country,
without caring about the arbitrary power which menaces them, or the
moral and material conditions of their lives. They also choose them
from among the doctors of the districts who are worn out in
despairing efforts to struggle against the terrible epidemics, and
who are also trying to improve hygienic conditions among the
peasants. In fine, among the heroes are included all who sacrifice
their personal interests for the general good.

The results of this terrible struggle against brute force are shown
in the excessive nervousness of the combatants, who have become
delirious with their aspirations towards liberty. Hatred of actual
reality and distrust of those who have resigned themselves to it
have made them accept sympathetically the most extreme and
uncompromising measures, and one often thinks one sees a certain
generosity among the people who are at war with society,--often, it
is true, for egotistical reasons, far removed from the great ideal
of reforms profitable to the masses. Such are the celebrated
barefoot brigade, the eternal vagabonds, the "lumpen-proletariat" of
Gorky's early works.

Another favorite subject of the Russian authors is the antagonism
which makes parents and children quarrel. But the children who were
radicals of the former generation have now became fathers, and are
often reproached by their sons for the practical impossibility of
the ideal for which they vainly expended their strength, and, as a
result of which, they are worn out and useless. Veressayev and
Chirikov have written most on this point.

However, in spite of repeated attacks, the resistance has grown in
intensity and the general uneasiness has spread without any one's
being able as yet to see any lasting or positive result. The
pessimism of various writers faithfully reflects this crisis.
Andreyev, for instance, possesses an extraordinary intuition of the
element of tragic mysteriousness which envelops the slightest
circumstances of daily life. Tchekoff, the prominent author who died
a few years ago, has left us remarkably realistic sketches, where he
obviously shows mental discouragement as a result of the struggle.
Another contemporary writer, Korolenko, whose poetic talent recalls
Turgenev to our minds, is distinguished, on the contrary, by the
attempts he has made to set free the spark of life which exists in
human beings who have broken down morally. All these writers have
such a direct and powerful influence o