fellow cannot grasp the +reason for the ferocity of stupid fate, which +unrelentingly preys upon him. Arrested by +mistake as a revolutionist and condemned to +deportation, he becomes an object of derision +to his comrades. However, gradually, he finds +the strength to share the severe privations of +his companions who have sacrificed themselves +to their ideal of justice and liberty. And, on +his death-bed, he is elated by all that he has +endured; he dreams of liberty, which, up to this +time, had been indifferent to him, and asks +them to sing the Marseillaise over his grave.</p> + +<p>"He died, and we sang the Marseillaise. Our +young and powerful voices thundered forth this +majestic song of liberty, accompanied by the +noise of the ocean which carried on the crests +of its waves towards 'dear France,' pale terror +and blood-red hope.</p> + +<p>"It became our standard forever, the picture +of this nonentity with the hare's body and the +man's heart.</p> + +<p>"On your knees to the hero, friends and +comrades!</p> + +<p>"We sang. The guns, with their creaking +locks, were pointed menacingly at us; the steel +points of the bayonets were pointed at our +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +hearts. The song resounded louder and louder, +with increasing joy. Held in the friendly hands +of the 'strugglers,' the black coffin slowly sank +into the earth.</p> + +<p>"We sang the Marseillaise!"</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>The two main characters of "The Gulf," a +student and a school-girl, are walking and discussing +rather deep things, such as immortality +and the beauty of pure and noble love. They +feel some sadness in speaking about these things, +but love appears more and more luminous to +them. It rises before their eyes, as large as +the world, bursting forth like the sun and marvelously +beautiful, and they know that there is +nothing so powerful as love.</p> + +<p>"You could die for the woman you loved?" +asked Zinochka.</p> + +<p>"Of course," replies Nemovetsky unhesitatingly, +in a frank and sincere voice, "and +you?"</p> + +<p>"I too!" She remains pensive a moment. +"To die for the one you love, that is a great +happiness! Would that that were to be my +destiny!"</p> + +<p>Gradually night falls. Nemovetsky and his +companion lose their way in the woods; they +finally arrive in a clearing, where three filthy-looking +men are seated about an empty bottle. +These intoxicated men, whose wicked eyes light +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +up with a brutal envy of enjoyment and love +of destruction, try to quarrel with Nemovetsky, +and one of them ends by striking him full in the +face with his fist. Zinochka runs away. His +heart full of terror, Nemovetsky can hear the +shrieks of his friend, whom the vagabonds have +caught. Then a feeling of emptiness comes +over him, and he loses consciousness. Two of +the men throw him into a ravine.</p> + +<p>An hour later, Nemovetsky regains consciousness; +he gets up with great pain, for he is badly +wounded. He remembers what has happened. +Fright and despair seize him. He begins to run +and call for help with all his strength, at the +same time looking among all the bushes, when +at his feet, he sees a dim, white form. It is +his companion, who lies there motionless. He +falls down on his knees and touches her. His +hand encounters a nude body, damp and cold, +but still living. It seems to grow warm at his +touch. He pictures to himself with abominable +clearness what the men have done. A feeling of +strange strength circulates in his members. On +his knees in front of the young girl, in the +obscurity of the forest, he tries to bring her +back to life, calling her sweet names, caressing +her hair, rubbing her cold hands.</p> + +<p>"With infinite precautions, but also with +deep tenderness, he tries to cover her with the +shreds of her torn dress, and the double sensation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +of the cloth and the nude body are as keen +as a sword and as inconceivable as madness. +And now he cries for help, now he presses the +sweet and supple body to his breast. His unconscious +abandonment unchains the savageness +of his passion. He whispers in a low voice, 'I +love you, I love you.' And throwing himself +violently upon her lips, he feels his teeth entering +her flesh.</p> + +<p>"Then, in the sadness and impetuousness of +the kiss, the last bit of his mind gives way. It +seems to him that the lips of the young girl +tremble. For an instant, a terrible terror fills +his soul and he sees a horrible gulf yawning at +his feet.... And he hurls himself into the +mad throes of his insane passion."</p> + +<p>The account of the collegian, which forms +the plot of the story "In the Fog," is even +more daring in its realism. It actually oppresses +the reader, not so much by certain details +that provoke disgust, as by the analysis +of the sufferings of an unfortunate young man, +whose mind is pure, but who has let himself be +dragged into excesses which are followed by a +sickness of ill name. Severely reprimanded by +his father, the poor young fellow, overcome +with sorrow, the victim of an instinct which he +could not conquer, ends his days in a most horrible +way: one evening, he leaves home and goes +out into the streets in an adventuresome spirit. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +A half-intoxicated prostitute touches him in +passing; he follows her. As they go along, a +conversation starts up, and the young man, although +she is repugnant to him, goes home with +her. Once in her room, a violent quarrel starts +up and he kills her, and then commits suicide.</p> + +<p>These two stories, especially "The Gulf," +caused many lively discussions on the part of +the public, and then in the newspapers. Mr. +Bourenine, the well-known critic of the "Novoye +Vremya," says that he received from several correspondents +a series of letters which blamed +Andreyev vehemently and requested that this +"skunk" of literature be called to order according +to his deserts. These protestations +were reënforced by an ardent letter from +Countess Tolstoy, the wife of the great author, +who reproached Andreyev for having so complacently +painted such sombre pictures, with +such low and violent scenes, all of which tended +to pervert youth. The writers were not the +only ones to take offence. Two important Russian +newspapers organized a sort of inquiry, +and they published many of the answers received +from the young people of both sexes, but +these were all favorable to Andreyev.</p> + +<p>In truth, all these judgments are too passionate. +It is true that "most of the critics +have understood Andreyev only in a superficial +manner," as Tolstoy rightfully asserted. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +double impression, for instance, produced by +"The Gulf," is the result of a simple misunderstanding. +Those who think that the adventure +of young Nemovetsky is a slice of life and +characterizes certain psychological states, have, +without a doubt, the right to judge this story +as an indiscretion, and to reproach the author +with a deviation from morality; but Andreyev +has not taken his hero from reality; he has not +tried to give us a picture of manners, but has +expressed an idea, born in his brain under the +influence of the philosophy of Nietzsche. It illustrates +the terrible power and the brutality of +a dormant instinct lurking in the purest minds.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Besides, "The Gulf" and "In the Fog" are +compositions which are exceptional in the work +of Andreyev. The idea that he mostly presents +is not the power of bestial instincts, but rather +the indestructible vitality of human feelings and +aspirations towards a better existence, which +sometimes comes to light among the most miserable +and depraved people, and even among those +who are in the most abject material condition.</p> + +<p>In the destiny of these beings, there are, however, +rays of hope. The slightest incident serves +to transform them; suddenly their hearts begin +to beat happily, tears of tenderness moisten +their eyes, they vaguely feel the existence of +something luminous and good. A profound +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +sensibility, an ardent love of life bursts forth +in their souls. This sensibility, this attachment +to existence, form the theme of four touching +stories: "He Was," "Petka in the Country," +"The Cellar," and "The Angel."</p> + +<p>The action of "He Was" takes place in a +hospital, where a deacon, a foolishly debonair +man, who is attached to his stunted existence, +and a pessimistic merchant, thoroughly satiated, +are at the point of death. The deacon has an +incurable sickness, and his days are numbered. +But he does not know it, and speaks with enthusiasm +of the pilgrimage he is going to make +after he is cured, and of the apple-tree in his +garden, which he expects will bear a great deal +of fruit. The fourth Friday of Lent he is taken +into the amphitheatre. He comes back, very +much moved and making the sign of the cross.</p> + +<p>"Ah! my brothers," he says, "I am all upset. +The doctor made me sit down in a chair +and said to the students: 'Here you see a sick +man.' Ah! how painful it was to hear him add: +'He was a deacon!'"</p> + +<p>"The unfortunate man stopped, and continued +in a choking voice: '"He was a deacon," +the doctor told them. He told them the story +of my whole life, he even spoke about my wife. +It was terrible! One would have said that I was +dead already, and that he was talking over my +coffin.' +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And as the deacon is thus speaking, all +of the others see clearly that he is going to +die. They see it as clearly as if death itself +was standing there, at the foot of the +bed...."</p> + +<p>The merchant is a very different sort of man: +he does not believe in God; he has had enough +of life and is not afraid of death. All of his +strength he has spent unnecessarily, without +any appreciable result, without joy. When he +was young he had stolen meat and fruit from +his master. Caught in the act, he had been +beaten, and he detested those who had struck +him. Later on, having become rich, he crushed +the poor with his fortune and scorned those who, +on falling into his hands, answered his hate with +scorn. Finally, old age and sickness had come; +people now began to steal from him, and he, in +turn, beat those whom he caught terribly. And +thus his life had been spent; it had been nothing +but a series of transgressions and hatreds, +where the flames of desire, in dying out, had left +nothing but cold ashes in his soul. He refuses +to believe that any one can love this existence, +and he disdainfully looks at the sallow face of +the deacon, and mutters: "Fool!" Then, he +looks at the third man in the room, a young +student who is asleep. This student never fails +to embrace his fiancée, a pretty young girl, +whenever she comes to see him. As he looks the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +merchant, more bitterly than before, repeats: +"Fool!"</p> + +<p>But death approaches; and this man who +thinks himself superior and who scorns the deacon +because he dreams of light and the sun, now +feels disturbed in his turn. In making up the +balance-sheet of this existence which, up to this +time, he believed he hated, he remembers a +stream of warm light which, during the day, +used to come in through the window and gild the +ceiling; and he remembers how the sun used to +shine on the banks of the Volga, near his home. +With a terrible sob, beating his hands on his +breast, he falls back on his bed, right against +the deacon, whom he hears silently weeping.</p> + +<p>"And thus they wept together. They wept +for the sun which they were never to see again, +for the apple-tree with fruit which they were not +going to eat, for the shadow that was to envelop +them, for dear life and cruel death!"</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Petka—the hero of "Petka in the Country"—is, +at ten years of age, a barber's apprentice. +He does not yet smoke as does his +thirteen year old friend Nicolka, whom he wants +to equal in everything. Petka's principal occupation, +in the rare moments when the shop is +empty, is to look out of the window at the +poorly dressed men and women who are sitting +on the benches of the boulevard. In the meantime, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +Nicolka goes through the streets of ill +fame, and comes back and tells Petka all his +experiences. The precocious knowledge of +Nicolka astonishes the child, whose one ambition +is to be like his friend one of these days. While +waiting, he dreams of a vague country, but he +cannot guess its location nor its character. And +no one comes to take him there. From morning +till evening he always hears the same jerky cry: +"Some water, boy!"</p> + +<p>But one morning his mother, the cook Nadezhda, +tells the barber that her master and mistress +have told her to take Petka to the country +for a few days. Then begins for him an enchanted +existence. He goes in bathing four +times a day, fishes, goes on long walks, climbs +trees, rolls in the grass. When, at the end of a +week, the barber claims his apprentice, the child +does not understand: he has completely forgotten +the city and the dirty barber-shop; and the +return is very sad. Again is heard the jerky +cry: "Some water, boy!" followed by a menacing +murmur of "Come! Come!" if the child +spills any of the water, or has not understood +the orders.</p> + +<p>"And, during the night, in the place where +Petka and Nicolka sleep side by side, a weak +little voice speaks of the country, of things that +do not exist, of things that no one has ever +heard of or seen!..." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The Cellar" is inhabited by absolutely +fallen people. A baby has just been born +there. With down-bent necks, their faces unconsciously +lighted up by strangely happy +smiles, a prostitute and a miserable drunkard +look at the child. This little life, "weak as a +fire in the steppe," calls to them vaguely, and +it seems to promise them something beautiful, +clear, and immortal. Among the inhabitants of +this cellar, the most unfortunate of all, is a man +named Kizhnakov; he is pale, sickly, worn by +work, almost devoured by suffering and alcohol; +death already lies in wait for him. The most +terrible thing for this man is the necessity of +having to begin to live again each day. He +would like to lie down all day and think of suicide +under the heap of rags that serve him as +a covering. He would like best to have some +one come up back of him, and shoot him. He +fears his own voice and his own thoughts. And +it is on him that the baby produces the deepest +impression. Since the birth of the child Kizhnakov +does not sleep any more; he tries to protect +himself from the cold, and weeps softly, +without sadness and without convulsions, like +those who have pure and innocent hearts, like +children.</p> + +<p>"'Why do I weep?' he asks himself.</p> + +<p>"Not finding a suitable answer, he replies: +'It is thus....' +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And the meaning of his words is so deep +that a new flood of tears come to the eyes of the +man whose life is so sad and solitary."</p> + +<p>We find the same theme again in "The +Angel." A child who also lives in a cellar comes +back from a Christmas-tree; he brings with him +a toy, and a pretty little wax angel, which he +shows to his father. The latter has seen better +days, but in the last few years he has been sick +with consumption, and now he is awaiting death, +silent and continually exasperated by the sight +of social injustice. However, the delight of +the child infects the father, and both of them +have a feeling "of something that joins all +hearts into one, and does away with the abyss +which separates man from man, and makes him +so solitary, unfortunate, and weak." The poor +dying man seems to hear a voice from this better +world, where he once lived and from which he +had been sent forever.</p> + +<p>But these are only the dreams of a dying man, +the last rays of light of the life which is being +extinguished. The ray, penetrating this sick +soul, is like the weak sunlight which passes +through the dirty windows of a dark hovel.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In his two stories, "The Stranger" and +"The Obscure Future," Andreyev shows us two +men of entirely different character, animated +by generous feelings and a firm will. One of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +them, a young student, being disgusted with the +miseries of Russian life and having decided to +expatriate himself, suddenly changes his mind, +as a result of the patriotism of one of his +friends, a Servian, named Raiko. He makes +it his duty never to leave his country, although +life there is so terrible and hopeless. There is, +in this new feeling, an immense joy and a terrible +sadness. The other, the hero of the second +story, having one day expressed to his father +the hatred he has for the bourgeois life that +he is leading, leaves his family, who love him, +in order to penetrate the "obscure future."