LEONID NIKOLAIEVICH ANDREYEV (1871-1919) was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer who is considered one of the fathers of Expressionism in Russian literature. His best work is noted for its evocation of a mood of despair and absolute pessimism. One of the most talented and prolific representatives of the Silver Age period, Andreyev's style combines elements of realist, naturalist, and symbolist schools in literature.
Between1898 and 1905 Andreyev published numerous short stories on many subjects, including life in Russian provincial settings, court and prison incidents, and medical settings. His first collection quickly sold a quarter-million copies and made him a literary star in Russia. Two tales from 1902, "The Abyss" and "In the Fog", caused a storm by their candid and audacious treatment of sex. His work became widely discussed, and he acquired fame and wealth with a series of novels and stories that, at their best, resemble Tolstoy in their powerful themes and ironic sympathy for suffering humanity.
During the time of the first Russian revolution in 1905, Andreyev actively participated in the social and political debate as a defender of democratic ideals. Some of his best known tales—"The Red Laugh" (1904), "His Excellency the Governor" (1905) and "The Seven That Were Hanged" (1908)—captured the spirit of this period. His most successful plays—"The Life of Man" (1907), "Anathema" (1909), and "He Who Gets Slapped" (1916)—were allegorical dramas, but he also attempted Realist comedy.
Andreyev's works after the 1905 revolution often represent the evocation of absolute pessimism and despair. He enthusiastically welcomed the February Revolution but saw the Bolshevik rise to power as catastrophic for Russia. Idealist and rebel, Andreyev spent his last years in bitter poverty, and his premature death from heart failure may have been hastened by his anguish over the results of the October Revolution. His last novel, SATAN'S DIARY (1921), paints a world in which boundless evil triumphs and was left unfinished at the time of his death.
"I want to be the apostle of self-destruction," he wrote. "I want my book to affect man's reason, his emotions, his nerves, his whole animal nature. I should like my book to make people turn pale with horror as they read it, to affect them like a drug, like a terrifying dream, to drive them mad, to make them curse and hate me but still to read me . . . and to kill themselves."
The following books are in PDF format unless otherwise noted:
== FICTION ==
* Abyss and Other Stories (Alma, 2018). Hugh Aplin, trans. -- ePUB
* And It Came to Pass That the King was Dead (Daniel, 1921). M. Magnus, trans.
* Confessions of a Little Man During Great Days (Knopf, 1917). R.S Townsend, trans.
* Crushed Flower & Other Stories (Knopf, 1917). H. Bernstein, trans. -- PDF + ePUB
* Dark, The (Hogarth, 1922). LA. Magnus and K. Walter, trans.
* His Excellency the Governor (Daniel, 1921). Maurice Magnus, trans.
* Judas Iscariot (Francis Griffiths, 1910). W. H. Lowe, trans.
* Lazarus (Stratford, 1918). Abraham Yarmolinsky, trans.
* Little Angel & Other Stories (Knopf, 1916). W. H. Lowe, trans.
* Red Laugh, The (Dedalus, 2013). Alexandra Lindem, trans. -- ePUB
* Satans Diary (Duke, 2014). Herman Bernstein, trans. -- ePUB
* Seven Hanged (Penguin, 2016). Anthony Briggs, trans. -- ePUB
* Seven That Were Hanged & Other Stories (Vintage, 1961) -- PDF^
* Silence (Brown Brothers, 1910). John Cournos, trans.
* Visions: Stories and Photographs (HBJ, 1987). Olga Andreyev Carlisle, ed. -- PDF^
* When the King Loses His Head & Other Stories (International, 1920). A. Wolfe, trans.
== PLAYS ==
* Anathema (Macmillan, 1910). Herman Bernstein, trans.
* Dear Departing, The (Hendersons, 1916). Julius West, trans.
* He Who Gets Slapped (Brentano's, 1922). Gregory Zilboorg, trans.
* Love of One's Neighbor (Boni, 1914). Thomas Seltzer, trans.
* Plays (Duckworth, 1915). Clarence Meader and Fred Newton Scott, trans.
* Requiem, (1981) 6.1 Performing Arts Journal 113. Daniel Gerould, trans.
* Samson in Chains (Brentano's, 1923). Herman Bernstein, trans.
* Savva / The Life of Man (Mitchell Kennerley, 1914). Thomas Seltzer, trans.
* Sorrows of Belgium, The (Macmillan, 1915). Herman Bernstein, trans.
* To the Stars (Poet Lore, Winter 1907). A. Goudiss, trans.
* Waltz of the Dogs (Macmillan, 1922). Herman Bernstein, trans.
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