Shorter Notices
Reminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreev. By Maxim Gorky. Translated by Katherine Mansfield, S. K. Koteliansky and Leonard
Woolf. (Hogarth Press. 7s. 6c1.) • THIS reprint (at a very modest price) of a book of 1934 is useful at a time when a number of studies of Tolstoy and the other great Russians is appearing. Tolstoy, dying in 1910, has become a figure of history, but to Gorky he was a friend, a life-force, "fateful, magical." The recollections of Tolstoy and of Chekhov, the .gentle humorous humanitarian, in whose presence everybody felt a desire to be simple, will be of more interest to English readers than the last section on Andreev, though this has an unforgettable picture of dissipation on an autumn evening in St. Petersburg. Gorky's reminiscences are desultory, frank and lively, with conversations, odd little stories and descriptions of scenery. The translations are easy and in many places beautiful.
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