</p> + +<p>Evidently, these are people who are fitted to +struggle. However, these strugglers, so infrequent +in the work of Andreyev, have, in spite +of all, something sickly and savage in them; +instead of real fighting courage, they possess +only extreme audaciousness, mystical rapture, +or nervous exaltation. The "obscure future" +toward which their eyes are turned is not lighted +up by the rays of faith and hope.</p> + +<p>The question is whether Andreyev himself +believes in the triumph of the elements of life +over the elements of death, the horror of which +he excels in portraying for us. It is in the following +manner that he expresses himself in one +of his essays entitled, "Impressions of the +Theatre": "In denying everything, one arrives +immediately at symbols. In refuting life, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +one is but an involuntary apologist. I never +believe so much in life as when I am reading the +father of pessimism, Schopenhauer! As a result, +life is powerful and victorious!... It is +truth that always triumphs, and not falsehood; +it is truth which is at the basis of life, and justifies +it. All that persists is useful; the noxious +element must disappear sooner or later, will inevitably +disappear."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>What, then, constitutes the essence of Andreyev's +talent is an extreme impressionability, +a daring in descriptions of the negative sides of +reality, melancholy moods and the torments of +existence. As he usually portrays general suffering +and sickness rather than definite types, +his heroes are mostly incarnations and symbols. +The very titles of some of his stories indicate +the abstract character of his work. Such are: +"Silence," "The Thought," and "The Lie." +In this respect he has carried on the work of +Poe, whose influence on him is incontestable. +These two writers have in common a refined and +morbid sensibility, a predilection for the horrible +and a passion for the study of the same kind +of subjects,—solitude, silence, death. But the +powerful fantasy of the American author, +which does not come in touch with reality, wanders +freely through the whole world and +through all the centuries of history. His +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +heroes take refuge in half-crumbled castles, they +look at the reader from the top of craggy rocks, +whither their love of solitude has led them; even +death itself is not a repulsive skeleton, but +rather a majestic form, full of grandiose mystery. +Andreyev, on the other hand, but rarely +breaks the bounds which unite him to reality. +His heroes are living people, who act, and whose +banal life ends with a banal death. This realism +and this passionate love of truth make the +strength and the beauty of all his work.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>A certain harmony between the imaginative +and the real element is characteristic of the best +of Andreyev's productions, especially his last +stories: "The Red Laugh," "The Governor," +"The Shadows," and "The Seven Who Were +Hanged."</p> + +<p>"The Red Laugh" is the symbol, the incarnation, +of the bloody and implacable cynicism +of war. The psychologist of the mysterious +has, in these pages, recorded the terrifying aspects +of the Manchurian campaign, which one +could not have foreseen in all of its horror. He +has shown in a lasting manner the poor human +creature torn from his home, debased to the +rôle of a piece of mechanism. Not knowing +where he is being led to, he goes, making murderous +gestures, the meaning of which he does +not know, without even having the illusory consolation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +of possible personal bravery, being +killed by the shots of an invisible enemy, or, +what is worse, being killed by the shots of his +own comrades—and all of this, automatically, +stupidly. The feeling of terror, the somewhat +mystical intuition of events which, at times, +seem to be paradoxes in the other works of +Andreyev, are perfectly adapted to this terribly +real representation of the effects of +war.</p> + +<p>The inner drama which Andreyev analyzes in +"The Governor" makes a bold contrast with +the violent pages of "The Red Laugh," the +savage powers of which attain the final limits of +horror.</p> + +<p>The governor has during his whole life been +a loyal and strict servant of the Tsar. On the +day of an uprising he mercilessly beat the +enemies of his master; he blindly accomplished +what he thought was his duty. But, since that +bloody day, a new and unceasing voice speaks +in his conscience. The irreparable act has forever +isolated him from his fellow-creatures, and +even from his friends who congratulate him +upon his fine conduct. A stranger to all that is +happening around him, he is left alone to fight +with his conscience, which soon crushes him with +all the weight of remorse. He knows that he +has been condemned by a revolutionary tribunal. +A young girl who is a stranger to him writes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +him a compassionate letter: "You are going +to be killed," she says, "and that will be justice; +but I have great pity for you." This +discerning and youthful sympathy penetrates +his heart, which finally opens—alas, too late,—to +justice and pity.</p> + +<p>This marks the beginning of a terrible +agony. The governor makes no effort to escape +from the fatal judgment. Always alone, he +contemplates his terrible distress and awaits the +coming of the judiciary. He feels that he has +incurred universal blame, and at times he comes +to wish for death, which surprises him suddenly +as he is turning the corner of a street:</p> + +<p>"The whole thing was short and simple, like +a scene from a moving-picture play. At a +cross-ways, close by a muddy spot, a hesitating +voice called to the governor:</p> + +<p>"'Your honor!'</p> + +<p>"'What?'</p> + +<p>"He stopped and turned his head: two men +who had come from behind a wall were crossing +the street, and were shuffling along in the mud +towards him. One of them had in his left hand +a piece of folded paper; his other hand was +in his pocket.</p> + +<p>"And immediately, the governor knew that +death had come; and they knew that the governor +knew.</p> + +<p>"While keeping the paper in his left hand +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +the unknown man took a revolver out of his +pocket with difficulty.</p> + +<p>"The governor glanced about him; he saw +a dirty and deserted square, with bits of grass +growing in the mud, and a wall. But what did +it matter, it was too late! He gave a short but +deep sigh, and stood erect again, fearless, but +without defiance.... He fell, with three shots +in his body."</p> + +<p>This drama of conscience is set forth with +admirable sureness of analysis, and the author +has been able to represent with impressive intensity +the mysterious fatality which demands +the death of the guilty one.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>It is this same fatality, under whose hand all +men are equal, which makes the hero of "The +Shadows," a young terrorist who has taken +refuge in a house of ill-fame, obey the strange +desire of his bed-companion.</p> + +<p>"Stay with me!" cries the young girl, in +whom is incarnated his destiny, at the moment +that he is going to leave the establishment in +order to escape from the spies who are following +him. "You are an honest man! And I've +been waiting five years to meet an honest man.... +Stay with me, because you belong to me."</p> + +<p>After a terrible internal combat the man +yields to this unknown will which is oppressing +him. A traitor to his party, he decides to become +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +the companion of this painted girl, with +whom he then gets drunk.</p> + +<p>"As long as I am in the shadows," he murmurs +with the sombre resignation of an Andreyev +hero, "I might as well remain there."</p> + +<p>At dawn, the police come to arrest him. And +while his friend tries desperately to resist the +agents of the force, he contemplates the brutal +scene with an ironic smile.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>"The Seven Who Were Hanged," written in +1908, right after the executions at Kherson +and Warsaw, shows us pictures of terror and +fright aptly described by the genius of Andreyev. +This work has prodigious color and +strength, and one experiences deep emotions on +reading it. Five terrorists, captured at the +very moment when they are going to assassinate +a minister, and two criminals, are condemned +to be hanged on the same day. The +writer shows them to us tortured by the most +horrible anguish, that which immediately precedes +death. The word "madness" appears on +every page: mystical madness of hallucination +that hears music and voices, such is that of the +young revolutionary Moussya; then there is +the brutal madness of her comrades Kashirine +and Golovine, who are ready to scream with +terror; the madness of the victims, the frenzy +of the executioners. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> + +<p>The night before the execution the prisoners +are visited by their relatives. The farewell +which Serge Golovine takes of his family is +rightly considered one of the most poignant +and most cleverly constructed scenes that Andreyev +has ever written.</p> + +<p>Followed by his mother, who totters along, +Serge's father, a retired colonel, enters the +room where visitors are received. Serge does +not know that the colonel spent the whole night +in preparing for this meeting. He has told +his wife what to do: embrace her son, keep +from crying, and say nothing. But the unhappy +mother in the presence of her son cannot +control her emotions; her eyes are strained +and she breathes faster and faster.</p> + +<p>"Don't torture him!" commands the colonel.</p> + +<p>Several stupid and insignificant words are +exchanged in order to hide the terrible suffering +that they all are going through. The visit +ends: the parents must bid their son good-bye +forever. The mother gives her son a short kiss, +then she shakes her head and murmurs, trembling:</p> + +<p>"'No, it is not that! It is not that!'</p> + +<p>"'Good-bye, Serge,' says his father.</p> + +<p>"They shake hands, and give each other a +brief but hearty kiss.</p> + +<p>"'You...' begins Serge. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'What's that?' asks his father in a jerky +voice.</p> + +<p>"'No, not like that. No, no! What was +I going to say?' repeats his mother, shaking +her head.</p> + +<p>"She was again seated, trembling.</p> + +<p>"'You...' continues Serge.</p> + +<p>"Suddenly, his face took on a pitiful expression, +and he made a grimace like a child. The +tears then came to his eyes.</p> + +<p>"'Father, you are a strong man!'</p> + +<p>"'What are you saying? What are you +saying?' the colonel cries, frightened.</p> + +<p>"Then, as if he had been struck, the colonel's +head sank down upon his son's shoulder. And +they kissed each other, again and again, the +one with white hair and the other with the +prisoner's 'capote.'</p> + +<p>"'And I?' a hoarse voice brusquely asked.</p> + +<p>"They looked: the mother was standing, +her head thrown back, and she was watching +them with anger, almost hate.</p> + +<p>"'What is the matter, dear?' cried the +colonel.</p> + +<p>"'And I?' she repeated. 'You two kiss +each other, and I? You are men, aren't you? +And I?'</p> + +<p>"'Mother!'</p> + +<p>"And Serge threw himself into his mother's +arms.... +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The last words of the colonel were:</p> + +<p>"'I consecrate you to death, my boy! Die +with courage, like a soldier!'"</p> + +<p>These few lines retrace one of the thousands +of daily dramas which compose modern Russian +history. The work of Andreyev brings to +us a sad vibrant echo of the sobs which ring +out in Russian dungeons. And this faithful +portrayal of events, events so frequent that +they no longer move us from our indifference, +when we find the echo of them in the press, will +raise in the conscience of Andreyev's readers a +cry of horror and pity.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>It is principally in the dramas which he has +written in the last few years<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> that Andreyev +has developed with most force and clearness his +favorite themes: the fear of living and dying, +the madness of believing in free-will, and the +nonsense of life, the weakness and vanity of +which he depicts for us.</p> + +<p>The first of these works to appear was "The +Life of Man," which is a tragic illustration of +this pessimism.</p> + +<p>When the curtain rises, "some one in grey," +holding a torch, informs the audience that Man +is about to be born. From this time on, his life, +lighted like a lamp, will burn until death extinguishes +it. And Man will live, docile and +obedient to the orders that come to him from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +On-High, through the intermediary of this +"some one," whom he does not know. Each +act of the play represents a period in the life +of Man. In the first act, Man has acquired +riches and glory, and is found feasting with his +friends in his sumptuous home. The guests +are enchanted with their host, whom they envy. +But happiness is a fugitive shadow; it soon +betrays the man, who becomes poor, loses his +son, falls into the most abject misery, and dies +in a filthy and infected cellar, surrounded by +vile beggars, while the torch, held by "some +one in grey," begins to grow weaker, and then +dies out. And the man, conscious of his powerlessness +to conquer fate, and conscious of his +weakness in face of the mysterious "some one +in grey," confounds in the same malediction +God, Satan, Fatality, and Life, who have united +to annihilate him.</p> + +<p>The themes of the "King of Famine" and +"Black Masks" offer a certain analogy to the +theme of "The Life of Man."</p> + +<p>From the top of a belfry the "King of +Famine," in company with "Time" and +"Death," incites a workingmen's revolt. He +inspires them with an absolute certainty of victory, +although he can see that the revolt will +be quelled and the rebels crushed. Events do +not delay, in fact, to verify the prophecy of +the monarch. Locked up, the leaders of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +revolt are condemned to death. The scene of +judgment in the last act is one of the finest in +the play. On one side are seated the sad and +dull judges; on the other, the elegant public, +which, with a feeling of fear and disgust, gazes +at the unfortunates whom the King of Famine +has robbed of almost all human semblance. +And in this play, also, Death reaps a bountiful +harvest.</p> + +<p>"Black Masks" is the study of a pathological +case which Andreyev has dramatized +after the fashion of de Maupassant's "The +Horla."</p> + +<p>The Duke Lorenzo, young, noble, and the +owner of a magnificent palace, is getting ready +to receive his guests, to whom he is giving, on +this evening, a masked ball. The masks arrive: +they are all black, and all look alike. They all +crowd around Lorenzo, whom this funereal sort +of masquerade bothers extremely. He cannot +find his wife among the guests. In fact, he +does not recognize any of them until, to cap +the climax, he meets his double, fights with him +and dies, without being able to discern who is +the real Lorenzo.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>At times, Andreyev tries to find the justification +of life, and looks for it in mysticism. He +then expounds a doctrine, according to which, +truth is individual and perhaps conceived by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +each man, thanks to direct intuition. Such is +the mystical truth which the author tries to +affirm in "Anathema."</p> + +<p>The play opens with a scene between Anathema, +the incarnation of Satan, and "He who +guards the gates," behind which is the mystery +of eternity. Anathema entreats the Guardian +to give him access. But it is in vain that +Anathema flatters and insults him; finally, +Anathema declares that he will choose from +among mankind a poor Jew, named David +Leiser, will enrich him and, in order to prove +the absolute nonsense of life, will make this man +a living protestation against the work of Him +who knows all. Disguised as the lawyer Nullius, +Anathema comes down to earth and gives millions +to David. The latter, the best of men, +distributes his riches among the poor. But the +beggars become more and more numerous, and +soon David finds that he is as poor as he was +before the visit of Anathema.