Author: Maksim GorkyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 164
Book Description
Creatures that Once Were Men
Author: Maksim GorkyCREATURES THAT ONCE WERE MEN by MAXIM GORKY
Author: Maksim GorkyPublisher:
ISBN: 9781541017207
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 108
Book Description
In front of you is the main street, with two rows of miserable-looking huts with shuttered windows and old walls pressing on each other and leaning forward. The roofs of these time-worn habitations are full of holes, and have been patched here and there with laths; from underneath them project mildewed beams, which are shaded by the dusty-leaved elder-trees and crooked white willow- pitiable flora of those suburbs inhabited by the poor.The dull green time-stained panes of the windows look upon each other with the cowardly glances of cheats. Through the street and toward the adjacent mountain runs the sinuous path, winding through the deep ditches filled with rain-water. Here and there are piled heaps of dust and other rubbish- either refuse or else put there purposely to keep the rain-water from flooding the houses. On the top of the mountain, among green gardens with dense foliage, beautiful stone houses lie hidden; the belfries of the churches rise proudly toward the sky, and their gilded crosses shine beneath the rays of the sun. During the rainy weather the neighboring town pours its water into this main road, which, at other times, is full of its dust, and all these miserable houses seem, as it were, thrown by some powerful hand into that heap of dust, rubbish, and rainwater.They cling to the ground beneath the high mountain, exposed to the sun, surrounded by decaying refuse, and their sodden appearance impresses one with the same feeling as would the half-rotten trunk of an old tree.At the end of the main street, as if thrown out of the town, stood a two-storied house, which had been rented from Petunikoff, a merchant and resident of the town. It was in comparatively good order, being farther from the mountain, while near it were the open fields, and about half-a-mile away the river ran its winding course.This large old house had the most dismal aspect amid its surroundings. The walls bent outward, and there was hardly a pane of glass in any of the windows, except some of the fragments, which looked like the water of the marshes-dull green. The spaces of wall between the windows were covered with spots, as if time were trying to write there in hieroglyphics the history of the old house, and the tottering roof added still more to its pitiable condition. It seemed as if the whole building bent toward the ground, to await the last stroke of that fate which should transform it into a chaos of rotting remains, and finally into dust.The gates were open, one-half of them displaced and lying on the ground at the entrance, while between its bars had grown the grass, which also covered the large and empty court-yard. In the depths of this yard stood a low, iron-roofed, smoke-begrimed building. The house itself was of course unoccupied, but this shed, formerly a blacksmith's forge, was now turned into a "dosshouse," kept by a retired captain named Aristid Fomich Kuvalda.In the interior of the dosshouse was a long, wide and grimy board, measuring some 28 by 70 feet. The room was lighted on one side by four small square windows, and on the other by a wide door. The unpainted brick walls were black with smoke, and the ceiling, which was built of timber, was almost black. In the middle stood a large stove, the furnace of which served as its foundation, and around this stove and along the walls were also long, wide boards, which served as beds for the lodgers. The walls smelt of smoke, the earthen floor of dampness, and the long, wide board of rotting rags.The place of the proprietor was on the top of the stove, while the boards surrounding it were intended for those who were on good terms with the owner, and who were honored by his friendship. During the day the captain passed most of his time sitting on a kind of bench, made by himself by placing bricks against the wall of the court-yard, or else in the eating-house of Egor Yavilovitch, which was opposite the house, where he took all his meals and where he also drank vodki.
Creatures That Once Were Men
Author: Maxim GorkyPublisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 77
Book Description
Maxim Gorky (1838 - 1936) was a famous twentieth-century Russian writer: a giant on the Russian literary scene at that time. This book is a collection of some of his short stories. He was the first Russian writer to look sympathetically at the poor and downtrodden in society. This collection of stories shows that feature of his writing.
Creatures That Once Were Men Maxim Gorky Illustrated
Author: Maxim GorkyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
A collection of short stories with an introduction by G.K. Chesterton.
