$42.99
$22.99
Creatures That Once Were Men It is certainly a curious fact that so many of the voices of what is called our modern religion have come from countries which are...

FREE
SHIPPING

100% MONEY
BACK GUARANTEE

ONLINE
SUPPORT 24/7

Creatures That Once Were Men

It is certainly a curious fact that so many of the voices of what is called our modern religion have come from countries which are not only simple, but may even be called barbaric. A nation like Norway has a great realistic drama without having ever had either a great classical drama or a great romantic drama. A nation like Russia makes us feel its modern fiction when we have never felt its ancient fiction. It has produced its Gissing without producing its Scott. Everything that is most sad and scientific, everything that is most grim and analytical, everything that can truly be called most modern, everything that can without unreasonableness be called most morbid, comes from these fresh and untried and unexhausted nationalities. Out of these infant peoples come the oldest voices of the earth. This contradiction, like many other contradictions, is one which ought first of all to be registered as a mere fact; long before we attempt to explain why things contradict themselves, we ought, if we are honest men and good critics, to register the preliminary truth that things do contradict themselves. In this case, as I say, there are many possible and suggestive explanations. It may be, to take an example, that our modern Europe is so exhausted that even the vigorous expression of that exhaustion is difficult for every one except the most robust. It may be that all the nations are tired; and it may be that only the boldest and breeziest are not too tired to say that they are tired. It may be that a man like Ibsen in Norway or a man like Gorky in Russia are the only people left who have so much faith that they can really believe in scepticism. It may be that they are the only people left who have so much animal spirits that they can really feast high and drink deep at the ancient banquet of pessimism. This is one of the possible hypotheses or explanations in the matter: that all Europe feels these things and that they only have strength to believe them also. Many other explanations might, however, also be offered. It might be suggested that half-barbaric countries like Russia or Norway, which have always lain, to say the least of it, on the extreme edge of the circle of our European civilisation, have a certain primal melancholy which belongs to them through all the ages. It is highly probable that this sadness, which to us is modern, is to them eternal. It is highly probable that what we have solemnly and suddenly discovered in scientific text-books and philosophical magazines they absorbed and experienced thousands of years ago, when they offered human sacrifice in black and cruel forests and cried to their gods in the dark. Their agnosticism is perhaps merely paganism; their paganism, as in old times, is merely devilworship. Certainly, Schopenhauer could hardly have written his hideous essay on women except in a country which had once been full of slavery and the service of fiends. It may be that these moderns are tricking us altogether, and are hiding in their current scientific jargon things that they knew before science or civilisation were. They say that they are determinists; but the truth is, probably, that they are still worshipping the Norns. They say that they describe scenes which are sickening and dehumanising in the name of art or in the name of truth; but it may be that they do it in the name of some deity indescribable, whom they propitiated with blood and terror before the beginning of history. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 681
Author: Gorky, Maksim
Release Date: Oct 1, 1996
Format: eBook
Language: English

In stock at the Booksdeli Warehouse:

Items that are in stock at the Booksdeli Warehouse will state, 'Ships in 1-2 business days'. There will also be a red 'in stock' on the product information page of the individual title that will indicate if the title is actually in stock. Occasionally stock runs out before the website is updated and you will be notified if you have been affected. Please note that if your order is placed during a "sale" period, dispatch time for 'in stock' items can be delayed due to increased volume of orders.

Items not in stock at the Booksdeli Warehouse:

Items that are NOT in stock at the Booksdeli Warehouse will need to be ordered from the supplier. Any title that does NOT feature a red 'in stock' star on the product information page of the individual title will need to be ordered from the supplier.

With 1 million titles listed on our website we are not able to keep stock of all titles, and the title you are seeking may have to be ordered from an Australian, UK, USA or other country supplier. Each item you order may have different delivery expectations depending on availability. Please also note that to offer the widest range of items online we rely on information provided by the publishers and distributors. Our website is updated regularly but titles can and do sometimes become temporarily unavailable whilst reprinting, or they may go out of print without prior notice from the publisher. If an item in your order is affected then Booksdeli staff will contact you via the email or message centre in your Booksdeli account to inform you of the delay and your order will be updated with the relevant information. You will receive an email asking you to log into your Booksdeli account because your order has been updated.