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the crowd of paupers, always +increasing, ask more money from David; +they demand miracles from this man, whose +goodness has made him a saint, a superman, in +their eyes. They bring him corpses and ask +him to resuscitate them. David flees; the +crowd follows and stones him to death. But, +through his love for his fellow-men, David has +acquired immortality, as "He who guards the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +gates" tells Anathema, when, in the last act, the +evil archangel, beaten, returns to lie on the +threshold of the inconceivable mysterious.</p> + +<p>This admirable play, born of a philosophical +conception which relates it to Goethe's +"Faust," has been received with particular +interest. Andreyev, in writing it, has come +very near to solving the question of the meaning +of life, and its justification. And, to the +person who ponders a while over this work, it +will appear that it is not Anathema who entreats +"Him who guards the gates" to reveal +the mystery, but it is Andreyev himself, who, +carried away by the force of his genius, has +thrown himself, as if at an invincible wall, +against this pitiless guardian, the guardian of +the solution of the enigma of life.</p> + +<p>While "Anathema" is an abstract character, +whose form resembles more an algebraic +formula than a living process of human relations, +another of Andreyev's plays, "The Love +of the Student," written a short time before +"Anathema," gives us a little picture of customs, +alert and painted with the touch of a +master.</p> + +<p>Gloukortzev, a young student, falls in love +with a young girl whom her mother forces to +become a prostitute. Gloukortzev, young and +inexperienced, has not the slightest suspicion, +till the young girl herself reveals to him the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +horrible truth. And, perhaps for the first time +in his life, the gulf of necessity, toward which +fate drives men, opens before him. He sees +with horror that he cannot come to the rescue +of the girl he loves, because he is poor himself. +He cannot even buy her some food, when she +tells him that she has eaten nothing since the +night before. Placed before the absolute bare +reality of life, Gloukortzev does not know what +to do, and his comrades, good and upright fellows +like himself, have not the means to help +him.</p> + +<p>Several very successful scenes, in which the +author blends the tragic with the comic, deserve, +in this brief analysis, special attention. +In the first act, there is a students' picnic at +which Olga and Gloukortzev, still full of happiness, +are present. The spectator is drawn by +personal sympathy to the student Onoufry, a +good fellow, always drunk, who makes fun of +others and himself. We see him again in the +second act, when Gloukortzev finds out about +Olga's life. The poignant scene between the +poor girl and her lover is heightened and softened +by the arrival of the students, to whom +Gloukortzev tells his sorrow. The last two acts +take place in Olga's home. The mother brings +her daughter a rich "client." And, in the +next room, Gloukortzev suffers terribly, because +he knows that his beloved is still leading an infamous +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +life. In the same room, in the fourth +act, we are present at an orgy, during which +the student quarrels with an officer who has +come to spend the night with Olga. But Onoufry, +interfering in time, prevents an affray the +issue of which would probably have been fatal. +When the curtain falls, Gloukortzev, intoxicated, +is weeping; at his side is Olga, also +weeping, while Onoufry and the officer are singing: +"The days of our lives are as short as +the life of a wave."</p> + +<p>This drama, as well as most of Andreyev's +plays, has been produced with great success +in Russia and also in Europe.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII<br /> +DMITRY MEREZHKOVSKY</h2> + + +<p>Unlike Gorky, Andreyev, and Tchekoff, +Merezhkovsky was brought up in the midst of +comfort and elegance; he received a correct +and careful education; fate was solicitous for +him, in that it allowed him to develop that +spirit of objective observation and calm meditation +which permits a man to look down on the +spectacle of life, and indulge in philosophical +speculations very often divorced from reality.</p> + +<p>The son of an official of the imperial court, +Merezhkovsky was born in St. Petersburg in +1865. In this city he received his entire education, +and here he gained the degree of bachelor +of letters in 1886.</p> + +<p>He began his literary career with some poems +which won for him a certain renown. In 1888, +he published his first collection, and then a second +in 1892, "The Symbols." At the same +time, he published several translations from +Greek and Latin authors.</p> + +<p>As he was a friend of the unfortunate Nadson, +and a pupil of the humanitarian Pleshcheyev, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +Merezhkovsky wrote at first under the influence +of the liberal ideas of his early masters. +His verses, always harmonious, and a little +affected, soon belied this tendency and very +frankly revealed his preferences. In the first +collection of his poems, vibrant with generous +ideas, he proclaimed that he wanted, above all, +"the joy of life," and that a poet should not +have any other cult than that of beauty.</p> + +<p>The poem called "Vera" was his first real +success. The extreme simplicity of the plot—the +unfortunate love of a young professor and +of a young weakly girl who dies of consumption +in the very flower of youth—and the +very faithful reproduction of the intellectual +life of Russia in 1880, give to this work the +importance of a document in some ways almost +historic.</p> + +<p>This poem is like a last tribute paid by the +author to the humanitarian and realistic tendencies +of Russian literature. Afterward, +yielding to the inclinations of his nature and +his taste for classical antiquity, Merezhkovsky +insensibly changed. While acquiring, both in +prose and in verse, an incontestable mastery, +he could now look only for a cold and haughty +beauty which was sufficient unto itself. The +beginning was hard, but then all came easier. +After critical articles on the trend of modern +literature, he published "The Reprobate," a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +bold dithyrambic on ancient Greek philosophy. +The poetry that followed was clearly Epicurean +and in complete contradiction to the altruistic +tendencies of the neo-Christian period, which +found an arch enemy in Nietzsche, whose philosophy +evidently influenced Merezhkovsky. +However, this evolution did not have a very +favorable effect on his poetry; it bordered on +an art the clarity of which approached dryness, +while at the same time its lack of tenderness +reduced its symbolism to an artificial lyricism +or to lifeless allegories.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Merezhkovsky works with untiring constancy +to glorify antiquity. He has made excellent +translations of Sophocles, Euripides, and of +"Daphne and Chloe," that idyl of Longus that +charmed both Goethe and Catherine II. He +chooses the characters of his new poems from +Greek and Latin mythology, and from themes +inspired by an ardent love of paganism. He +has written three prose works of considerable +value: "The Death of the Gods," "The Resurrection +of the Gods,"<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> and "Peter and +Alexis." The general idea of all of these is +the struggle between Greek polytheism and +Christianity, between Christ and Antichrist, to +use the author's expression, or, as Dostoyevsky +used to say, between the "man-God" and the +"God-man." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> + +<p>This struggle touches upon the gravest +problem that can occupy the human mind, and +continually puts before us this perplexing question: +"Should the purpose of life be only the +search for happiness and beauty, or must we +admit, as a law of nature, the dogma of suffering +and death?" The former of these conceptions +found its supreme formula in Greek +paganism. The ultimate expansion of the latter +leads us, on the one hand, to faith,—to the +religion of sacrifice, and, on the other hand, +into the domain of philosophy,—to the destruction +of the desire to live, as conceived by +Schopenhauer. It is this struggle between the +two principles of Hellenic philosophy and Christian +faith that Merezhkovsky has tried to show +us by fixing, in his novels, the historic moments +when this struggle reached its greatest intensity; +and by making appear in these periods +the characters who, according to him, are most +typical and representative. For this reason he +has chosen to give his readers pictures of the +three epochs which he considers as culminating: +first, the last attempt made to restore the worship +of the gods a short time after the Emperor +Constantine had brought about their ruin; secondly, +the Renaissance, which, in spite of triumphant +Christianity, shows us a glorious renewal +of the arts and sciences of antiquity; +finally, the beginning of the 18th century, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +reign of Peter the Great, who tried to make a +place for the gods of antiquity in Russia, where +they were regarded with horror by the orthodox +clergy.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In his novel, "The Death of the Gods," +Merezhkovsky has painted the first of these +epochs, the different phases of which revolve +about the principal hero, the emperor Julian +the Apostate. In "The Resurrection of the +Gods" he develops, in sumptuous frescoes, the +age of the Renaissance, personified by Leonardo +da Vinci, who best typifies the character +and tendencies of that time. In "Peter and +Alexis," he retraces Russian life in the beginning +of the 18th century, when it was dominated +by the extraordinary character of Peter +the Great.</p> + +<p>Julian the Apostate was one of the last idolaters +of expiring paganism. But he could do +nothing against the infatuation of the masses +who were embracing the new religion, and it was +in vain that he employed both so much kindness +and so much violence in order to suppress Christianity. +The reign of the gods was irrevocably +ended. His soul filled with rage when he saw +that he was powerless to change the course of +events. He ended by undertaking a foolhardy +expedition into Persia, thinking that that was +the only way in which to defeat Christ, triumph +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +over the "cursed" religion, and bring back +victoriously the altars of the dead gods. But +the Olympians on whom he had counted were of +no service to him. According to the Christian +legend, it was then, at the moment of death, that +he cried out: "Galilean, thou hast conquered!" +They say that he added: "Let the Galileans +conquer, for the victory will be ours, ... later. +The gods will come back ... we shall all be +gods."</p> + +<p>This scene is one of the finest in the book. +Surrounded by some faithful friends, Julian +speaks, with his last breath, the words which +one of these friends, the historian Ammianus +Marcellinus, has recorded.</p> + +<p>"His voice was low but clear. His whole +presence breathed forth intellectual triumph, +and from his eyes there still gleamed invincible +will. Ammianus's hand trembled as he wrote. +But he knew that he was writing on the tables +of history, and transmitting to future generations +the words of a great emperor:</p> + +<p>"'Listen, friends; my hour is come, perhaps +too soon. But you see that I, like an +honest debtor, rejoice in giving back my life +to Nature, and feel in my soul neither pain nor +fear; nothing but cheerfulness, and a presentiment +of eternal repose.... I have done my +duty, and have nothing to repent. From the +days when, like a hunted animal, I awaited +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +death in the palace of Marcellum, in Cappadocia, +up to the time when I assumed the purple +of the Roman Cæsars, I have tried to keep my +soul spotless. If I have failed to do all that I +desired, do not forget that our earthly deeds +are in the hands of Fate. And now I thank the +Eternal Ruler for having allowed me to die, +not after a long sickness nor at the hands of +an executioner, but on the battlefield, in full +youth, with work ahead of me still to be done.... +And, my dear friends, tell both my friends +and my enemies, how the Hellenes, endowed with +divine wisdom, can die....'"</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Revenge for the dying emperor was long in +coming. But now, after eleven centuries, the +prophecy of Julian is accomplished: heroic antiquity, +everlastingly young, arises from the +grave. On all sides the gods are resurrected. +Their marble effigies, so long buried, reappear. +Both the powerful and the humble receive them +with enthusiasm and rejoice at seeing them. It +is an irresistible outburst which carries with it +all classes of the Italian people. Like a wind-blown +flame, Greek genius inspires a new life +in the world. But, while a sweeter and more +humane moral feeling tries to liberalize the +church, the sombre voice of Savonarola, hardened +by the terrible corruption of manners, +mounts ever more menacingly: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, Italy! oh, Rome! I am going to deliver +you up into the hands of a people who will +efface you from among the nations. I see them, +the enemies who descend like hungry tigers.... +Florence, what have you done? Do you +want me to tell you? Your iniquity has heaped +up the measure; prepare for a terrible plague! +Oh, Lord, thou art witness that I tried to keep +off this crumbling ruin from my brothers; but +I can do no more, my strength is failing me. Do +not sleep, oh, Lord! Dost Thou not see that +we are becoming a shame to the world? How +many times we have called to Thee! How many +tears we have shed! Where is Thy providence? +Where is Thy goodness? Where is Thy fidelity? +Stretch forth Thy helping hand to us!"</p> + +<p>And thus the antagonism between the "God-man" +and the "man-God" of Hellenic paganism +expresses itself more strongly than ever before.</p> + +<p>The picture of the Renaissance that Merezhkovsky +paints for us is very full, very rich, at +times even a little overburdened with episodes +and people. One constantly rubs shoulders +with Leonardo da Vinci, the duchess Beatrice +of Este, regent of Milan, the favorite Lucrecia +Crivelli, the mysterious Gioconda, Charles VIII, +Louis XII and Francis I, kings of France, and +also with Cæsar Borgia; we find here the +preaching of Savonarola, the death of the pope +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +Alexander VI (Borgia), Marshal Trivulce, the +triumphal entry of the French into Milan, the +diplomacy of Niccolo <a class="corr" name="TC_6" id="TC_6" title="and "> </a>Machiavelli. In +fact, as has been said above, there are too many +events and characters.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Two centuries go by and now we come to the +third novel, "Peter and Alexis." The scene is +in Russia, and the hero is Peter the Great, whom +Merezhkovsky represents as a worshipper of +things Olympian. He gives a magnificent description +of the orgies held by the emperor in +honor of Bacchus and Venus, especially the +latter, whose statue he expressly ordered from +Rome and installed in the Summer Garden at +St. Petersburg.</p> + +<p>In a veritable fairyland of avenues, of yoke-elms +and flower-beds in geometric designs, of +enormous baskets filled with the choicest flowers, +of straight canals, of ponds, of islets, of magnificent +fountains, such a fairyland as Watteau +would have dreamed of, there is a Venetian +fête with all sorts of fire-works and illuminations; +small crafts, adorned with flags, are filled +with men in golden garments, girded with +swords, and wearing three-cornered hats and +buckled shoes; and the women are dressed in +velvet and covered with jewels.</p> + +<p>The Tsar himself opens the case, and helps in +placing the goddess on her pedestal. Again, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +as two hundred years before in Florence, the +resurrected goddess, Aphrodite, emerges from +the grave. The cords stretch, the pulleys creak; +she rises higher and higher. Peter is almost +of the same superhuman height as the statue. +And his face, close to that of Aphrodite, remains +noble: the man is worthy of the goddess....</p> + +<p>"The Immortal One—Aphrodite—was +still the same that she was on the hillside in +Florence; she had progressed further and +further, from age to age, from people to people, +halting nowhere, till in her victorious march she +had reached the very ends of the earth, the +Hyperborean Scythia, beyond which there is +naught but darkness and death...."