And no material
conditions, no matter how prosperous, will induce them to make the
least compromise on this point. One of these "restless" types,
Konovalov, tells how, after he had bound himself to the wife of a
rich merchant, he could have lived in the greatest comfort, but he
abandoned everything, the easy life, and even the woman, whom he
loved well enough, in order to go out and look for the unknown. This
is a common adventure on the part of Gorky's heroes.

* * * * *

What is the cause of this restlessness?

"Well, you see," explains Konovalov, "I became weary. It was such
weariness, I must tell you, little brother, that at moments I simply
could not live. It seemed to me as if I were the only man on the
whole earth, and, with the exception of myself, there was no living
thing anywhere. And in those moments, everything was repugnant to
me, everything in the world; I became a burden to myself, and if
everybody were dead, I wouldn't even sigh! It must have been a
disease with me, and the reason why I took to drink, for, before
this time, I never drank."

For the same reasons, in "Anguish," a workingman leaves his mistress
and his employer, the miller. Where does this anguish come from?
Perhaps it is the simple result of a psychological process which,
Konovalov admits, is nothing other than a disease. It is very
possible that, in impulsive acts, a psychiatrist would see something
analogous to alcoholism, or the symptoms of some other anomaly.

Turgenev had already analyzed a similar case in "The Madman." When
Michael Poltev is asked what evil spirit led him to drink and to
risk his life, he always refers to his anguish.

"'Why this anguish?' asks his uncle.

"'Why?... When the brain is free, one begins to think of poverty,
injustice, Russia.... And that's the end! anguish hastens on.... One
is ready to send a bullet through one's head! There's nothing left
to do but get drunk!...'

"'And why do you associate Russia with all of that? Why, you are
nothing but a sluggard!'

"'But I can do nothing, dear uncle!... Teach me what I ought to do,
to what task I ought to consecrate my life. I will do it
gladly!...'"

Gorky's characters give the same explanation of their "ennui," and
almost in identical terms. This disgust comes in great part from not
knowing how to adapt oneself to life, nor how to become a "useful"
man.

"Take me, for instance," says Konovalov, "what am I? A vagab