The New York herald., 1922-06-18
RUSSIAN BOOKS.
Surveyed By AVRAHM YARMOLlNSKY.

men.
This morning we caught one of
them in the river. All, what a
succulent fellow he was-all ten
derloin! OF course we made a
huge pot OF broth and fried no end
of outlets, and then such a fine
mess as we had, what with onion
and mustard and plenty of new
pickles. We filed our bellies,
and thanked the good God for His
bounty.
No sooner did'we lie down for a
nap than suddenly there is hue
and cry: those goddess Blackmen
snapped up one Of our own! Before
you could say Jack Robinson they
skinned him and were roasting
lovely little pieces of him on spit.
you cannibals!" our fellows
howl across the river. You
Blackmen, you! What do you
mean by that, eh?"
Whats all the shoutin' for?"
they yell back.
Are you no Christians. you glut-
tons. You are gorging yourselves
on one of our Redskins. Have
you no shame?"
"And you-didn't you make
chops out of one Of our Blackmen
this morning? Whose bones are
lying there?"
You fools, We only lunched
on a Blackman. And you dare to
eat a Redskin! Can such things
be. Look out! You'll roast In
hell yet for this!"
Those Blackmen just roll their
eyes. laugh in their boards. and
keep on working their jaws. The
shameless crewi But what can
YOU expect of them?-they're
Blackmen. And to think that God
suffers such people to be born into
His world!
Zamyatin is also the author of the
most interesting contribution to an
other miscellany which appeared al
most simultaneously, under the title
of The Petersburg Almanac for 1922
This is a novelette, called 1.-The
North" 1t deals with the primitive
life of the fisheries where the Great
Russian mingles with the indigenous
Lopar. 1t is vigorous piece of writ
ing, somewhat resembling the man
ner>of Knut Hamsun, the brisk, vivid
individuality of the style compensat'
ing for the incoherence Of the plot
The volume also contains a play BY
Maxim Cork, entitled "The Olt
Man." which was written some year:
ago, but now published in Russia fol
the first time. The central figure II
Mastakov, a respected and worthy
citizen who, some years since, wa:
wrongfully convicted of murder ant
who escaped from Jail. The curtain
rises upon the celebration of the COM
pletion of the school building which
has been his pet enterprise. The ole
man who gives the play its title ap'
pears on the scene to cast q SHADOW
on Mastakov's triumph. This olt
man had served a prison sentence
with Mastakov, but unlike the latte,
had been justly condemned and hat
paid the fun penalty. He has nov
come to avenge himself for his OWL
suffering by exposing Mastakov''
past. Indeed, that seems to be hi.
sole motive. He feels that his years
Of Imprisonment are somehow com.
pensated for by his day of power
over his former prison mate. In the
end he drives Mastakov to commii
suicide. The play Is altogether un.
convincing, owing to the weakness
of the motivation and the insufficient
characterization. There is a start.
ling gap between this feeble drama
and Gorki's magnificent performance
in his recent autobiographic novels:
Childhood" and "In the World"
".
Far surprising in interest his con-
tribution to The Petersburg Almanac
ere Gorki's forensic writings, which
not so long ago were collected in two
volumes. One covers the articles
which he wrote from 1905 to 1916
the other, a much simmer book. con-
tains the feuilletons printed in 1917
in the newspaper NoUoyo Zhizn. OF
which he was the editor. The first is
much the more comprehensive vol
ume. Here he touches upon the prob