</p> + +<p>But what miseries this magnificent façade +conceals! Not far off, on an island in the river, +one can see people who are watching the fête +and who think that they are present at one of +the spectacles forerunning doomsday. Among +the crowd are seen the "raskolnik" Cornelius, +old Vitalya of the "runners," deserters, the +merchant Ivanov, the clerk Dokounine ... +and several others. In the few remarks that +they exchange, we can see that, for them, Peter +the Great is the Antichrist, "the beast announced +by the Gospel."</p> + +<p>Such is the tie that binds Peter the Great, +Julian, and Leonardo together. But this tie is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +weakened by the fact that Peter, an essentially +practical and utilitarian genius, was not the +man to become inspired with Hellenic poetry, +and if the author introduces the Tsar into the +society of Julian the Apostate and of Leonardo +da Vinci, it is because Peter the Great was one +of those indefatigable strugglers, who, to attain +their ends, put themselves above the obligations +of ordinary morality, one of those supermen, +who hesitate at nothing in satisfying the instincts +of their egoisms, of their dominating +wills. In fact, the heroes of Merezhkovsky's +novels all belong in the category of the Nietzschean +type of superman, which explains their +philosophical relationship and the sort of trilogy +which these three novels form. Thus, +Julian the Apostate, who tried in vain during +his life to make history repeat itself, by transplanting +pagan traditions into a plot which had +become unfit to receive them, and who died in +the effort to preserve a faith—does not this +man, then, incarnate that implacable pursuit +of the "integral personality" so extolled by +Nietzsche? Leonardo da Vinci, that great universal +and keen mind, who gave himself over +to all the impulses of his creative genius, not +caring whether the impulses are worthy or +harmful, appears as a luminous manifestation +of that state of the soul "beyond good and +bad" which characterizes the superman. And +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +is not Peter the Great also a veritable superman; +a man who, through his iron will, upset all the +ancient institutions of aged Russia, and who +did not even prevent the assassination of his +son Alexis, inasmuch as he thought that it was +for the good of his country?</p> + +<p>At all events, the interest and value of "Peter +and Alexis" does not rest in its philosophic +ideas and in the Nietzschean obsession, but +rather in the art with which Merezhkovsky +faithfully depicts the psychology of his heroes. +The successive phases of this terrible tragedy +lead up to a striking climax, and set off, one +against the other, temperaments so entirely opposed +that the reciprocal tenderness of the +father and son is transformed finally into suspicion +and hate, and the father resolves to sacrifice +the life of his son to what appears to him +to be the right of the State. The novel, although +a little overburdened with details, is an +excellent analysis of the customs of the Russia +of former times.</p> + +<p>The source of the struggle between Peter +and Alexis was known. Peter represented the +West and the new ideas, while Alexis represented +the Russia of old, rebellious to innovations +which she considered dangerous. The author +thus symbolizes the eternal conflict between the +past and the future. He has analyzed with +consummate art the characters of his two heroes. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +Peter is a man full of contrasts; he is, like +many Russians, "a brute and a child," by turns +violent and gentle, knavish and simple, cruel +and kind, practical and mystical, proud and +modest. Possessed of a prodigious activity, he +conceives tremendous projects which he immediately +wants to put into execution, inspecting +everything, verifying everything, finding +no care beneath his dignity, talking to the +workingmen as if he were one of them, not +making long speeches, and fiercely, with cries +of rage, fighting dishonest contractors and +tradesmen.</p> + +<p>Set over against this irascible father, endowed +with herculean strength, the Tsarevich +Alexis, thin, pale, and delicate, makes a sad +figure. Most historians, following the example +of Voltaire, have represented this prince as a +narrow-minded person, a victim of the bigoted +and intolerant education of the clergy. +Merezhkovsky, a more discreet psychologist, +does not rely on these superficial data, but +shades the portrait admirably. He makes +Alexis an intelligent man, not like his father, +but a man with a comprehensive, subtle spirit. +He probably was crushed by the powerful individuality +of his father. As he is closely in +touch with the people, and knows their aspirations, +Alexis judges the work of his father with +delicate insight: "My father hopes," he says, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +"to do everything in a great hurry. One, two, +three, and the affair is settled. He does not +realize that things done hastily do not +last...."</p> + +<p>While Peter is aware of his unpopularity, +his son is loved by the townspeople, the peasants, +and the clergy. They say that, "Alexis +is a man who seeks God and who does not want +to upset everything: he is the hope of the +nation."</p> + +<p>What the author has best shown in this novel +is the degree to which the high society of this +time was, under its exterior gorgeousness, barbarous +and vulgar. A German girl, maid-of-honor +to the wife of Alexis, defines it in the +following way: "Brandy, blood, coarseness. It +is hard to say which is most prominent,—perhaps +it is coarseness." The boyards<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> she describes +as: "Impudent savages, baptized bears, +who only make themselves more ridiculous when +they try to ape the Europeans."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>As is evident, these three works of Merezhkovsky +belong to the "genre" of the historical +and philosophical novel which demands, besides +the power to call up past ages, a careful education +and the gift of clear-sightedness. And the +novelist completely fulfills these requirements. +He knows his subject, he studies all the necessary +documents with the greatest care and follows +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +every story to its source; finally, before +taking up his pen, he visits the countries and +the cities in which the stories take place. Thus, +in order better to understand Leonardo da +Vinci, in order to live his life, the author of +"The Resurrection of the Gods" traversed +Italy and France from one end to the other, in +the same way that he had traveled all over +Greece so that he could give us a more life-like +Julian. With the same care, he spent a long +time reading Russian historical documents in +order to present the reader with a better picture +of the customs of the time of Peter the Great. +The result is a series of historical pictures, almost +perfect in their accuracy. If Merezhkovsky +had no other merit than this faithful +portrayal of the past, his novels even then +would be read with interest and pleasure.</p> + +<p>Some critics have remarked that the most +glaring defect in his books lies in their construction. +His novels often disregard the laws +relating to this sort of literature, which demand +the clever grouping of the characters and events +around a principal hero. It is true that this +unity and the sense of proportion absolutely +necessary for any sort of harmony are not to +be found in his works. The details predominate +to the detriment of important facts; the people +of secondary importance are sometimes drawn +better than the heroes themselves, whose adventures +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +are entirely unconnected. There is a +series of jumps from one situation to another, +with gaps and interruptions of considerable +length, which break the chain of events. It is +for this reason that, instead of seeing a historical +fresco, we see a whole gallery of sketches, +executed with subtle artistry, but insufficiently +connected with the main action of the drama.</p> + +<p>These observations apply especially to the +first attempt of the young author: "The Death +of the Gods"; "The Resurrection of the +Gods" and "Peter and Alexis" are more skilfully +composed. They indicate a stronger +tendency towards unity; one feels that an infinitely +firmer and more experienced brush has +been used; the colors are richer and they do +not suffer from that monotony of effect and +of color so noticeable in "The Death of the +Gods," where the author too often uses the same +devices. As to the characters of Leonardo da +Vinci and Peter the Great, they are very carefully +worked out, and the events in the lives +of the Italian master and the Russian Tsar are +narrated with magnificent psychological analysis, +which forces the reader to sympathize with +the heroes even more than he would naturally.</p> + +<p>Merezhkovsky has also been accused of being +over-educated. The innumerable documents +presented do not bear closely enough upon the +action, the result being that many of his pages +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +read like mere annals. They interest the reader +but do not move him. This is one reason why +some critics, essentially different in spirit from +Merezhkovsky, have believed themselves right +in denying that he has any talent. But this +accusation falls of itself in the face of the +power of the inspiration which pervades his +work, and the dramatic sense which he displays +in setting forth the events and personages. It +is impossible, for instance, to read without the +deepest emotion the story of the last days of +Leonardo da Vinci, where the author establishes +the tragic contrast between the outward signs +of glory, the superficial honors with which this +genius is overwhelmed, and the moral solitude +which afflicts him to the very end, which comes +when he is among people who are strangers to +his soul. All the childhood recollections of this +same Da Vinci are full of charm. There is a +veritable master spirit shown in the chapters +in which the author portrays for us the enigmatic +and seductive Mona Lisa. Finally, he +has given us a relief of rare energy in the terrible +struggle between Peter and Alexis, between +the man of iron whom nothing can affect +and his son, kind and timid, who, while having +a mortal fear of his father, still loves him. As +to certain pages, like those which describe the +strange inner life of the Tsarina Marfa Matveyevna, +"living by the light of candles, in an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +old house savouring of the oil of night-lamps, +the dust and the putrification of centuries," +these pages are a veritable tour de force if only +because of the plasticity and richness of the +author's vocabulary.</p> + +<p>Finally, what tragic horror there is in the +supreme struggle where the emperor, the assassin +of his son, sees his isolation and feels his +weakness, "like a large deer gnawed at by flies +and lice until the blood runs!"</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Besides his novels Merezhkovsky has published +several essays, on Pushkin, Maykov, +Korolenko, Calderon, the French neo-romanticists, +Ibsen and others.... The most important +of all are: "The Causes of the Decadence +of Modern Russian Literature" and +"Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky." He reveals here +a fine and penetrating power of observation, +which, however, is often obscured because of +his obsession by Nietzschean ideas. Moreover, +he does not hide his antipathy to the people +whose literary tastes and ideas differ from his. +From this characteristic comes strange exaggerations +and a somewhat limited appreciation +of men and events. An example of this, for +instance, is the impression that he gives in his +study of the causes of the decadence of modern +Russian literature, the subject of which imposes +upon the author the double task of looking +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +up the causes of this decadence and also +proving that it exists. He has not succeeded. +In fact, it appears that this idea of decadence +exists only in the minds of the author and of a +small circle of writers who have the same ideas +about the mission of literature. Merezhkovsky +is absolutely right in all that he says about the +fact that Russian writers live solitary, deprived +of that precious excitation which is felt when +one is in contact with original and different +temperaments; but if you add to this, as he +has done, the statement that Russia does not +possess a literature worthy of the name, you +go too far. Without being a great scholar, it +is easy to perceive that our contemporary Russian +authors are legitimate sons of Turgenev, +Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, and grandsons of +Gogol, who himself is closely related to Pushkin. +A democratic and humanitarian realism—widely +separated from the Nietzscheism of +Merezhkovsky—strongly characterizes the +Russian lineage.</p> + +<p>In his book on Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky he +spends a long time in differentiating between +the artistic intuition of these two great masters, +who are, according to him, the most profound +expression of the popular and higher element +of Russian culture.</p> + +<p>What strikes him first in Tolstoy is the insistence +with which he describes "animal man." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +In a kind of "leitmotiv" Merezhkovsky has +shown us the Tolstoyan characters individualized +by very particular corporal signs. +"Tolstoy," he says, "has, to the very highest +degree, the gift of clairvoyance of the flesh; +even when dead, the flesh has a tongue." He +is the subtle painter of all sensations and he is +a master in this domain. But his art diminishes +singularly, and even disappears when he tries +to analyze the soul within the flesh. Dostoyevsky, +on the other hand, triumphs in his dialogue; +one sees his characters because one +shares all their sadness, their passions, their +intelligence, and their sensibility. Dostoyevsky +is the painter of the depths of the human soul, +which he portrays with almost supernatural +acuteness. And, as Tolstoy is "the seer of the +flesh," so is Dostoyevsky "the seer of the soul."</p> + +<p>Having established this difference in principle, +Merezhkovsky, by constant deduction, +concludes, in consonance with his favorite idea, +that Tolstoy personifies "the pagan spirit" at +its height, while Dostoyevsky represents "the +Christian spirit." There is a great deal of fine +drawn reasoning in all of this, some very original +ideas, but a great many paradoxes. Even +the very personality of Tolstoy, the analysis +of which occupies a large part of the book, is +belittled in the hands of Merezhkovsky. Instead +of a noble character, one sees a very vain +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +person, preoccupied only with himself. It is in +this simple way that Merezhkovsky explains the +moral evolution which led Tolstoy to make those +long and sad studies of a kind of life compatible +with the true good of humanity, and forced him +to them by "the anguish of the black mystery +of death" which, having got possession of the +author of "Anna <a class="corr" name="TC_7" id="TC_7" title="Karenin">Karenina</a>" in his sixtieth year, +in the midst of a life of prosperity, made him +hate his fortune and his comfort, which formerly +had been so dear to him. In the refusal of +Tolstoy to "bow to the great authorities of +the literary world, such as Æschylus, Dante, +and Shakespeare," a refusal which is only the +logical consequence of his ideas on the principle +and purpose of art, Merezhkovsky can +only see a lack of general culture. Finally, +the sort of life he led toward the end of his +days came only "from the desire to know and +taste the pleasure of simplicity in all its subtleties." +"The admirable Epicurus," says Merezhkovsky, +"that joyous sage, who, in the very +center of Athens, cultivated with his own hands +a tiny garden, and taught men not to believe +in any human or divine chimeras, but to be contented +with the simple happiness that can be +given by a single sunbeam, a flower, a sup of +water from an earthen cup, or the summer +time, would recognize in Tolstoy his faithful +disciple, the only one, perhaps, who survives in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +this barbaric silence, where American comfort, +a mixture of effeminacy and indigence, has +made one forget the real purpose of life...."</p> + +<p>In writing these lines, Merezhkovsky must +have forgotten that Tolstoy, in proclaiming his +ideas on religion and humanity, prepared himself, +not for Epicurean pleasures, but for seclusion +in one of the terrible dungeons of a +Russian monastery (now in disuse) under the +persecutions of a temporal and secular authority, +and it was not his fault that, by a sort of +miracle, he escaped this fate.