Overview

Leonid Andreyev (1871-1919) was a Russian playwright, novelist and short story writer who is considered to be a father of Expressionism in Russian literature, and whose style combines elements of the realist, naturalist and symbolist schools. After his father's death he was thrown upon his own resources, but managed to study at both St Petersburg and Moscow Universities, graduating in Law in 1897. During this period he endured great hardship and was the victim of deep melancholia. His first writings were unsuccessful and for a time he devoted himself to painting. Later he came into touch with the Russian press as police-court reporter for a leading newspaper. His first short story Bargamot and Graska attracted the attention of Gorky who recommended that he concentrated on his literary work and he remained friends with Gorky through whom he joined the Moscow Sreda literary group. Andreyev's first collection of stories and short novels appeared in 1901, quickly selling a quarter of a million copies and making him a literary celebrity, and he went on to publish numerous stories on many subjects, including life in Russian provincial settings, court and prison incidents, and medical themes. His particular interest in psychology and psychiatry is evident in his insightful explorations into the human psyche. The Red Laugh (1904) is a prime example of this aspect of his work, being the feverish and fragmentary diary of a Russian officer during a disastrous campaign in Manchuria at the time of the Russo-Japanese War. Overcome by the horror of man's inhumanity, he is eventually driven to insanity when trying to write the story of the war, and a similar fate awaits his brother when he attempts to complete the manuscript. Regarded as Russia's equivalent to Edgar Allan Poe, translations of Andreyev's work found a ready audience in the English-speaking world, and this English translation of The Red Laugh was published by T Fisher Unwin in 1905. Includes a facsimile of the original cover and a photographic portrait of the author.

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