l up a thick dark ball of cloud again next moment.
Everything is in motion.

The mist clears off, the trees are shaken by the wind till the drops
fall off in spray.

The sky gets light, and then clouds over again.

But the weary, demoralising, despairing monotony has vanished.

Life is here.

Spring has come.

With all its atmosphere, with all its force and vigour, with its
battles, and its faith in victory.

It is somewhat after this fashion that the personality of the young
Russian author, and his influence on Russia, and on Russian Literature,
may be characterised.

In order rightly to grasp the man and his individual methods, together
with his significance for his mother-country, we must know the
environment and the relations on which Gorki entered. Thus only shall
we understand him, and find the key to his great success in Russia, and
the after-math of this success in foreign countries.

Maxim Gorki is now just thirty-seven years old. Ten years ago he was
employed in the repairing works of the railway in Tiflis as a simple
artisan. To-day he ranks among the leading intellects of Russia.

This is an abrupt leap, the crossing of a deep cleft which separates
two worlds that tower remote on either side. The audacity of the
spring can only be realised when we reflect that Maxim Gorki worked his
way up from the lowest stratum, and never had any regular schooling.

The most subtle analysis of Gorki's talent would, however, be
inadequate to cover his full significance as a writer. It is only in
connection with the evolution of Russian society and Russian literature
that Gorki, as a phenomenon, becomes intelligible.

The educated Russian does not regard his national literature merely as
the intellectual flower of his nation; it must essentially be a mirror
of actual social occurrences, of the cultural phase in which any
particular work originated.

The Russian author does not conceive his task to lie exclusively in
pandering to the aesthetic enjoyment of his readers, in exciting and
diverting them, and in providing them with sensational episodes.
Literature of this type finds no home in the Russia of to-day. Since
she first possessed a literature of her own, Russia has demanded
something more from her writers. An author must be able to express the
shades of public opinion. It is his task to give voice and form to
what is circulating through the various social classes, and setting
them in motion.