</p> + +<p>Dostoyevsky's life is the exact opposite of +Tolstoy's. The story of Dostoyevsky's terrible +existence is probably known. Born in an alms-house, +he never ceased to suffer, and to love.... +It is hard to think of two people more +absolutely different than Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. +But Merezhkovsky loves violent contrasts; +in the sharp difference between these +two writers, he sees the permanent union of +two controlling ideas of the Russian Renaissance +and the imminence of a final sympathy, +symbolic of a concluding harmony.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>We have, by turns, studied Merezhkovsky +as a poet, a novelist, and a critic. The greatest +merit of his literary personality rests in +the perfect art with which he calls up the past.</p> + +<p>But Merezhkovsky is not only an artist. As +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +we have noted, his novels have, as their end, +one of the greatest contradictions of human +life,—the synthesis of the voluptuous representations +of the religion of classical antiquity +and the moral principles of Christianity. It +is, therefore, natural to ask whether he has in +any way approached his goal and just where +he sees the salvation of humanity, the present +situation of which seems to him desperate. The +answer to this question can be found in his book, +"Ham Triumphant."<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Our study of Merezhkovsky's +literary character would be incomplete +if the ideas of this book were not set +forth.</p> + +<p>According to Merezhkovsky, the present evil +in the world consists entirely in the moral void +which results from the disappearance of the +Christian ideal from the soul. The loss of this +ideal was inevitable, and even productive of +good, because it had been so mutilated and deformed +by the Church, that Christian religion +became a symbol of the reaction, and its God +synonymous with executioner. Humanity will +rid itself of Christianity. But nothing will +replace it, unless it be the philosophy of positivism, +a sort of material religion of the appetites +and the senses, which gives no answer to +our anguish and our mystical instincts. This +philosophy presided at the formation of a +miserable society, an egotistical and mediocre +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +bourgeoisie, who have no spiritual tendencies, +and are incapable of sacrificing themselves to +any ideal other than that of money.</p> + +<p>John Stuart Mill said that the bourgeoisie +would transform Europe into a +China; the Russian publicist Hertzen, frightened +by the victories of socialism, in 1848, +foresaw the end of European civilization, +drowned in a wave of blood. Merezhkovsky affirms +that the Chinese and the Japanese, being +the most complete and the most persevering +representatives of this "terrestrial" religion, +will without fail conquer Europe, where positivism +still bears some traces of Christian romanticism. +"The Chinese," he says, "are perfect +positivists, while the Europeans are not yet +perfect Chinese, and, in this respect, the Americans +are perfect Europeans." Where is one +to look for safety against this heavy load on +the understanding and this future humiliation? +In socialism, one says. But socialism, if it +is not yet bourgeois, is almost so. "The +starved proletariat and the rejected bourgeois +have different economic opinions," says +Merezhkovsky, "but their ideal is the same, +the pursuit of happiness." As it is but a step +from the prudence of the bourgeois to the +exasperated state of the starved proletariat, +this pursuit can lead to nothing else but international +atrocities of militarism and chauvinism. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +Progress having become the sole ambition +of the cultivated barbarians, satiety became +their religion, and the only hope of escaping +from this barbarism was to adopt the +religion of love, founded by Jesus. Jesus said +to those who were treated with violence, and +who, in turn, had used violence in trying to free +themselves: "Truth (love) will set you free." +These words, which identify truth with love, +contain in themselves the profoundest social +and personal morality. They inspired the first +martyrs of Christianity; but in time they were +forgotten by the Church. Succumbing to the +"diabolical seduction of power," religion itself +became a power, an autocracy; people submitted +to this power, and thus the Byzantine +and Russian orthodoxy came into existence. In +this manner, the morals of the government, antichristian +in essence, became the doctrine of +Christianity; and the particular morals of the +latter became transformed into a mysterious +gospel of life, relegating its aspirations to an +existence beyond the tomb. Now there is nothing +for Christianity to do but return to its first +sources and develop the principles of universal +religion found there. One should no longer be +concerned with heavenly and personal advantage, +but with earthly affairs and social conditions; +instead of being conquered by the government +one should conquer it, permeate it with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +one's spirit, and thus realize the prophecy in +the Apocalypse of the millennium of the saints +on earth, and destroy the forms of the power of +the government, the laws, and the empire. +Such a renewal of Christianity demands an energetic +struggle, self-forgetfulness, and martyrs. +But where is one to find the necessary +forces? Merezhkovsky does not see them in the +States of western Europe, because the "intellectuals" +there are antichristians and are +congealed in their bourgeois positivism. +"Above these Christian states, above these old +Gothic stores," says Merezhkovsky, "rises, +here and there, a Protestant wooden cross, half +rotted; or a Catholic one of iron, all rusted, +and no one pays any attention to them." What +purity and nobility remains can manifest itself +only in certain scattered individuals, in such +great hermits as Nietzsche, Ibsen, Flaubert, +Goethe in his old age; they are like deep artesian +wells which prove that, beneath the arid +earth there is still some flowing water. There +is nothing of this sort in Russia. Although +backward from the point of view of progress +and politics, this country produced the "intellectuals" +who form something unique in our +present civilization: in essence, they are anti-bourgeois. +"The positivism which the Russian +'intellectuals' have adopted by way of +imitation is rejected by their feelings, their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +conscience, and their will; it is an artificial +monument that is set up in their minds only."</p> + +<p>Merezhkovsky, then, has reason for thinking +that the social renovation of Christianity will +be accomplished in Russia. And as this work +is the especial concern of the clergy, Merezhkovsky, +who several years ago was present at +a meeting where the Russian priests affirmed +their desire to free themselves from the yoke +of their religious and secular chiefs, proposed +to accomplish this great mission. "It is indispensable," +he says, "for the Russian Church +to untie the knots that bind it to the decayed +forms of the autocracy, to unite itself to the +'intellectuals' and to take an active part in the +struggle for the great political and social deliverance +of Russia. The Church should not +think of its own liberty at present, but of martyrdom."</p> + +<p>We will not criticize these, perhaps illusory, +ideas and previsions of Merezhkovsky. Russian +life has become an enigma; who knows to +what moral crisis the social conscience may be +led by the present political crisis? Merezhkovsky's +Olympian æsthetics have made him a foreigner +in Russian literature. Yet as soon as +the tempest burst forth, certain familiar traits +showed themselves, traits common to the best +Russian writers and to the general spirit of +Russian literature. In his absolute, and even +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +exaggerated, distaste for "bourgeoisisme," and +his desire for an ideal, he is a legitimate son of +this literature. The nature of his ideas is in +harmony with those we have already found in +Tolstoy, with his gospel of Christian anarchism, +in Dostoyevsky, with his ideas about the "omni-humanity" +of the Russian spirit, in Vladimir +Solovyev, with his idea of universal theocracy, +and, finally, in Chadayev, one of the most remarkable +thinkers of the first half of the last +century, who, although now almost forgotten, +was the real source of all these ideas.</p> + +<p>Thus in the conception of socialized Christianity +Merezhkovsky seeks the end of the great +antithesis between the "God-man" and the +"man-God," between Christ and Bacchus, an +antithesis which makes the generality of men +often conduct themselves after the manner of +that German petty kingdom, of which Heine +speaks, where the people, while venerating +Christ, do not forget to honor Bacchus by +abundant libations. Merezhkovsky's idea +ought to appear in the form of a synthetic +fusion of the joyous religion of Greece and +the religion of love, as taught by Jesus.<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII<br /> +ALEXANDER KUPRIN</h2> + + +<p>The work of Kuprin contrasts strongly with +the writings of his predecessors and of his +contemporaries. It would be useless to try to +connect him with Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, or +Gorky. This does not mean that he came under +foreign influence. As a matter of fact his +work clearly shows the imprint of Slavic genius +and receives its richness from qualities which +have always appeared in Slavic literature,—sincerity +and accuracy of observation, a passionate +love for all manifestations of modern +life, lyrical fullness, and power of suggestion. +But Alexander Kuprin does not depict adepts +of the "religion of pity," nor the psychology +of the abnormal, the "pathological case," so +curious and rare, and so dear to the author of +"Crime and Punishment."<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> He does not reincarnate +the sad genius of Korolenko. He is +equally separated from Tolstoy and Gorky. +He is himself. That is to say, he is an exquisite +story-teller, profound and touching, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> +who imposes neither thesis nor moral upon his +reader, but paints life as it appears to him,—not +seen through the medium of a temperament,—but +in all sincerity, without too much ardor +or too much indifference.</p> + +<p>This author was born in 1870. After having +attended the Cadet School and the Military +School at Moscow, he entered military service +as an active lieutenant in 1890, but resigned +seven years later in order to devote his time to +literature. Before this, he had published several +stories.</p> + +<p>In spite of the undeniable talent which is +found in his earlier writings, the public hesitated +to praise him. Certain lucky circumstances, +however, favored the beginning of his +work. One of his relatives, at the start, offered +him a position on a magazine which she +was then editing. This was a wonderful opportunity +for him, for usually at his age the +more gifted writers are still groping around +for light. But merit alone seldom suffices to +form the basis of literary fame. Scandal is +often necessary to consecrate, as one might say, +a growing reputation. Kuprin, without seeking +to start a scandal, did so, in spite of himself, +when he published "The Duel," a study of +military life, in which he showed the most absolute +impartiality.</p> + +<p>To his great surprise, the public accepted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +this book as a new indictment of the army. It +was because the Manchurian campaign was so +recent. Every portrayal of military life +passed as a violent satire on the corrupt and +disgraced army. Kuprin in vain tried to +change this unexpected judgment. As he was +an ardent partisan of the theory of "art for +art's sake," he could not allow a purpose to be +attributed to his work. He had only faithfully +portrayed what he had witnessed in the course +of his brief career. But in order to strengthen +his defence, he alleged reasons which could not +be understood in an altruistic country. Besides, +several of his stories, such as, "The +Wedding," full of the dissolute life led by the +officers in their garrisons, "The Inquest," +where the author shows the violences to which +the Russian soldiers are subjected, "The +Night's Lodging," and "The Ensign of +the Army," which stigmatize certain lace-bedecked +"Lovelaces," only help to nullify his +best arguments. In short, his fame spread +rapidly and the young writer had to accept the +renown that became his.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>From that time on Kuprin's road was +mapped out. According to the dictates of his +fancy he depicts thousands of the ever-changing, +different aspects of life. He is equally +impelled to write about petty tradesmen, actors, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +acrobats, and sinners in the Crimea. To the +accomplishment of his task, he brings an over-minute +and cruel observation. With the genius +that is his he dwells on certain important, carefully +selected traits of people who live intensely.</p> + +<p>In "The Disciple," we see a young sharper +on a boat on the Volga. He has the tired eyes +of a precocious old man, stubby fingers, and +the hands of a murderer alert to strike the +fatal blow. He has just fleeced a party of +travelers, and he discovers, in a savory conversation +with an old cheat, who has found him +out, that his soul is being consumed with insatiable +desires. And as the old sharper admires +the "savoir-faire" of his young friend, +the latter observes, not without scorn, that they +belong to two very different categories of +sharpers. "Among you old fellows," he sneers, +"there was romanticism. You loved beautiful +women, champagne, music and the song of the +tziganes.... We, however, we others are +tired of everything. Fear and debauch are +equally unknown to us...."</p> + +<p>After the sharper we have the spy in "Captain +Rybnikov." He passes for a Siberian, and +says that he has been wounded in the Russo-Japanese +war. He goes out into society a +great deal, and is most commonly seen in the +military offices and in the best "salons" of St. Petersburg. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +One night, when he is asleep at a +courtesan's house, he mutters the war-cry of +Japan: "Banzai! Banzai!" The courtesan denounces +him to a policeman who happens to be +there, and the pseudo-captain, who is no other +than a colonel in the Japanese army, is arrested.</p> + +<p>Before leaving the military world, let us +analyze "The Delirium." Captain Markov +has been ordered by the government to suppress +the revolution in certain provinces. Disgusted +with the duty of daily executioner, the +officer frets himself into a high fever. A non-commissioned +officer enters to ask him to decide +the fate of three men who have been arrested +the previous night, one of whom is an old man +with a peaceful and strangely beautiful face. +The sergeant knows that they ought to be shot, +but these executions are so repulsive to him, +that he is anxious to have the sentence of death +confirmed by his chief, who seems to him to have +the sole responsibility.</p> + +<p>"I don't want you ever again to ask me +such a question," cries Markov, who has guessed +the intention of his subordinate. "You know +what you ought to do." And he dismisses him. +But the soldier remains motionless.</p> + +<p>"What else do you want?" asks the captain.</p> + +<p>"The men," answers the stubborn soldier, +"are anxious to know what to do with the ... +old ... man...." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Get out of here!" the officer roars, exasperated. +"Do you understand?"</p> + +<p>"Very well, captain. But as to-day is December +31, allow me to offer you my best wishes +for a happy New Year."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, my friend," replies Markov in +a voice which has suddenly become soft.</p> + +<p>During the night the captain begins to rave. +The old man whom he has just condemned to +death appears and speaks to him. He says +that his name is Cain, and confesses the murder +of his brother. Cursed by God, he wanders +disconsolately through the centuries, followed +by the groaning of his victim.</p> + +<p>Just before dawn the sergeant awakens +Markov.</p> + +<p>"What about those three men?" asks the +captain eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Shot, captain!"</p> + +<p>"And the old man? The old man?... +what have you done with him?"</p> + +<p>"We shot him along with the others, captain."</p> + +<p>The next day Captain Markov asks for his +discharge, having decided to leave the army for +good.