How long will it take to deliver this title to you?

  • After you place your order we will research where best to source this title.
  • You will be sent an email once your order has been processed requesting you to log in to your account to inform you of the delivery expectations of your order.
  • If delivery times are not suitable then you have 1 business day to contact Booksdeli to discuss faster delivery options. If Booksdeli is unable to fast track the delivery of this title for you then you have the option to cancel for a full refund. After 1 business day your order is a firm sale.

Delivery Expectations:

  • eBooks and Gift Certificates are delivered instantly.
  • Most of Booksdeli's titles are dispatched from our warehouse within 6 to 24 business days.
  • Booksdeli specialise in titles that are difficult to source. For example, University or Academic texts, older hardcover editions, or titles on very specific subjects, etc and these may take 16 to 30 business days to ship to you as they are not titles that suppliers keep readily available and need to be specifically ordered in.
  • Extremely specialised titles (i.e. indent titles) or titles waiting for a reprint can take 6 weeks to 4 months to source from suppliers around the world. Indent titles are firm sale and cannot be cancelled or returned.
  • Some titles are yet to be published so please pay attention to the publisher's predicted publish date when ordering and MORE IMPORTANTLY please check if there are other editions that are already published.

In all instances we will notify you of delivery times for each title with the information we have at the time of processing your order as discussed above. Please also add the appropriate number of days it may take for Australia Post or other preferred shipping companies for Australian orders or FedEx or other preferred shipping companies for international orders to deliver to you from Australian warehouses or from suppliers.

See Average Delivery Times in our SHIPPING & DELIVERY INFORMATION SECTION in the Help Centre for average delivery times from Australian warehouses.

Stock on hand at the Booksdeli warehouse will be shipped the next business day if there are no other items that are waiting for delivery from Booksdeli suppliers. Please note that if your order is placed during a "sale" period, dispatch time for 'in stock' items can be delayed due to increased volume of orders.

If items are not readily available then our Order Processing Team will endeavour to contact you via the email or message centre in your Booksdeli account to discuss the time frame for these items.

Items that are Pre-Orders will be ordered automatically unless the listed publication date changes.

How will I know if my order has been dispatched?

An automated 'shipped' email will be sent once your order has been dispatched from our warehouse. 

Insufficient and/or incorrect delivery information:

*** Address changes and/or corrections made through your Booksdeli Account will only affect future orders placed after the changes and/or corrections are made. Any changes and/or corrections for current orders must be done by contacting the Booksdeli Customer Care Team as soon as possible.***

(Don't forget to update your account for future orders after emailing Booksdeli)

Customers who enter addresses that Australia Post or any other shipping company have deemed having incorrect and/or insufficient details to ensure delivery may result in the following:

  • Delayed delivery
  • Lost parcel
  • Package/s returned to the Booksdeli Warehouse

If Booksdeli is found to be responsible for incorrectly addressing a package then Booksdeli will be responsible for the resending, replacement or refund of the items not delivered or delayed.

Any package returned to Booksdeli due to the above incorrect and/or insufficient information will require an extra delivery charge i.e. $8 for shipping the package again. Also, if Booksdeli has incurred extra fees to retrieve the package from Australia Post and other shipping companies then these charges will also be borne by the customer before the package can be despatched again.

If a package arrives back to the Booksdeli Warehouse due to the above incorrect and/or insufficient delivery issues and incurs damage to the item(s), Booksdeli will not be responsible for replacing the goods but will make every effort to add extra protection to resend the package once the extra delivery fee payments have been made.

If customers prefer a replacement, then they can elect to have them reordered and will be charged the RRP less 30% plus $8 shipping (stock permitting). If stock is no longer available at the same price at the time of ordering then Booksdeli will not be required to find a replacement or refund or store credit.

