Stories

Leonid Andreev’s stories “Petka on the Dacha,” “The First Fee,” and “Into the Dark Distance” are subtle, elegant, elevated stories about simple things—the joys of unity with nature, the growth of a person’s inner self, and the clash of an innocent, enthusiastic spirit with the cruelty and deception of the real world.

In the second part, the writer’s dramatic stories are collected. All these works are about the goal and meaning of life, good and evil, and the story of how the humane in a person dies out—whether it happens instantly, as in “The Abyss,” or gradually, as in the story “In the Fog.” If there is hope for a miracle, as in “A Little Angel,” or hope for the hero’s repentance, as in “Silence,” then it’s only a phantom hope.