. Besides all this, the drama was the cause
of the dismissal of Ostrovsky from the civil service, in 1851. The whole
episode illustrates the difficulties under which the great writers of
Russia have constantly labored under a despotic government.

Beginning with 1852 Ostrovsky gave his whole strength to literary work. He
is exceptional among Russian authors in devoting himself almost exclusively
to the theatre. The latest edition of his works contains forty-eight pieces
written entirely by him, and six produced in collaboration with other
authors. It omits his translations from foreign dramatists, which were of
considerable importance, including, for example, a version of Shakespeare's
"Taming of the Shrew."

The plays of Ostrovsky are of varied character, including dramatic
chronicles based on early Russian history, and a fairy drama, "Little
Snowdrop." His real strength lay, however, in the drama of manners, giving
realistic pictures of Russian life among the Russian city classes and the
minor nobility. Here he was recognized, from the time of the appearance on
the stage of his first pieces, in 1853 and the following years, as without
a rival among Russian authors for the theatre. Of this realistic drama the
present volume gives four characteristic examples.

The tone of "Poverty Is No Crime" (1854), written only four years after "A
Family Affair," is in sharp contrast with that of its predecessor. In the
earlier play Ostrovsky had adopted a satiric tone that proved him a worthy
disciple of Gogol, the great founder of Russian realism. Not one lovable
character appears in that gloomy picture of merchant life in Moscow; even
the old mother repels us by her stupidity more than she attracts us by her
kindliness. No ray of light penetrates the "realm of darkness"--to borrow
a famous phrase from a Russian critic--conjured up before us by the young
dramatist. In "Poverty Is No Crime" we see the other side of the medal.
Ostrovsky had now been affected by the Slavophile school of writers and
thinkers, who found in the traditions of Russian society treasures of
kindliness and love that they contrasted with the superficial glitter of
Western civilization. Life in Russia is varied as elsewhere, and Ostrovsky
could change his tone without doing violence to realistic truth. The
tradesmen had not wholly lost the patriarchal charm of their peasant
fathers. A poor apprentice is the hero of "Poverty Is No Crime," and a
wealthy manufac