Creatures That Once Were Men

In Short

This collection of Russian short stories immerses readers in the lives of day laborers, vagabonds, destitute former professionals, and oppressed workers on the fringes of society. Set against harsh industrial dockyards, cramped bakeries, bleak rivers, and open steppes, the narratives trace the daily struggles, fleeting dignity, and deep internal conflicts of men and women discarded by the world. Gorky gives voice to those reduced to rock-bottom poverty, exploring how pride, fellowship, cruelty, and the yearning for freedom endure despite relentless hardship. The work endures for its fierce empathy, psychological depth, and unvarnished realism.

The Story

The volume gathers several rich narratives centered on Russia's displaced and working poor, beginning with the title story about a refuge for society's castoffs. Aristid Kuvalda, an ex-officer stripped of his former standing, runs a dilapidated lodging house. Among his tenants are degraded intellectuals, disgraced priests, and broken laborers, including a former teacher who drinks away his grief. Kuvalda leads this ragged community with biting cynicism and dark humor, organizing drinking bouts while sneering at the respectable townspeople, particularly the wealthy merchant Judas Petunikoff, who threatens to evict them. When the quiet teacher dies unexpectedly in the shelter, the police and local officials treat his body with callous suspicion. Kuvalda confronts their arrogance with bitter indifference, realizing their shelter's days are numbered as commercial interests close in.

Other stories explore different corners of this brutal world. In "Twenty-Six Men and a Girl," twenty-six exhausted pretzel bakers labor in a dark, damp, subterranean bakery. Their sole source of comfort and spiritual brightness is Tanya, a sixteen-year-old seamstress who visits them daily for fresh bread. They idealize her as a pure, sacred entity, but their obsessive devotion turns to bitter resentment when a arrogant soldier-baker arrives and seduces her, shattering their fragile ideal.

"Chelkash" follows a seasoned, fiercely independent harbor thief named Grigori Chelkash, who recruits a naive peasant youth, Gavrilo, to assist him in a dangerous nighttime heist on the docks. Though the theft succeeds and yields a small fortune, Gavrilo's sudden, consumed greed drives him to contemplate murder for the spoils. When Chelkash contemptuously flings the cash at him, Gavrilo violently strikes him with a stone, leaving Chelkash bleeding on the beach before remorse and terror overtake the youth.

In "My Fellow-Traveller," the narrator undertakes a punishing journey on foot across Russia and the Caucasus alongside Shakro, a penniless Georgian prince. While the narrator patiently works, scavenges, and shares everything to keep them alive, Shakro proves lazy, gluttonous, and demanding, eventually abandoning his companion without gratitude once they reach safety.

Finally, "On a Raft" takes place upon a fog-shrouded river, where the old peasant Silan steers a timber raft alongside his daughter-in-law, Marka, with whom he is openly having an affair. Silan's sickly, meek son Mitia watches helplessly from the stern, tormented by his wife's betrayal and his father's brute authority, as the raft drifts forward into the cold morning air.

How It Unfolds

The sanctuary of outcasts Aristid Kuvalda gathers his ragged lodgers in the yard of his dilapidated dosshouse, sharing vodka, bread, and dark philosophical banter. They construct an insular world of cynical pride, mocking the polite society that has cast them aside.

A life cut short The shelter's soft-spoken teacher falls ill and dies silently on his mat, leaving his few friends to mourn him in bitter silence. Local authorities inspect the body with cold disdain, prompting Kuvalda to face the inspectors with dangerous defiance.

Devotion in the dark Twenty-six weary bakers work endlessly in a damp, sunless cellar, holding up the young seamstress Tanya as their only sacred light. Their reverence turns to heartbreak and hostility when she succumbs to the charms of a boastful soldier.

Shadows on the water The thief Chelkash row into the dark harbor with the reluctant peasant Gavrilo to pull off a daring dock robbery. After securing a massive payout, Gavrilo's sudden, overwhelming greed turns a night of success into a violent betrayal on the open beach.

A heavy partnership Two penniless travelers tramp across the picturesque landscapes of the Crimea and the Caucasus, relying on fruit and manual labor to survive. The narrator's steady generosity is met with Shakro's endless complaints, vanity, and shameless self-absorption.

