Russian Short Stories 03/03/22
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No, this is not about the war in Ukraine. It's about an actual book.

I bought a small  paperback a couple months ago at  a used book store.
The ramshackle shop smelled of plumbing issues, the very antithesis of
what one would  hope for when perusing dusty old  books. But before my
nose gave out,  I did stumble on something that  looked promising; "15
Great Russian Short Stories" by John W. Strahan, 1965.

Foolishly, I read one  of the stories to the kids.  I think the casual
irony of "Death of a Government Clerk"  was lost on them. The book sat
on the shelf for a bit, as I focused on other things.

Today, it stood out  to me. Russia is very present  right now, even in
casual conversation. Overnight, it has become quite popular (again) in
the western world,  for everyone to hate Russia.  It's been alarmingly
popular and swift.  I'm not comfortable with how  agile people's anger
and emotions are in the public  square. One moment they're livid about
one thing, and the next moment they've forgotten what it was they were
angry about in favor of some new spectre.

In any case, I picked up  the little paperback and flipped through it.
For better or for worse, I  flipped to an introduction of Maxim Gorky.
I'll  quote the  whole  thing here  for  you (with  credit  to John  W
Strahan, of course):

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"Alexei Maximovich Peshkov(1868-1936), better  known by his psuedonym,
Maxim Gorky, meaning  bitter, was born in Nizhni  Novgorod (now Gorky)
on the Volga. Early orphaned, he left his poverty-stricken home at the
age of  twelve for a life  of vagabondage with the  tramps of Southern
Russia. He worked as  a "casual" in the seaports of  the Black Sea, in
the summer joining the barefoot  brigades which tramped from Odessa to
the Crimea and from the Crimea to the prairies of the Norther Caucasus
where they were welcomed at harvest time.

"He returned to Russia in 1928 to be royally welcomed. He was a friend
of both Lenin and Stalin.

"He  died in  1936 and  the  cause of  his  death may  still remain  a
mystery. As he suffered from tuberculosis all his life, it may well be
that he died of natural causes.  However, in 1936, his death triggered
one of Stalin's most spectacular purges of the Treason Trials when the
attending  physicians, labeled  Troskyite-Fascits,  were executed  for
having plotted to poison Gorky.

"In an early letter to Chekhov, he wrote:

"'From age of ten,  I have had to stand on my own  feet. I had no time
to study.  I could only  gulp life and work,  and life warmed  me with
blows  of the  fists,  and stoked  me with  everything  good and  bad,
finally got me warmed up, got me started.'

"He also gulped  books of all sorts, greedily  devouring them wherever
and whenever he could lay hands on them.

"He was fortunate in his friendships with Korolenko, the novelist, and
Checkhove, both of whom were of great assistance to him in his initial
literary efforts.

"He began writing in 1892, and by 1898 had won fame in Russia with his
collected tales and, abroad in 1902, with his play The Lower Depths.

"His  early stories  were romantic  tales  of tramps  and gypsies;  he
abandoned  these  for  socialist  realism, for  stories  and  plays  of
depressing lives described with  Defoe-like accuracy and, finally, for
exposing  capitalist  society  in  a  Marxist  fashion  (Mother,  Clim
Samgin).

"Before  making  any definitive  evaluation  of  Gorky, the  man,  the
artist, and the political figure, it is to be hoped that there will be
found,  as Gleb  Struve  says,  "someone to  strip  his  true face  of
artificial hagiographic varnish."

"'Chelkash' was written in 1894 and published in 1895 in a journal for
young  folks, Russkoe  Bogatsvo,  No. 6  (Russian  Treasures). It  was
included  in Volume  I  of Sketches  and Stories,  1898.  Both in  the
journal and in the 1898 edition, it was simply entitled "Episode."

Korolenko was instrumental in its publication in the journal.

The essence of the story was given  Gorky by a barefoot hobo, a former
grenadier soldier who  was in the next  bed to his in  the hospital at
Kiolaev.

"In the first edition there was a scene in which Chelkash observes the
games of street urchins. This was later omitted on Korolenko's advice.

"The background is authentic, for Gorky had known and worked with such
'ex-people,' as he himself called them, as Chelkash.

"The  men he  describes  are  not heroes,  but  the  most ordinary  of
human beings,  whom he vividly  characterizes against a  background of
nature--a calm sea or turbulent waves.

"Men  who  have  broken  with regular  society,  never  accepting  the
yoke  of  permanent work--miserably  poor  but  never whining--with  a
devil-may-care attitude and a dream of some day 'making it'--alienated
and  rootless  but  with  a  fierce  pride  and  self-respect  and  an
unswerving  loyalty to  freedom--such  a  man is  the  thief and  hobo
Chelkash.

"In  contrast is  the  peasant Gavrily--also  poor,  but lacking  that
spark.  A  prisoner  of  his  own proper  little  world,  somewhat  of
a  hypocrite--fiercely  greedy--he  will   demean  himself,  lose  his
self-respect, even commit murder for  money, and yet remain chained to
his poor little plot of land, whining and trying to stand in well with
God for good of his eternal soul.

"For  the Gavrilas,  Gorky  has understanding  mingled with  impatient
contempt, but for the Chelkashes of this world, because of their dream
and their free spirit, Gorky has both sypathy and empathy."
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Notwithstanding the fact  that people around me seem to  feel like now
is the time  to hate all things  Russian, I'm inclined to  find John W
Strathan's description  of 'Chelkash'  quite fascinating.  Rather than
burn  the book  in  solidarity with  the Ukraine,  I  think I'll  read
'Chelkash' and see what it has to offer.

As a bonus, there's an old receipt from 4 Feb 1966 in here, which I'll
use as a bookmark.