ople, bankrupt
of ideals and poor in hope, whom we meet in the stories; and here,
too, behind the sordid triviality and futility, we hear the "still sad
music of humanity." But in order that the tints of Chekhov's delicate
living and breathing photographs can be effective on the stage, very
special acting is necessary, in order to convey the quality of
atmosphere which is his special gift. Fortunately he met with exactly
the right technique and the appropriate treatment at the Art Theatre
at Moscow.

Chekhov died in 1904, soon after the Russo-Japanese War had begun.
Apart from the main stream and tradition of Russian fiction and
Russian prose, Merezhkovsky occupies a unique place, a place which
lies between criticism and imaginative historical fiction, not unlike,
in some respects--but very different in others--that which is occupied
by Walter Pater in English fiction. His best known work, at least his
best known work in Europe, is a prose trilogy, "The Death of the Gods"
(a study of Julian the apostate), "The Resurrection of the Gods" (the
story of Leonardo da Vinci), and "The Antichrist" (the story of Peter
the Great and his son Alexis), which has been translated into nearly
every European language. This trilogy is an essay in imaginative
historical reconstitution; it testifies to a real and deep culture,
and it is lit at times by flashes of imaginative inspiration which
make the scenes of the past live; it is alive with suggestive thought;
but it is not throughout convincing, there is a touch of Bulwer
Lytton as well as a touch of Goethe and Pater in it. Merezhkovsky is
perhaps more successful in his purely critical work, his books on
Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Gogol, which are infinitely stimulating,
suggestive, and original, than in his historical fiction, although,
needless to say, his criticism appeals to a far narrower public. He is
in any case one of the most brilliant and interesting of Russian
modern writers, and perhaps the best known outside Russia.

During the war, a writer of fiction made his name by a remarkable
book, namely KUPRIN, who in his novel, _The Duel_, gave a vivid and
masterly picture of the life of an officer in the line. Kuprin has
since kept the promise of his early work. At the same time, LEONID
ANDREEV came forward with short stories, plays, a description of war
(_The Red Laugh_), moralities, not uninfluenced by Maeterlinck, and a
limpid and beautiful style in which pessimism seemed to be