Makar Chudra. Old Izergil

This collection by the great Russian writer Maxim Gorky (Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov, 1868–1936) includes his brilliant stories: “Makar Chudra” and “The Old Woman Izergil.” Maxim Gorky is one of the largest writers in world literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, an astonishing connoisseur of the human soul. His books are permeated with such categories as good and evil, nobility and baseness, faith in miracles.

“ So you walk? That’s good! You’ve chosen a glorious fate for yourself, falcon. That’s how it should be: walk and look—so you’ve seen enough; lie down and die— that’s all!”, “They’re funny, those people of yours. They crowd together and push each other, and there’s so much room on earth…”, “…run away from thoughts about life so you don’t stop loving it.” These and other sayings of the wandering gypsy Makar Chudra could easily make a quote-book for a budding downshifter. But that’s only the prologue to one of the most piercing stories about love—a woman and free will, a hymn to freedom sung by a young Gorky at the dawn of his writer’s career.