Drifting down the river A massive timber raft glides down a misty river, bearing a broken family entangled in passion and resentment. The old patriarch Silan asserts his dominant will over the waters, while his gentle, betrayed son Mitia looks on in silent, despairing anguish.

The People

• Aristid Kuvalda: A former military officer reduced to running a ruined lodging house for society's outcasts. He wants to maintain his independence and sneer at respectable society, but his fiercely sarcastic exterior masks a deep frustration at his own powerlessness.
• The Teacher: An educated, gentle-hearted alcoholic living in Kuvalda's shelter. He seeks solace in tears, reading newspapers to the illiterate lodgers, and offering quiet sympathy, ultimately dying in poverty before he can find a purpose.
• Chelkash: A hardened, free-spirited harbor thief who loves the unpredictable danger of the sea. He desires complete freedom and despises middle-class respectability, ending up wounded and bitter after his generosity toward a young assistant backfires.
• Gavrilo: A young, destitute peasant lad lured into crime by Chelkash to earn money for a farm. He wants security and wealth, but his desperate, sudden greed drives him to commit a horrific act of violence against his mentor.
• Shakro: A self-proclaimed Georgian prince traveling on foot without money or skills. He wants comfort, rich food, and admiration, relying entirely on his companion's kindness while offering only complaints and arrogance in return.
• Silan: A powerful, domineering river patriarch who guides a timber raft. He wants life on his own terms and takes his son's wife as his lover, untroubled by moral guilt or his sickly son's quiet suffering.
• Mitia: Silan's frail, deeply religious son who works the raft stern. He wants peace and spiritual redemption, but he stands helpless against his father's strength and his wife's open rejection.

In Its Own Voice

"The place of the merchant Judas Petunikoff ought to be in penal servitude, but he still walks through the streets in daylight, and even intends to build a factory."

Kuvalda rails against the hypocritical social hierarchy that rewards corrupt wealth while punishing the vulnerable.

"Man always wants to lay his love on someone, though sometimes he crushes, sometimes he sullies, with it; he may poison another life because he loves without respecting the beloved."

The narrator reflects on the destructive, possessive nature of devotion among the oppressed pretzel bakers.

"He, Chelkash, felt that he had the power to do with it as he pleased. He could rend it like a card, and he could help to set it on a firm footing in its peasant framework."

Chelkash observes the impressionable youth Gavrilo, acutely conscious of his own authority over a novice's fate.

What It's Really About

Gorky's collection confronts the systemic cruelty of late nineteenth-century industrialization and class division, asking what remains of human dignity when every material necessity is stripped away. The text argues that extreme poverty and social degradation do not strip individuals of their complex moral lives; instead, they distort natural human desires—for love, respect, and freedom—into destructive impulses like greed, malice, and obsessive control. Across these stories, Gorky contrasts the cold, unfeeling machinery of modern commerce and authority with the raw, volatile inner lives of society's outcasts. He demonstrates that while the poor may be physically broken or morally flawed, their struggle for self-worth and agency is fiercely, tragically real.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals directly to readers who value unflinching realism, rich atmospheric settings, and profound character studies. Gorky writes with exceptional sensory immediacy, capturing the oppressive humidity of dockyards, the golden sunlight on the Crimean coast, and the cold darkness of underground workshops with equal, luminous precision. Reading these translated stories feels like stepping directly into the crowded streets and forgotten backwaters of Imperial Russia, guided by a writer who looks upon his subjects with sharp clarity and grounded compassion.

The collection requires some patience from modern readers, as its pacing reflects nineteenth-century narrative traditions, relying on long philosophical discussions, heavy Russian patronymics, and deliberate environmental descriptions rather than fast-paced action. Additionally, the depiction of casual domestic violence and historical social attitudes in the dialog presents uncomfortable moments that reflect the harsh reality of the era. Yet, the emotional resonance of these narratives remains striking. The vivid prose, raw psychological insight, and memorable portraits of resilience in the face of despair make this book a vital, deeply moving read.