Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 2.pdf/474

448 the evening, and realised that the spring was all around him, that life was before him, that he was young and strong and in perfect health. George loves nature, which has on him a tranquillising effect and fills him with the joy of life; then he becomes all contemplation, and must not think.

Thought, that is the trouble! Like his predecessors, the old German romanticists, George would like "simply to live, as the grass grows." In Nietzschean fashion, he would follow instinct only, and follows instinct, continually seeking after woman. He lives with Erna, but seeks and ultimately finds Elena as well. Elena's word to him is, "Give up thinking, and kiss."

George is not Faust alone, he is also Don Juan. He has read Arcybašev's Sanine, the Don Juan of the disillusioned revolutionists. But Ropšin's Don Juan (be it accounted to Ropšin's credit) is more human. Nevertheless, the mood of Solomon overcomes him; he finds life wearisome, saying, "All is vanity and lies!"

George follows Dostoevskii, Nietzsche, Goethe—he follows Goethe's Faust, relives Faust. We are told in the histories of literature that Faust is the representative of the modern type of man. But did not Faust, too, kill? Did not he stab Gretchen's brother? Must not Faust be held accountable for the death of Gretchen's mother and for the death of his own child? Was he not cowardly in the way in which he allowed Gretchen to go to her death? And did not Faust wish to put an end to his own life? The modern type of man? Do not we see in Faust an exemplification of Dostoevskii's formula, that he who abandons the ancient faith, he who throws the old aside, is confronted with the brutal alternative of murder or suicide? By Dostoevskii, this spiritual state is termed atheism, and in his Faust-Ivan he demonstrates its consequences. Is Faust, the whole Faust, really the modern man?

The first attempt on the governor's life is a complete failure. At the second attempt, though the bomb explodes, the governor is unhurt, whilst in the explosion and subsequent pursuit ten persons are killed or seriously injured, and Fedor, who had been designated by the group as the practical leader on this occasion, kills himself to avoid capture. The third attempt is successful, but Vanja, the thrower of the bomb, is arrested and eventually hanged.

From the purely utilitarian outlook, no less than ethically