lways satisfied with saying,
here is a bit of life. He tries to put in a little wisdom. His form
is seldom clear and conclusive. His tales are overladen with detail
and superfluity of minute description. In Germany, Gorki owes much to
his translators. This is more especially obvious in the scholarly
translation by August Scholz of "Makar Chudra," Gorki's first published
work. At first Scholz only produced a portion of this story. Later
on, when all that Gorki had written had its importance, and his
commercial success was established, the whole of "Makar," which is by
no means free from obscurities, was translated.

In the novel, "Three Men," Gorki leaves the world of vagrants. He
describes people who are intermediate between the vagabonds and the
settled classes, who find their peace and happiness neither with the
tramps nor with the well-to-do. Many more than three men live in this
romance through times and destinies of the utmost significance. The
novel might more exactly be termed "Many Men," or even "No Men." It
all depends on how you read your author. In last resort the characters
of the book have all something of the humanly-inhuman about them.

This book is one of the most impressive works of our Russian author.
Its large touches portray human life as it is, not only in Russia, but
everywhere. The moujik who drifts into the City proletariat suffers
from the life that whispers its secrets within and around him. "Why
are men doomed to torment each other thus?" It frets and consumes him,
weighs him down, and flogs him on again. And from this problem, which
in the hands of many would only have resulted in a satire, Gorki
creates a powerful tragedy. The aspiring proletaire, be he peasant or
child of the artisan, is for the most part done to death with light
laughter. In this the unjustified arrogance of the academic classes
expresses itself too frequently. Too often they discover only the
comic element in the men who have emerged from the ranks, and who,
while gifted with uncommon energy and intelligence, can neither choose
nor be chosen for any of the cultured professions. They fail to
perceive that the influence of these men would have a refreshing and
invigorating effect upon the whole life of the people. They miss the
need of some such transfusion of "vulgar blood" into the higher forms
of the body politic. They cannot admit that it is these very
_parvenus_ who are the founders of new famili