Page:Russian Literature - A Study Outline.djvu/51

 RUSSIAN LITERATURE 47 XVI MAXIM GORKY, PSEUD. (ALEXEI MAXIMOVICH PYESH- KOFF), 1868- 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. . . . Gorky lovingly gives them a fa- miliar setting, painted with bold strokes, of plains and moun- tains which border in the distance the glaucous stretch of the sea. The sea! with what fervor does Gorky depict the anger and peace of the sea. Serge Persky. His method is simple. In a few bold strokes he brings before us a corner of the country, a sea-beach, a quay, a shop, a street; then a man and a woman, two men, some simple in- cident, and the men and women go out as quietly as they had come in. But meanwhile a strange temperament has ex- pressed itself in a few words, some disconcerting action, a significant silence; and what we have felt is just what is deep- est, most unconscious in that nature to which speech is so difficult. . . and action a kind of despiring start away from the logic of things. Arthur Symons. 1. Gorky the man and literary artist. a His life career. b His visit to America. c His romanticism. d His analysis of human feeling. e His nature descriptions. / His pessimism. g His success. 2. Gorky the story-teller and dramatist. a His types, especially his vagabonds. b His short stories. c His novels. d His dramas, especially "The night's lodging/' Recommended Reading Comrades. In Craftsman. 11:288-93. Dec. '06. Lippincott's Magazine. 91 : 103-15. Jan. '13. "Konovalov," "The Orlov couple," "The steppe," "Malva,"