Then we should have had a drastic representation of the
depraved derelicts. Description is wanted, not sophistry.
Philosophising and quibbling over personality is a poor expedient, and
one rejected by first-class writers.

It may be alleged that a work of imagination need not be true to
nature. But Gorki undoubtedly aims at producing an effect of fidelity
to nature, to serve his emotional objects. To our mind, however, he
would have produced a far more direct and vigorous impression if he had
painted the depravity of the baron and his associates with stronger and
more artistic touches, that is, if he had been hard and ruthless, like
Maupassant in so many of his sketches. We want instances of
corruption, not nice talk about it.

On one point Gorki is absolutely right: "The Doss-house" is not a
tragedy, but a succession of detached scenes, as he himself calls it.
It has no serious pretensions to be a drama. It is almost entirely
lacking in construction and in development, in crises or catastrophes
resulting from character. It has been quite unjustly preferred to the
German play, "The Weavers." Yet that is in another category. That is
the classic tragedy of the masses. It contains all that can be
demanded of a drama: climax, necessary impulsion, catastrophe. It
would not be easy to surpass this truly modern tragedy, even if it is
less adroitly philosophical than "The Doss-house." Moreover "The
Weavers" indicates a revolution in dramatic literature. "The
Doss-house" is at most the corollary of this revolution. It presents
no new developments in literary style: this is wanting, as in all
Gorki's productions. And yet the work of the Russian has its points:
the actors have most congenial parts, and talented players are willing
to put their best and most telling work into it. "The Doss-house" had
an unparalleled success when it was performed at the Klein Theater in
Berlin. The splendid staging made a magnificent achievement of the
"Scenes from the Abysses," which thrilled and held the audience like
some colossal work of music. And the human value of the work entitles
it to rank with the best that has been produced in recent years on the
farther side of the Vistula.

Gorki has done well to describe the world and the stratum whence he
emerged, and which he traversed, in his powerful works. His writings
expound the New Russia. He himself is New Russia. He is the man who
has overcome all life's obstacles.