Transcriber's note
- Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired silently.
- Word errors have been corrected and a list of corrections can be found after the book.
Contemporary
Russian Novelists
Translated from the French of Serge Persky
By Frederick Eisemann
John W. Luce and Company
Boston — 1913
Copyright, 1912
By C. Delagrave
Copyright, 1913
By L. E. Bassett
To
THE MEMORY OF
F. N. S.
by
The Translator
PREFACE
The principal aim of this book is to givethe reader a good general knowledge of Russianliterature as it is to-day. The author, SergePersky, has subordinated purely critical material,because he wants his readers to form theirown judgments and criticize for themselves.The element of literary criticism is not, however,by any means entirely lacking.
In the original text, there is a thorough andexhaustive treatment of the "great prophet"of Russian literature—Tolstoy—but thetranslator has deemed it wise to omit this essay,because so much has recently been written aboutthis great man.
As the title of the book is "ContemporaryRussian Novelists," the essay on AntonTchekoff, who is no longer living, does notrightly belong here, but Tchekoff is such animportant figure in modern Russian literatureand has attracted so little attention from Englishwriters that it seems advisable to retainthe essay that treats of his work.[Pg vi]
Finally, let me express my sincerest thanksto Dr. G. H. Maynadier of Harvard for hiskind advice; to Miss Edna Wetzler for her unfailingand valuable help, and to Miss CarrieHarper, who has gone over this work with painstakingcare.
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
Maxim Gorky142
Notes315