{"product_id":"savva-and-the-life-of-man-two-plays-by-leonid-andreyev-gb-13147","title":"Savva and the Life of Man: Two plays by Leonid Andreyev","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSavva and the Life of Man: Two plays by Leonid Andreyev\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor the last twenty years Leonid Andreyev and Maxim Gorky have\r\nby turns occupied the centre of the stage of Russian literature.\r\nProphetic vision is no longer required for an estimate of their\r\npermanent contribution to the intellectual and literary development\r\nof Russia. It represents the highest ideal expression of a period\r\nin Russian history that was pregnant with stirring and far-reaching\r\neventsthe period of revolution and counter-revolution. It was a\r\nperiod when Russian society passed from mood to mood at an extremely\r\nrapid tempo: from energetic aggressiveness, exultation, high hope,\r\nand confident trust in the triumph of the people's cause to apathetic\r\ninaction, gloom, despair, frivolity, and religious mysticism. This\r\nimportant dramatic epoch in the national life of Russia Andreyev\r\nand Gorky wrote down with such force and passion that they became\r\nrecognized at once as the leading exponents of their time.\nDespite this close external association, their work differs\r\nessentially in character. In fact, it is scarcely possible to\r\nconceive of greater artistic contrasts. Gorky is plain, direct, broad,\r\nrealistic, elemental. His art is native, not acquired. Civilization\r\nand what learning he obtained later through the reading of books have\r\ninfluenced, not the manner or method of his writing, but only its\r\npurpose and occasionally its subject matter. It is significant to\r\nwatch the dismal failure Gorky makes of it whenever, in concession to\r\nthe modern literary fashion, he attempts the mystical. Symbolism is\r\nforeign to him except in its broadest aspects. His characters, though\r\nhailing from a world but little known, and often extreme and extremely\r\npeculiar, are on the whole normal.\nAndreyev, on the other hand, is a child of civilization, steeped in\r\nits culture, and while as rebellious against some of the things of\r\ncivilization as Gorky, he reacts to them in quite a different way.\r\nHe is wondrously sensitive to every development, quickly appropriates\r\nwhat is new, and always keeps in the vanguard. His art is the\r\nresultant of all that the past ages have given us, of the things that\r\nwe have learned in our own day, and of what we are just now learning.\r\nWith this art Andreyev succeeds in communicating ideas, thoughts, and\r\nfeelings so fine, so tenuous, so indefinite as to appear to transcend\r\nhuman expression. He does not care whether the things he writes about\r\nare true, whether his characters are real. What he aims to give is a\r\ntrue impression. And to convey this impression he does not scorn\r\nto use mysticism, symbolism, or even plain realism. His favorite\r\ncharacters are degenerates, psychopaths, abnormal eccentrics, or just\r\ncreatures of fancy corresponding to no reality. Frequently, however,\r\nthe characters, whether real or unreal, are as such of merely\r\nsecondary importance, the chief aim being the interpretation of an\r\nidea or set of ideas, and the characters functioning primarily only as\r\na medium for the embodiment of those ideas.\n\u003cb\u003e ......Buy Now (To Read More)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eProduct details\u003ch3\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEbook Number\u003c\/b\u003e: 13147 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor\u003c\/b\u003e: Andreyev, Leonid \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRelease Date\u003c\/b\u003e: Aug 9, 2004 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat\u003c\/b\u003e: eBook \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage\u003c\/b\u003e: English \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eContributors\u003ch3\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTranslator\u003c\/b\u003e: Seltzer, Thomas, 1875?-1943 \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Andreyev, Leonid,1871-1919 \/ eBook \/ English","offer_id":43216382132381,"sku":"gb-13147-ebook","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/products\/13147.jpg?v=1671349545","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/savva-and-the-life-of-man-two-plays-by-leonid-andreyev-gb-13147","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}