</p> + +<p>This story, which is one of the most powerful +in Russian literature, would have been enough +to bring the young writer renown, even if he +had never written anything else. But his work, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +which is already imposing in amount, abounds +in pages of great merit, and especially in well-constructed, +brief, tragic stories.</p> + +<p>Under this class should be mentioned +"Humble People," a short story, the scene of +which is laid in the extreme north. It is the +story of a close friendship between a nurse in +a dispensary and a school-teacher.</p> + +<p>Snowed in by a terrible winter—a winter of +seven months—these two friends find in their +daily meetings the only pleasure that can make +their enforced solitude easier for them. However, +in spite of their mutual friendship, they +often find their lot hard to endure. And they +continually quarrel, only to become reconciled +almost immediately. But now an unexpected +event comes to break the monotony of their +existence. They are invited to a dance, given +by the priest of the neighboring village, and +there they fall in love with two charming young +girls, who, they are happy to find, are not indifferent +to them. Once at home, they bestow +lavish praises on their new friends. With the +touching devotion of simple and starved hearts +they speak about them as if the young girls already +were theirs.</p> + +<p>"Mine has eyes of velvet," says the one.</p> + +<p>"And mine has hair of pure gold," replies +the other.</p> + +<p>Gradually, however, their recollections grow +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +weaker, and fade, just as flowers do. Their +sad life would have begun again if the spring +had not come, and with it brought deliverance. +The two friends, full of new sprightliness, get +up a fishing party one day. A foolish accident +makes them both fall into the river, and they +are drowned.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>"The End of a Story," which we are about +to analyze, deserves, as does "Humble People," +a special place in the work of Kuprin. It is a +little masterpiece of graceful emotion.</p> + +<p>Kotik, a child of seven, and the son of a +celebrated painter, teases his father to tell +him a story. The father racks his memory. +He has told so many that his fount is almost +dry.</p> + +<p>Suddenly an idea comes to him. Is not his +own life a tender, melancholy, and charming +story? It is not a long time, twelve years at +the most, since he was a poor, obscure painter, +neglected by his masters and tormented by the +miseries of his life. Discouraged, he used continually +to curse the hour in which he chose to +devote himself to art. One day, a young girl, +believing in his talent, gave him her hand and +comforted him with her tenderness and angelic +goodness. And love had triumphed.</p> + +<p>To-day his name is celebrated among the +most famous, and his paintings adorn the galleries +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +of kings and emperors. The plot of the +story is ready.</p> + +<p>"Listen," says the father to his son. "There +was once upon a time a king who, feeling that +he was going to die, gathered his many children +about him and said to them: 'I will leave +my kingdom to that one of you who can enter +a marble palace situated in a very dense forest, +and there light his torch from the sacred fire +which always burns there. The forest is full +of wild beasts and venomous serpents. The +palace is guarded by three lions: Envy, Poverty, +and Doubt.'</p> + +<p>"The young people set out on the road. +But, while the older ones search outside of the +forest for a road that is not beset with dangers, +the youngest courageously starts on the regular +path. He there is exposed to many dangers +and temptations. Already, his strength failing, +he feels that he is almost on the point of +succumbing, when a fairy appears and stretches +forth her hand to him. The young man blesses +this providential aid. The fairy brings back +his courage and leads him to the palace."</p> + +<p>Near them on the terrace, concealed by some +plants, there sat a young and beautiful woman +who was eagerly listening to the story. She +was Kotik's mother, the fairy of the story, and +the favorite pupil of the painter. Some of her +paintings had already made a sensation. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p> + +<p>The story ended, the father led the child to +his room and with the help of his nurse undressed +him and put him to bed.</p> + +<p>"He had started back towards the terrace, +when suddenly two arms embraced his +neck, while two sweet lips pressed against +his.</p> + +<p>"The story was finished."</p> + +<p>With these words the story really ends.</p> + +<p>Kuprin shows the same grace and the same +delicate emotion in his recent story, "The Garnet +Necklace," a tale which is analogous to the +legend of the troubadour Geoffrey Rudel, which +has been made into a play by Rostand in his +"Princesse Lointaine."</p> + +<p>Geltov, a Russian petty official, loves the +beautiful Princess Sheïne with a desperate love. +After long hesitation he decides to send her a +garnet necklace, with a tender and respectful +note enclosed. Alas! his gift is returned to +him and the husband of the princess angrily +threatens the naïve lover. The latter has not +the strength to face the situation, and commits +suicide. But before dying he writes to the +princess:—</p> + +<p>"I saw you for the first time eight years ago +in a theatre, and since that time I have loved +you with boundless passion. It is not my fault, +Princess, that God has sent this great happiness +to me.... My life for the last eight years +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +has been bound up in one thought,—you. Believe +what I say, believe me because I am going +to die.... I am neither a sick man nor an +enthusiast.... I consider my love for you +as the greatest happiness that God could have +given me.... This happiness I have enjoyed +for eight years. May God give you happiness, +and may nothing henceforth trouble +you...."</p> + +<p>This naïve and touching letter moves the +princess. At the grave of her unhappy lover, +she recalls the words of an old friend of her +father's: "Perhaps he was an abnormal man or +a maniac.... Perhaps,—who knows?—your +life was illumined by a love of which +women often dream, a kind of love that one +does not see nowadays."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>One can judge by these summaries how little +Kuprin "pads" his stories. Most of them are +reduced to a commonplace anecdote, which the +author is careful not to ornament in the least. +He respects truth to such a degree that he +offers it to his readers in its disconcerting bareness. +He would think that he was failing in +his duty as an observer if he disguised it by +any literary mechanism.</p> + +<p>His work, stripped of all general ideas and +of all subjective aspects, is of a rather curious +impersonality. Nothing ever betrays his intimate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> +thoughts or feelings. And it is in this +respect that he differs so much from most of +the writers of to-day, who give themselves up +completely to their attractive heroes and vituperate +their odious people. Kuprin's objective +tendencies are best shown in his story called +"Peaceful Life."</p> + +<p>A retired official, Nassedkine, who has been +enriched by the gratuities which he has exacted +from those who have had to do business with +him, has made it his duty to play censor in his +little town. He makes use of a very discreet +and edifying method: to all of the citizens +whose honor is in danger, he sends one or more +anonymous letters telling them of the "extent +of their misfortune."</p> + +<p>Nassedkine has just finished writing two +laconic notes, one of which is to a young +woman whom he tells to visit one of her friends +on a certain day, when, he assures her, her husband +is always to be found there. At this moment +the church bells ring, and Nassedkine, who +is religious, goes to vespers. On entering, he +notices a fashionable lady, all dressed in black, +in a dark corner of the church. Nassedkine, +more than any one else, knows the heart-rending +story of this woman. She had recently, against +her will, married an excessively rich wood merchant +who was almost forty years older than +she. One day, when she thought that her husband +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +had gone off on business, he returned unexpectedly +and found her in the arms of one +of his employees. He had been warned that +same morning, by an anonymous letter, that +his wife was deceiving him.</p> + +<p>"Beside himself with rage, the merchant +threw his employee out of the house, and then +satiated his brutal jealousy on his wife. He +struck her with his big, hobnailed boots; then +he called his coachman and valet, made her undress +completely, and had each of them in turn +lash her beautiful body until, covered with +blood, she fainted away.</p> + +<p>"And as the priest at the altar was reciting: +'Lord, I offer Thee the tears of a woman who +has sinned,' Nassedkine repeated this phrase +with satisfaction. Then he left the church in +order to post the two letters he had just written."</p> + +<p>This characteristic dryness does not come, as +one is liable to think, from ill-disguised insensibility. +Kuprin's soul, on the contrary, is of +such exquisitely fine texture that all human +emotions vibrate there. The few times when he +has expressed himself are enough to convince +the reader. He has often pitied women with a +discreet, fraternal compassion. He has also +devoted many pages to the sufferings of animals, +be it the story of circus horses hurt by +the rolling of the ship, or the story of a kitten +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +mutilated by wolves. Only a few words are +needed to make us tender and to bring tears to +our eyes. And it is with the eyes of a poet or +a child that he has viewed nature.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>No one ever studies a Russian author without +finally asking himself what the author's influence +was on the political manifestations of +society. The answer here is not hard to find: +Kuprin, observer, artist, and painter of life, +has had no influence. If we except one story, +"The Toast," in which he shows his deep affection +for the oppressed classes, nothing in +his work betrays even slightly his opinions on +this subject. Always, the thought of Kuprin +deserts the social struggle to fly into more vast +and serene surroundings than the theatre of +wars and revolutions. And he is doubtless +ready to exalt above this terrible struggle, the +one thing that he judges eternal, the love of +woman.</p> + +<p>"There have been kingdoms and kings," he +says in his beautiful novel, "Sulamite," "and +the only trace that is left of them is the wind +in the desert. There have been long and pitiless +wars, at the end of which the names of the +leaders sparkled like stars: time has effaced all +memory of them.</p> + +<p>"But the love of a poor girl of the vineyards +and a great king<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> will never be effaced and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +will always live in the minds of men, because +love is divinely beautiful, because every woman +who loves is a queen, because love is stronger +than death."</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX<br /> +WRITERS IN VOGUE</h2> + + +<p>As we have already noted in the first chapter +of this book, Russian literature from 1830 to +1905 is distinctly different from European +literature: it is, above all, a literature of action +and social propagandas which puts the popular +cause in the place of prominence.</p> + +<p>This cause has been abandoned by several +writers during the last few years. From 1905 +to 1910, an evolution, accelerated by the most +audacious hopes and the most lively beliefs, has +transformed the story and the novel, and has +brought to the front certain authors who, up +to this time, had scarcely been known. It seems +as if suddenly the ancient tradition of Russian +literature had been broken. Contrary to the +rule of their predecessors, whose thoughts were +on justice and liberty, and whose works breathe +forth a wholesome quality, a large number of +the present writers have been gradually attracted +by metaphysical questions, which fill +their works with a veritable chaos of morbid +conceptions and disenchantment. Some express +with acuteness man's unconquerable fear of life +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +or death; others treat of the divine or satanic +principles in man; still others study, with a +sickly passion, the problems of the flesh in all +of its manifestations.<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>Among the latter, Michael Artzybashev is a +writer of great breadth, whose erotic tendencies +have spoiled some of his best traits. His novel, +"Sanine," which recently caused so much talk, +pretends to paint the youth of to-day in Russia. +If we believed the author, we should conclude +that the above-mentioned youth consisted +of hysterical people in whom chastity was the +least of virtues.</p> + +<p>The heroes of his novel are two representatives +of the revolutionary youth, Sanine and +Yuri Svagorich. Both of them have deserted +"the cause," Sanine, through lassitude, and +Yuri, who has met nothing but a despairing +indifference among those whom he wanted to +save from "the oppression of the shadows," +through scorn. Yuri, "a man of the past," is +an "intellectual" entirely impregnated with +generous altruism, haunted by social and political +preoccupations. But he is also a "failure" +who falls from one deception into another, because +he is thoroughly powerless to combat life.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, his friend, Vladimir +Sanine, "the man of the future," is, without +a doubt, capable of living. None is freer than +he from all social and political preoccupations, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> +and none is more than he resolved to obey only +his lucid egotism, or the suggestions of his instincts.</p> + +<p>These two young fellows meet, one summer, +in the country. Yuri lives with his father, a +retired colonel; Sanine, with his mother. +Sanine's sister, Lida, is in love with the officer +Zaroudine, who abandons her later when she is +with child. Lida wants to commit suicide, but +Sanine stops her and proposes that she marry +Dr. Novikov, who has been in love with her for +a long time. Parallel to the history of Lida, +the life story of Karsavina is presented. Yuri +falls in love with this young and pretty school-teacher. +But, although she returns Yuri's love, +the young girl, in a moment of passion, gives +herself to Sanine, whom she does not love. Disgusted +with life, feeling himself weak, neurasthenic, +and sick, Yuri, only twenty-six years of +age, commits suicide. Karsavina, terribly affected +by this act of despair, leaves Sanine. +And the latter, after Yuri's funeral, disappears +from the city....</p> + +<p>All the characters in the book, from Sanine +to Karsavina, are continually preyed upon by +carnal desires. Long passages of funereal +scenes alternate with pictures of the transports +of love and the descriptions of masculine and +feminine bodies. "Your body proclaims the +truth, your reason lies." This is the "leitmotiv" +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +of all the theories that the characters +in the book preach.</p> + +<p>Let us hasten to add to the praise of the +Russian public, that the enormous success of +"Sanine" was not justified by the extreme +licentiousness of the book, but by the eloquence +with which the author claims the right of free +love for man and woman.</p> + +<p>Although its success was less than that of +"Sanine," Artzybashev's second novel, "Morning +Shadows," is more interesting and is more +realistic than his first.</p> + +<p>Tired of their sometimes happy, sometimes +monotonous existence, two young people from +the provinces, Lisa and Dora, go to St. Petersburg +to take some courses there and to join +the <a class="corr" name="TC_8" id="TC_8" title="revolutinary">revolutionary</a> movement. They have read +Nietzsche, and want to "live dangerously." In +order to realize this project, Lisa has not hesitated +to break off her engagement with the +charming and naïve Lieutenant Savinov. However, +their existence in the capital is nothing +but a long and bitter deception: Dora's literary +ambitions disappointed! the love of Lisa, who +has given herself to the student Korenyev, disappointed! +In a fit of despair Lisa kills herself, +and her friend, who has not had the courage +to follow her example, falls victim to a +terrorist outrage which the author describes +with rare power. