Creatures That Once Were Men

Gorky, Maksim, 1868-1936Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 144K words
Chapters: 15

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Creatures That Once Were Men by Maksim GorkyAuthor: Gorky, Maksim, 1868-1936,Language: English, Class: PG: Language and Literatures: Slavic (including Russian), Languages and Literature, Release Date: Oct 1, 1996

Editor's review

This collection of short works by Gorky centers on the marginalized and downtrodden, portraying tramps, the unemployed, and tavern regulars struggling between poverty and dignity. The author does not shy away from coarseness and despair, yet captures glimmers of humanity in humble circumstances; the prose carries the weight and compassion characteristic of early realism. For Chinese readers, this book is an important text for understanding the starting point of Gorky's career and for seeing the embryonic themes later developed in plays such as The Lower Depths. The English edition comes from Project Gutenberg and is a public-domain ebook; the barrier to reading lies mainly in language rather than length. It suits slow reading in quiet hours, with space after each piece for reflection, which reveals the weight of the characters' fates better than reading straight through. As a free electronic text, it is convenient for classroom selections, comparative literature research, or self-paced catching up on classics.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers curious about the early short fiction of Gorky
Literature students studying Russian realist narratives of the lower classes
Teachers needing public-domain English texts for classroom selections
Mature readers who prefer short stories and can accept heavy subject matter

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting light entertainment or warm, comforting stories
Beginners whose English reading is not yet fluent and who need extensive annotations
Those sensitive to depictions of poverty, alcohol, and marginal survival

Reading tips

Read one piece first to gauge the density of the language, then decide whether to read straight through.
After each piece, note the characters' circumstances and narrative perspective for overall comparison.
Read alongside Gorky's play The Lower Depths to observe thematic continuity.
If the English is difficult, read a Chinese translation first for the plot, then return to the original.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book an English original or a Chinese translation?

The edition listed is an English ebook released by Project Gutenberg, in English. For reading in Chinese, look for a separate Chinese translation; the English edition suits reading the original directly or comparative study.

Can I understand it without a background in Russian history?

You can follow the characters' circumstances and the emotional throughline, but some social details may require notes or an introduction. Learning the basic background of lower-class life in late 19th-century Russia before reading will make for a fuller understanding.

Is it suitable for reading straight through in one sitting?

Not really. The pieces are heavy in subject and emotionally dense, and continuous reading easily becomes tiring. Reading in sessions with intervals between pieces better allows you to appreciate the characters' fates and the differences in narration.

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About the author

Gorky, Maksim, 1868-1936 Author

Maxim Gorky (Gorky, Maksim, 1868-1936) is a highly influential writer in the history of Russian and Soviet literature. This site holds 32 of his works, including the plays The Lower Depths (Pohjalla: Kuvaelmia, neljä näytöstä and The Lower Depths: A Drama in Four Acts), the autobiographical In the World (a sequel to My Childhood), the novel Mother, and shorter fiction and story collections such as Twenty-six and One, Konovalov, Orlóff and His Wife, and Tales from Gorky. His writing often focuses on the wandering, struggle, and awakening of lower-class people, distinguished by realistic detail and vivid characterization; the play The Lower Depths is especially notable for its ensemble structure portraying the urban poor, and has had a lasting influence. Because the database lacks nationality, birth and death dates, and classification information, public information is limited, so no additional biographical inferences are made here.