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literarychronicles's review
5.0
This masterpiece by maxim Gorky is a collection of 3 short stories.
These are, Makar Chudra, Because of Monotony, The Man Who Could Not Die.
All the stories have a sense of sadness and a deep sense of longing. The reader also ends up with a yearning in his/her heart, without knowing what he yearns for.
I will not attempt to review the book, but will post an excerpt from the introduction. That alone is enough to show how wonderful the book is.
“He who has no love for music had better leave these stories alone, as they will have no charm for him. He who prefers society to sunsets will find these stories dull and colourless,- as colourless as the clouds at the close of the day are to a blind man. But those who have the capacity to enjoy the silent music of the night, the barely audible purling of the sea-waves in the distance, the soft pit-a-pat of the wind-dance on the prairie, will be charmed by these stories as they have rarely been charmed in their waking hours. For these stories of the steppe have all the magic of dreams; their atmosphere envelopes you and permeates your every pore, sinking deep into your heart through every one of your five senses, and through a sixth sense too,-a sense whose very indefinable vagueness makes it the most vivid of them all. For it is that sense,-or shall I call it religious experience,-which enables you to realize eternity in the single tick of a clock and infinity in a drop of water. It is that sense which sometimes catches you unawares, as you pass on your prosaic road of jagged experiences between a dream and a dream, when suddenly turning your head, you see God nodding and smiling to you as he pauses for an instant in this labour of creating new worlds.”
These are, Makar Chudra, Because of Monotony, The Man Who Could Not Die.
All the stories have a sense of sadness and a deep sense of longing. The reader also ends up with a yearning in his/her heart, without knowing what he yearns for.
I will not attempt to review the book, but will post an excerpt from the introduction. That alone is enough to show how wonderful the book is.
“He who has no love for music had better leave these stories alone, as they will have no charm for him. He who prefers society to sunsets will find these stories dull and colourless,- as colourless as the clouds at the close of the day are to a blind man. But those who have the capacity to enjoy the silent music of the night, the barely audible purling of the sea-waves in the distance, the soft pit-a-pat of the wind-dance on the prairie, will be charmed by these stories as they have rarely been charmed in their waking hours. For these stories of the steppe have all the magic of dreams; their atmosphere envelopes you and permeates your every pore, sinking deep into your heart through every one of your five senses, and through a sixth sense too,-a sense whose very indefinable vagueness makes it the most vivid of them all. For it is that sense,-or shall I call it religious experience,-which enables you to realize eternity in the single tick of a clock and infinity in a drop of water. It is that sense which sometimes catches you unawares, as you pass on your prosaic road of jagged experiences between a dream and a dream, when suddenly turning your head, you see God nodding and smiling to you as he pauses for an instant in this labour of creating new worlds.”
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