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> + +<p>In his recent novel, "Before Expiration,"—which +recalls "Sanine" to our minds again,—Artzybashev +has found some ingenious variations +on the old theme, "love and death." The +story of the love affairs of the painter Mikhailov, +a cynical and brutal Lovelace who abandons +his mistresses when they are with child, +is intermingled incessantly with gloomy episodes, +such as the agonies of an old man or of +a child. It is a book for "blasé" people, a +book which a reader with moral health will +not read without a certain feeling of uneasiness.</p> + +<p>We are also indebted to Artzybashev for a +series of highly colored stories. "Sub-Lieutenant +Golobov," "Blood," "The Workingman +Shevshrev," and "The Millions" are some of +the most remarkable.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Like Artzybashev, but with less talent, Anatol +Kamensky has written little stories happily +enough conceived. Thus, "Laida"—the +story of a worldly woman so taken up with +liberty that she exhibits herself nude before +her husband's guests. Another story called +"Four," tells of four women taken from the +most diverse social classes, ranging from a +young school-girl to the wife of a clergyman, +who give themselves to an officer at the end of +a trip of twenty-four hours. Then there is also +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> +the story of a woman who proposes to an unknown +man that he should play a game of cards +with her companions, she being the prize. This +story is called "The Game." Finally, there is +the story of a young man whose agreeable profession +consists in living among others gratuitously +and in seducing women under the eyes of +their husbands.</p> + +<p>These stories are sadly spoiled by a crude +philosophy and by "anarchistic" protestations +against present values.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Certain authors wander into far-away countries +for their subjects: to Sodom and Lesbos. +The best known is Michael Kouzmine. This +writer, who happily began with stories of the +Orient in the Middle Ages, has now acquired a +rather sad renown for himself with his story +called "The Wings," which appeared at the end +of 1906. The scandalous success which this +book won, encouraged the author to go on in +the same manner. In poor verse, and especially +in the story, "The Castle of Cards," Kouzmine +has exalted the sin of Sodom as being the most +supreme form of æsthetic emotions.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Closely related to these writers, although +surpassing them all in original talent, Feodor +Sologoub is the most intellectual and subtle of +the Russian modernists. His principal work +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> +consists in depicting the small provincial towns. +His heroes are little bourgeois petty officials, +school-teachers, and country proprietors.</p> + +<p>This chanter of birth and death, disgusted +by the banality of existence, has given us, under +the title, "The Little Demon," a pathetic +picture of human baseness and sordidness, which +cannot be read without emotion.</p> + +<p>The atmosphere of an arbitrary regime engenders +almost always "demonomania." The +insecurity of life, and the consecutive injustices +in the cavils of the police administration, develop +in society a reciprocal fear and distrust. From +feeling themselves in danger of being denounced +and menaced in their liberty, men rapidly become +the prey of terror. And the terrible life, +sooner or later, awakens demoniacal terror +among the weak. But people of this sort are +legion in Russia, and Peredonov, the hero of +"The Little Demon," represents this class +so graphically that to-day Russian historians +and authors designate the era from 1880 to +1905 by the name "peredonovchina." The following +is a brief outline of the story:</p> + +<p>Peredonov is a school-teacher in a provincial +town. His fondest dream is to be nominated +primary inspector. He lives with his mistress, +the old dressmaker, Varvara by name. One of +his mistress's clients, a virtuous and philanthropic +princess, makes him understand, one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +day, that she will have him nominated if he marries +Varvara. Peredonov does not love his mistress; +he simply lives with her from habit and +because she bears, without complaining too +much, his coarseness, his cavilling, and his bad +humor. However, he will marry her if the +princess can get him the position he desires. +But will the princess keep her word? It is +some time since she has let herself be heard +from. What is to be done?</p> + +<p>"Marry," says his friend Routilov to him, +when he is told the condition of things. "I +have three sisters," he continues. "Choose +the one you like best and marry her immediately. +Thus Varvara will know nothing and +cannot throw any obstacles in the way."</p> + +<p>"Done!" cries Peredonov, who has known +the three sisters for a long time. He chooses +the youngest, Valerie.</p> + +<p>"Go and tell her about it. I will wait for +you in the hall and then we'll go to the priest's +together."</p> + +<p>Alone, Peredonov again muses: "Doubtless, +Valerie is pretty and I shall be happy to have +her as my wife. But she is young, pretentious; +she will demand lots of new clothes, she will +want to go out a lot, in fact, so much that I'll +not be able to lay anything aside. Moreover, +she'll not look after the kitchen, I'll have poor +food, and the cook will rob us." Anguish seizes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +him. He knocks at the window, calls his friend, +and says:</p> + +<p>"I've changed my mind."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed the other, horrified.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have reflected, and I have decided +that I prefer the second, Lyoudmila."</p> + +<p>Lyoudmila consents, for, besides his personal +fortune, Peredonov occupies an enviable position, +and the sisters are poor. She hurriedly +gets dressed; in a quarter of an hour she will +be ready to accompany him to the priest's.</p> + +<p>However, Peredonov reflects: "Lyoudmila is +pretty and plump; she doubtless has a perfect +body, but she is always jolly, she loves to laugh. +She will laugh incessantly and will make her +husband seem ridiculous." Full of fear, he +knocks at the window: "I have reflected," he +cries. "I prefer the oldest, Darya."</p> + +<p>"What an awful man!" cries his friend. +"Hurry up, Darya, or he'll leave all of us in +the lurch."</p> + +<p>Again Peredonov reflects: "Darya is nice, +not young any more, and economical; she knows +life. But ... she is decisive in her resolutions, +and she has an energetic character. She +is not the kind who would listen to my observations. +She could make life hard for me, and +use me ill. Frankly, do I have to marry any of +the three sisters? What will the princess say +when she hears of my marriage? And my position +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +as inspector? How stupid it is to stand +waiting in this court! Without a doubt, Routilov +ensnared me. I've got to get out of this +at any cost!"</p> + +<p>He spits on all sides to conjure up the spirits, +then knocks at the window, and tells the amazed +family:</p> + +<p>"I am going away.... I have thought it +over. I don't want to get married."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, his position in school becomes +intolerable; complaints are registered against +him; he is reproached with having ill-treated +and even with having beaten the poor children, +and with treating the noble and rich children +with too much respect. His ridiculous and evil +passions cause him to be detested by all. +Luckily, he will soon be nominated inspector, +and then he will say good-bye to all this riff-raff. +In the meantime, Varvara writes a letter, +filled with the most alluring promises, to which +she signs the princess's name, and has it mailed +from St. Petersburg. Peredonov is at the +height of joy; but, being a prudent man, he +does not want to marry before he has received +the nomination. He waits and waits for it, and, +meanwhile, he is not even sure of his position +in the school. He discovers enemies everywhere, +and believes there are always spies at his heels. +In order to cajole the administration, he begins +to frequent the church, and to pay visits to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +city authorities. He assures the chief of police +of his respect, and, in order to give a glaring +proof of his devotion to the established institutions, +he lodges information against a school-mistress +of the locality. But still the nomination +does not come, and he lives in a continual +trance. The evil in him increases. He torments +beasts and human beings. He whips his pupils, +throws nettles at his cat, and maltreats his cook. +He believes himself more and more in the +power of the demon, and terrible visions follow +him:</p> + +<p>"He saw running before him, a little, grey, +noisy beast. It sneered, its head trembled, and +it ran quickly around Peredonov. When he +wanted to seize it, it escaped under the cupboard, +only to reappear a moment later...."</p> + +<p>This strange book, written with rare perfection, +had a great success. To several readers +who thought that they recognized the author +himself in the person of Peredonov (Sologoub +had had the same position as his hero for several +years) the author replied in the preface of a +recent edition, by these malicious lines:</p> + +<p>"Men like to be loved. They adore noble +and elevated descriptions and portrayals. They +even search among the scum for a 'divine +spark.' They also are surprised and offended +when any one offers them a veracious and sombre +picture. And most of them then do not fail to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> +declare: 'The author has described himself in +his work.' But no, my dear friends and +readers, it is you, and only you, whom I have +painted in my book, 'The Little Demon.'"</p> + +<p>In "The Charms of Navii" Sologoub happily +blends fantasy and reality. Revolutionary +meetings alternate with improbable hypnotic +seances, and terrible cortèges of corpses contrast +violently with scenes of platonic and +ethereal love.</p> + +<p>The plot of the story, "The Old Home," is +not less distressing than the preceding one. A +young revolutionary, condemned to death by +court-martial, has been executed, but for his +dear ones this death has never been a reality. +His mother and sister, and even the old servant, +have not the strength to admit his disappearance. +They wait and wait for his return until +their own death carries them off.</p> + +<p>Another story, "The Crowd," shows us a +"fair" at which pewter goblets are being given +away. These so excite the greediness of the +crowd that a fray results, in which three children +are seriously wounded. While dying, the +unfortunates have terrible visions of life and +humanity. "It seemed to them that ferocious +demons were chuckling and sneering silently +behind human faces. And this masquerade +lasted so long that the poor little tots thought +that it would never end...." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sologoub is, above all, a chanter of death. +Almost all of his works unveil a murder, suicide, +or madness. Moreover, the author, who shows +only the injustices, evils, and infamy of life, +and who affirms that the only happiness that he +foresees for man is the possibility of "creating +for himself a chimera" by turning away from +reality, finds the clearest colors and the sweetest +expressions in speaking of death.</p> + +<p>"There is not a surer and more tender friend +on earth than death," says one of his heroes. +"And if men fear the name of death, it is because +they do not know that it is the real life, +eternal and invariable. Life deceives very often, +death never. It is sweet to think of death, as +it is to think of a dear friend, distant and yet +always close at hand.... One forgets all in +the arms of the consoling angel, the angel of +death."</p> + +<p>The ever supremely correct and beautiful +language of Sologoub shows the power of a +master, and it is most regrettable that an artist +of his merit should confine himself to so morbid +an art.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>These then are the principal authors—some +of whom have enjoyed an immense popularity—who +treat the "cursed questions:" the rights +of the flesh, the problem of death, and other +equally "cursed" problems. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p> + +<p>The other writers are principally occupied +with social questions, and, without rigorously +following in the steps of their predecessors, remain, +however, most of the time, realists.</p> + +<p>Among these, Sergyev-Tzensky occupies a +prominent place. The stories of this writer +show us beings who seem strangers to what is +going on around them. This peculiarity comes +from the fact that Tzensky does not understand +the physical facts in the same way that the naturalists +do. For him, they are the manifestations +of the will of a supernatural entity, incomprehensible, +inconceivable, and, at the same time, +clearly hostile to man.</p> + +<p>His story, "The Sadness of the Fields," testifies +to this singular conception. A farmer and +his wife, good and peaceful people, have for +many years wished for a child. Up to this +time, the six children which the mother has +given birth to have died in their infancy. They +are anxiously awaiting the seventh. Will this +one live? Will not the sadness of the fields, +which puts its imprint on everything, kill it as +it has killed the others? Alas! the child is not +viable, and the mother dies in child-birth. They +are buried, and "the fields and the surrounding +country forever keep their powerful and mysterious +melancholy."</p> + +<p>"The Fluctuation" is one of the most curious +and beautiful of all of Tzensky's stories. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> +Anton Antonovich, a rich and enterprising merchant, +of a very violent and unruly character, +lives like a wolf in his domains, alone with his +family, without seeing any of his neighbors. +The peasants detest him. As his partners and +helpers, he always engages nonentities, without +power of initiative, who blindly follow his +orders. Intellectual and energetic men cannot +get along with him. Men, beasts, and nature +in its entirety, are considered by this man as +having been especially created for his service. +The one end of his life is wealth and power. +The only beings he loves are his wife and his +three sons; but even they have to bow down +to his will.</p> + +<p>One day, he buys some straw and insures it +against fire. Sometime later, it burns. They +accuse him of having been the incendiary. +Ridiculous accusation! He is a millionaire and +the straw barely cost a few hundred rubles. +The old man makes fun of the whole affair; he +insults the judge, his own lawyer, and even the +jury. He feels the impending misfortune, but +his inborn violence carries him away from prudence. +He is condemned to hard labor and he +succumbs to a sickness that he has been feeling +coming on for a long time. He had made a +pillager's nest for himself, and he died like a +pillager, abandoned even by those who were +dear to him. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> + +<p>In Tzensky's short stories, "I Shall Soon +Die," "Diphtheria," "Tedium," and "The +Masks," there is something mysterious, fatal, +and terrible that constantly surrounds his +people. As to his longer works, "The Swamp +in the Forest," and "Lieutenant Babayev," +they plunge the reader into the mad chaos of +the often abnormal emotions felt by the characters. +These characters imagine the divine +side of human nature; they consider it as +having existed before in the essence of things, +but the reality does not harmonize with their +dream. The authentication of this discord +torments Tzensky's heroes and their souls protest +passionately, but in vain, against these +outrages.</p> + +<p>Sergyev-Tzensky's style, graphic and pure, +often strange, has found imitators among the +younger writers. Thus, Mouyzhel, who describes +village life, is visibly influenced by his +writings. <a class="corr" name="TC_9" id="TC_9" title="Acording">According</a> to him, the soul goes +through life without understanding it, without +being able to ascribe any meaning to it. And +he is so sincere, that his works obtain the frankest +sort of success.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>While Mouyzhel studies peasant life, Simon +Youshkevich, to the exclusion of all else, makes +a study of the poor Russian Jews. Some of +his stories have produced an overwhelming impression. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +They show us beings, heaped up, +pell-mell in the ghettos of the cities of western +and southern Russia, dirty and unwholesome +ghettos, where consumption and all kinds +of terrible sickness reign. These stories, often +tragic, always sad, have given Youshkevich the +name of "chanter of human suffering."