Creatures That Once Were Men
Author: Maxim GorkyPublisher: Bibliotech Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
"Creatures That Once Were Men" is a 1897 novella by the Russian writer Maxim Gorky. It is regarded as a work of social realism, and it depicts the bottom of Russian society (like Gorky's other early works, including his most famous play The Lower Depths) The novella was included in Gorky's collection Sketches and Stories (1899). The term "former people" developed other meanings, relating to Russian society. It is no exaggeration to say that these people of whom Gorky writes in such a story as this of "Creatures That Once Were Men" are to the Western mind children. They have, indeed, been tortured and broken by experience and sin. But this has only sufficed to make them sad children or naughty children or bewildered children... And this note of plainness and of something nobly prosaic is as characteristic of Gorky, the most recent and in some ways the most modern and sophisticated of Russian authors, as it is of Tolstoy or any of the Tolstoyan type of mind. The Russian novelist, when he describes a dosshouse, says, "Creatures That Once Were Men." And we are arrested, and regard the facts as a kind of terrible fairy tale. This story is a test case of the Russian manner, for it is in itself a study of decay, a study of failure, and a study of old age. And yet the author is forced to write even of staleness freshly; and though he is treating of the world as seen by eyes darkened or blood-shot with evil experience, his own eyes look out upon the scene with a clarity that is almost babyish. Through all runs that curious Russian sense that every man is only a man... - G. K. Chesterton About 1897 Realism begins to outweigh Romanticism, and in "Ex-People" (Byvshii lyudi, 1897; in the English version, "Creatures That Once Were Men", an arbitrary mistranslation) Realism is dominant, and the heroic gestures of Captain Kuvalda fail to relieve the drab gloom of the setting. In this story and in all other stories of these years, a feature appears which was to be the undoing of Gorky: an immoderate love for "philosophical" conversations. As long as he kept free from it he gave proof of a great power of construction, a power which is rare in Russian writers, and which gives some of his early stories a solidness and cohesion almost comparable to Chekhov's. - D. S. Mirsky (wikipedia.org)
Creatures That Once Were Men Annotated
Author: Maxim GorkyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
"Creatures that Once Were Men" is a short story by Maxim Gorky about the residents of a lodging house who start a conflict with their landlord, resulting in a rather inhumane outcome. Gorky is arguably one of the most celebrated literary characters of the 20th century.
Creatures That Once Were Men Maxim Gorky Illustrated
Author: Translator J M ShiraziPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
A collection of short stories by the popular and influential Russian author, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and arguably the greatest Russian literary figure of the 20th century.
Creatures That Once Were Men
Author: Maksim Gorky Translated by J. M. ShiraziPublisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781724431660
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 162
Book Description
Creatures That Once Were Men is one of the greatest works by Maksim Gorky in the field of fiction.A collection of short stories by the popular and influential Russian author, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and arguably the greatest Russian literary figure of the 20th century.
Creatures That Once Were Men Illustrated
Author: Maxim GorkyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 234
Book Description
In front of you is the main street, with two rows of miserable-looking huts with shuttered windows and old walls pressing on each other and leaning forward. The roofs of these time-worn habitations are full of holes, and have been patched here and there with laths; from underneath them project mildewed beams, which are shaded by the dusty-leaved elder-trees and crooked white willow- pitiable flora of those suburbs inhabited by the poor.
Creatures That Once Were Men, and Other Stories
Author: Maksim GorkyPublisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781721803361
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 532
Book Description
Creatures That Once Were Men, and other stories Maksim Gorky Translated from the Russian by J. M. Shirazi and others Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, primarily known as Maxim Gorky, was a Russian and Soviet writer, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and a political activist. Around fifteen years before success as a writer, he frequently changed jobs and roamed across the Russian Empire; these experiences would later influence his writing. Gorky's most famous works were The Lower Depths, Twenty-six Men and a Girl (included in this book), The Song of the Stormy Petrel, The Mother, Summerfolk and Children of the Sun. He had an association with fellow Russian writers Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov; Gorky would later write his memoirs on both of them. Gorky was active with the emerging Marxist social-democratic movement. He publicly opposed the Tsarist regime, and for a time closely associated himself with Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov's Bolshevik wing of the party. For a significant part of his life, he was exiled from Russia and later the Soviet Union. In 1932, he returned to Russia on Joseph Stalin's personal invitation and died in June 1936. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.