At the Bottom. Stories

More than a hundred years have passed since Maxim Gorky created the play "At the Bottom", and its heroes have not disappeared and remain recognizable: homeless people, thieves, prostitutes - the outcasts of society, the "bottom" - as if they... have moved through time, retaining their problems, from Gorky's den to the streets of a modern metropolis. The question of the necessity of choosing one's position remains just as relevant: "Man is a proud sound!" or "One must pity a person"? What to choose - lies for salvation or bitter truth? The plays "The Lower Depths" and "Vassa Zheleznova" always show the relevant conflict between generations and the disintegration of old customs against the backdrop of the emergence of the new. The book also includes the writer's earlier romantic works: "Makar Chudra", "Old Woman Izergil", "Chekash", "Song of the Falcon" and "Song of the Storm Petrel". The works are preceded by an article by Vladislav Khodasevich about Gorky.