</p> + +<p>In his earlier works—the best of which are +"The Jews," "Tavern-Keeper Heimann," +"The Innocents," "The Prologue" and "The +Assassin"—he devoted himself to portraying, +not isolated persons, but the immense Russian +Jewish proletariat, with its sad past, its bloody +present, and its exalted faith in the future. +Youshkevich has created this sphere; he considers +the poor people of the cities not as a +social class, but as a symbolic representation of +an entire organization. If his work is at times +infected with romanticism and some exaggeration +the reader will gladly forget these imperfections +when he recognizes the fact that they +are necessary to enable this author to express +the truth. What makes this writer unique, is +that he cannot be confounded with any one else. +He has never influenced any of his readers and, +in turn, has never imitated any one. He made +himself what he is.</p> + +<p>His last literary productions—with the exception +of his very touching drama, "Misere"—have +been inferior to his former work. But +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +the abundance of the materials furnished by +Jewish life would still give this author opportunity +to give us more of the magnificently +colored pictures that he gave us in his initial +productions.</p> + +<p>Close to Youshkevich should be placed the +two young writers, Sholom Ash and Izemann. +Sholom Ash has principally depicted the Jewish +world and its psychology. "The God of Vengeance" +is a touching picture of the life of +young Jewish girls who have been obliged to +prostitute themselves for a living. "Sabbatai-Zevi,"<a name="FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +a philosophical poem, treats of the +powerful personality of that Jewish prophet and +of the surroundings in which he passed his +life.</p> + +<p>Izemann, who has written quite a few tales +and stories, is a very uneven author. His best +work is "The Thorn Bush," a drama of the +life of the Russian-Jewish revolutionists. +Manousse, the son of a poor tinsmith, has +been arrested, and then hanged for having taken +part in a terrorist uprising. His sister, Dara, +engaged to the son of a wealthy manufacturer, +has, in her turn, been killed at a barricade. She +is carried back to her home, and there, revolver +in hand, the mother receives the soldiers. She +falls mortally wounded at the side of her +fourteen year old son. Thus, the entire +family perishes. The last act of this sombre +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +drama makes a tremendous impression on the +stage.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>After having been a country doctor for several +years, Eugene Chirikov abandoned his practice +in order to devote himself to literature. +His drama, "The Jews," has aroused great interest +and has been played with great success +both in Russia and abroad. It is one of the +most significant works of this writer. The story +concerns itself with the children of a poor Jewish +watchmaker, who are infatuated with ideas +of progress. Their infatuation is such, that +the daughter becomes engaged to a Gentile. +A delirious mob invades the houses of the Jews. +The store of the poor watchmaker is not spared, +and the fiancée of the Gentile is ravished and +then murdered. The rapid action of the play +makes it a dramatic "slice of life."</p> + +<p>The other plays and stories of this author +give us pictures both of the petty "bourgeois" +and of the "intellectuals." Thus, "The +Strangers" tells the story of a group of "intellectuals" +who have strayed into a small market +town in the provinces where all are hostile +to them. Then there is "The Invalids," which +gives the story of the life of an old man who, +after having been exiled to Siberia for several +years on account of "advanced" ideas, returns +to Russia as confident as ever, ready to consecrate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +the rest of his life to the people. Finally, +"At the Bottom of the Court," "The Mysteries +of the Forest" and "Marya Ivanovna" are +dramas from bourgeois life, while "The +Sorceress" is a play, taken from a national +epic.</p> + +<p>Not less well known than Chirikov, is Ossip +Dymov. He forsook the "Imperial Institute +of Foresters" in order to devote himself to +literature. He has written numerous stories, +among which "Vlass" is the most captivating. +It is the childhood of Vlass told by himself. An +observing little person, the child notices everything +and everybody around him. His father +had killed himself before the child was old +enough to talk, and his mother, a very intelligent +and stern woman, alone had to care for +four children. Vlass has an older brother, Yuri, +a sister, Olya, and a younger brother, Vladimir, +a kind and inoffensive creature. Life runs +along smoothly in the little country town. The +days pass, one like the other, and the most insignificant +event takes on grave importance in +this monotonous life. One night, Vlass's young +teacher is arrested and sent to Siberia. A year +later, a friend of the family, who has been in +exile a long time, comes back secretly and passes +several days at the house. Later on, it is "the +beautiful, good aunt" who comes unexpectedly; +but she soon departs, leaving a mass of confused +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> +and restless thoughts in the child's mind. Vlass +ends his story with a most pathetic account. +Far away from the little town, in one of the +prisons of St. Petersburg, they are going to +hang Yuri. The entire family has broken down +since they have heard the news, and they sit up +the night before the execution, trying, in +thought, to alleviate the torment of their cherished +one.</p> + +<p>In his other stories, the author paints nature +in an original and entirely personal manner. +According to a Russian critic, the works of +Dymov breathe forth "the fresh breeze and the +quickening aroma of the forests."</p> + +<p>Dymov has also written some very well-liked +plays, of which "Niyu" is the most original. +Niyu, a young woman, abandons her husband +and child in order to follow a poet, whose beautiful +language and touching poetry have won +her admiration and brought her under his spell. +She hopes that her lover will create a new world, +a higher and nobler world than the every-day +one, because he is a poet, that is to say, one of +the elect. The abandoned husband and the uncared-for +child desperately call out for their +wife and mother. In vain! However, the days +that she passes with the poet are filled with disenchantment, +disillusion, and bitterness. Despairing, +she writes a letter to her old parents +who live in a distant town, and then commits +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> +suicide. And hardly is Niyu buried, when the +poet, although sadly affected by the premature +loss of his companion, again begins to charm +and entrance by his beautiful words other +women, whose lives he ruins.</p> + +<p>"Niyu" has had a tremendous success, because +it brings a really new formula into +the theatrical world. Very little action, very +few "situations;" no artificial procedure: life; +dialogue imitated from reality; an atmosphere +of despair and tedium in which three +beings cruelly struggle; sincere evolution, very +much pessimism, and happiness and love, constitute +the traits that characterize this very +human piece of writing.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Mention should also be made of Sayitzev, certain +of whose stories are comparable to the +aquarelles of a landscape painter. One of his +best works is "Agrafena," a touching picture +of the life of a peasant woman. During her +lifetime, she was a domestic in the cities, and +when finally, bent under years of labor, she +comes back to her native village and her +daughter, whom she has secretly brought up at +great pains, it is only to find that she has committed +suicide, having been abandoned by her +lover.</p> + +<p>Among others, should be mentioned Gussev-Orenburgsky, +who has written some very interesting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> +stories about the Russian clergy; Skitaletz, +whose "Rural Tribunal" has had a great +success, and has been translated into several +languages; Seraphimovich and Teleshov, who, +like Chirikov, depict the life of the "intellectuals," +and Olizhey, the psychologist of revolutionary +spheres, known particularly by his +"The Day of Judgment," which tells of an +officer, a member of a council of war, who is +forced to condemn his future brother-in-law to +death. This story leaves an indescribable impression +of terror and horror.</p> + +<p>Let us finally mention Count Alexis Tolstoy, +the homonym of the great Russian thinker, to +whom the critics predict a brilliant future. His +first work appeared in 1909. He generally depicts +landed proprietors. His recent stories, +"The Asking in Marriage," and "Beyond the +Volga," show signs of great strength and power +of observation.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Among the women, there are three who show +real talent. In fact, Mme. Hippius-Merezhkovskaya +is regarded as one of the founders of +Russian modernism. We are indebted to her +for some rather daring verses and some very +good stories. The most recent of these, "The +Creature," is the curious history of a love-sick +prostitute; "The Devil's Doll" is an episode in +the life of the Russian "intellectuals." Endowed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> +with a caustic spirit, she excels all others +in literary criticism.</p> + +<p>Then comes Mme. Verbitzkaya, who has declared +herself a champion of women, who, she +thinks, should throw off the often tyrannical +yoke of their husbands. Her novels, "Vavochka," +and "The Story of a Life," have +given her just renown. In "The Spirit of the +Time" she has tried, not without some success, +to paint the immense picture of the revolution +of 1905. Her recent novel, "The Keys +of Happiness," has had an enormous success.</p> + +<p>Finally, mention should be made of Mme. +Shepkina-Koupernik, who has written some +verses and charming stories, full of caressing +tenderness and delicate psychology. Her +stories, in which she shows us two old Italian +masters, are very interesting. Thus, "Eternity +in a Moment" is delicious. In a painter's +studio, a young model by chance meets her old +lover, who has also been reduced to posing in +studios. Happy at heart, the woman rushes +toward him, but he pushes her away: he is too +miserable, he has fallen too low to dare to love +her again. Repulsed by him, she stands as if +petrified, with death in her soul, and her face +changed by terrible despair. At this moment +the master enters; he looks at the young +woman and utters a cry of joy; finally he has +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> +found what he wants for his picture: human +traits ravaged by suffering and despair!</p> + +<p>Russia is also indebted to this author for +impeccable translations of Rostand's "Princesse +Lointaine" and "Chantecler."</p> + + +<p class="theend">THE END</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a><br /> +<a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></a>NOTES</h2> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Tolstoy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> This spelling has been adopted here, rather +than Chekhov, since it is more familiar to the +public. In all other cases, the <i>ch</i> and <i>v</i> have +been retained.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> In many European papers there is always +to be found a part called the "feuilleton," +which usually consists of a serial story, continued +from day to day.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> For some reason, unknown to the translator, +the author has made no mention of Tchekoff's +famous play, "The Sea-Gull." This drama, +which, when first produced, was a flat failure, +scored a tremendous success a short while afterwards. +It is especially interesting in that the +author has made one of the characters, Trigorin, +largely autobiographical. To-day "The Sea-Gull" +is one of the most popular productions +on the Russian stage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> On the continent of Europe, a university +degree between that of bachelor and of doctor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> In Russian, Gorky means bitterness. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> This was preceded by a story called "The +Devil."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> A celebrated brigand in the time of Ivan +the Terrible who, in order to be pardoned, conquered +Siberia in the name of the Tsar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> This passage is a sort of a variation on +the theme that Poe has developed in a masterful +way in his poem, "The Bells."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> In the English translation this book is +called "A Dilemma."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Mention should be made of some of Andreyev's +other dramas: "To the Stars," "Anfissa," +"Gaudeamus," and "Sava," plays of +uneven value, but with a strength of observation +and analysis which is not inferior to that +shown in some of his best stories.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Also called "The Romance of Leonardo +da Vinci, the Forerunner."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Russian noblemen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> In Russia, the name of the biblical Ham +has become synonymous with servility and +moral baseness. Merezhkovsky employs this +scornful term to designate those people who are +strangers to the higher tendencies of the mind +and are entirely taken up with material interests. +His "Ham Triumphant" is the Antichrist, +whose reign, as predicted by the Apocalypse, +will begin with the final victory of the +bourgeoisie. In one chapter of this book, +Merezhkovsky proves that the writers of western +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +Europe and Russia (Byron and Lermontov) +err in crowning this Antichrist with +an aureole of proud revolutionary majesty, for, +since he is the enemy of all that is divine in +man, he can only be a character of shabby +mediocrity and human banality, that is to say, +a veritable "Ham."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Merezhkovsky has also written a long historical +drama, called "The Death of Paul I." +He traces there, with his accustomed animation, +the figure of the weak and criminal Tsar, now +heaping favors upon those who surround him, +now persecuting them with the most terrible +cruelty. The savage scene of the assassination +of this tyrant is of remarkable beauty.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Dostoyevsky.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Refers to Solomon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Happily, this literary crisis seems to have +been ephemeral. Since the beginning of 1910, +according to a Russian critic, "the salubrity +of the atmosphere" has been accomplished. +The "cursed questions" are less prominent in +recent works, and it seems that the crisis which +desolated Russian literature for several years +has come to an end, and that the writers are +going back to the old traditions of Russian literature.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> A famous impostor of the 17th century: +1626-1676.</p></div> + + +<div class="trnote"> +<h2><a name="trcorrections" id="trcorrections"></a>Transcriber's corrections</h2> +<ul> +<li><a href="#TC_1">p. 134</a>: man is astonished[astonishd] at the number of maladies</li> +<li><a href="#TC_2">p. 145</a>: Gorky and Konovalov[Konavolov] had for the moment an</li> +<li><a href="#TC_3">p. 164</a>: conclusions. All of them passionately[pasionately] want to be</li> +<li><a href="#TC_4">p. 168</a>: their sole desire is to affirm their individuality[individualty]</li> +<li><a href="#TC_5">p. 200</a>: of an ever-hungry[every-hungry] student: his own life!</li> +<li><a href="#TC_6">p. 254</a>: diplomacy of Niccolo [and] Machiavelli. In</li> +<li><a href="#TC_7">p. 265</a>: author of "Anna Karenina[Karenin]" in his sixtieth year,</li> +<li><a href="#TC_8">p. 292</a>: the revolutionary[revolutinary] movement. They have read</li> +<li><a href="#TC_9">p. 304</a>: writings. According[Acording] to him, the soul goes</li> +</ul> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Contemporary Russian Novelists, by Serge Persky + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN NOVELISTS *** + +***** This file should be named 31503-h.htm or 31503-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/5/0/31503/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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