If a customer prefers not to receive the items as their requirements have changed then no refund or store credit will be provided due to "incorrect and/or insufficient address" details.

Any shipment that is delayed or lost and is found to have had incorrect and/or insufficient details provided by the customer will not be covered by Booksdeli. NO REFUNDS and NO STORE CREDITS are applicable.

If the package has the correct delivery information and is 'lost' by Australia Post or other preferred delivery company, Booksdeli will replace the items only after you have checked with your local Post Office as per the information in the Help Centre section of the website or, issue a store credit if the replacement copies will not arrive in time. If Booksdeli is unable to source a replacement copy due to the title no longer being available for whatever reason, a refund will be processed for the unavailable title. You must contact Booksdeli within six (6) weeks of receiving the automated 'shipping' email if your package has not arrived otherwise no store credit or refund (if applicable) will be available.

Mail redirections:

Customers please note that many of our Booksdeli customers inform us that their Australia Post Redirections and other shipping companies’ redirections do not work with packages. Booksdeli will not be responsible for replacing goods or extra costs if a redirection has not been successful. Please contact Customer Service before you move to ensure a current order has the updated details to minimize delays.

Please see our INSUFFICIENT AND/OR INCORRECT DELIVERY INFORMATION section in the Help Centre for more details and how to avoid errors in placing your order.

Orders with multiple items:

Customers with more than one item may be sent their items in multiple shipments. Booksdeli holds onto items for up to 2 hours after the first item has been allocated to the order to include as many items in one shipment as possible. Customers shipping to addresses in Australia pay a one off fee of $8 for as many shipments required per order. If you require items to be sent before the above time frame, an additional postage charge of $8 will apply. You can request items to be sent sooner by contacting the Booksdeli Customer Care Team. Overseas orders see below.

Overseas Orders:

All overseas orders are consolidated to one delivery.

If a Fed-Ex/UPS service or our preferred delivery service does not deliver to your specified address we reserve the right to cancel your order before it is processed.

Orders over the value of AUD$900 being delivered to all other countries will be liable for customs charges, taxes including GST and brokerage costs. These charges are the responsibility of the recipient and Booksdeli will not reimburse customers for these import costs or provide a refund or credit for any order if a customer refuses to pay them. Please contact our Customer Service Team to discuss what arrangements may be possible for your order.

All orders with an overseas delivery address are firm sale and a store credit or refund is not available. Note that this does not apply to Damaged or Faulty Items - see our Returns section of the Help Centre.

Completion of an order & outstanding items:

An order will be complete when either of the following occurs (i) all items were sent and delivered (ii) the order has been cancelled during the cooling-off period (iii) the customer nominated to pay by cheque, money order or bank transfer and the monies were never received by Booksdeli within 60 days of the date of the order and the unprocessed order was cancelled (iv) the customer received some items but nominated to get a credit or refund for the remaining amount (v) Booksdeli could not charge the credit card and the unprocessed order was cancelled (vi) the remaining items that are yet to be delivered in the order are no longer in print or available through Booksdeli's suppliers any more (vii) more than 120 days have passed since monies have been received on an order and Booksdeli was unable to source the title(s) and if so then the customer will receive a refund for the amount of the cancelled item, unless the customer wishes to wait longer for such title to become available. The ONLY exception applies to items Pre-Orders where the 120 days commences from the publish date.

Privacy Policy:

Booksdeli Pty Ltd keeps all personal information submitted in the strictest confidence. The information is kept on a secure server and is only used to process orders from Booksdeli. This information will not be released to anyone other than necessary to fulfill your order. In some instances Booksdeli Pty Ltd's suppliers will fulfill directly to you, the customer, to improve delivery times and your contact information is kept in the strictest confidence. We will not rent or sell your personal information to any third party outside of Booksdeli Pty Ltd without your permission.

Third-Party Service Providers: Booksdeli uses Australia Post, UPS, FedEx, and Spring Global Mail and other delivery companies to deliver packages. Booksdeli may provide these companies your details including emails and contact number ONLY to provide customers up to date delivery tracking of dispatched orders.