SHORT STORIES
“HER LOVER”
By Maxim Gorky
Page 173
A. Brief Biography of The
Writer
Maxim Gorky 1868-1936
Also transliterated as Maxim; also Gorki and
Gorki; pseudonym of Aleksey Maksimovich Pskov) Russian short story writer,
novelist, dramatist, essayist, autobiographer, diarist, and poet.
INTRODUCTION
Recognized as one of the earliest and foremost
exponents of socialist realism in literature, Gorky, in his brutal portraits of
Russian life and sympathetic depiction of the working class, inspired the
oppressed people of his native land. From 1910 until his death, Gorky was
considered Russia's greatest living writer. He was likewise acclaimed in the
Soviet Union as the voice of the proletariat and the model for all future
writers. This was in large part due to the publication of his famous Mat'
(1907; Mother), the first Russian novel to portray the factory worker as
a force destined to break down the existing order. And, while Gorky is
typically remembered for his Detstvo (1915; My Childhood), V
liudiakh (1916; My Apprenticeship), and Moi universities
(1923; My Universities), considered among the finest autobiographies in
the Russian language, many scholars believe his short stories represent his
most enduring literary accomplishment. In these gritty, yet romantic, tales
Gorky dramatized the figure of the bosiak, a carefree vagabond, thereby
introducing a new type of hero, drawn from the dispossessed masses of a slowly
and painfully industrializing society at the turn of the century, into the
history of Russian literature.
Biographical Information
Gorky was orphaned at the age of ten and raised
by his maternal grandparents. He was often treated harshly by his grandfather,
and it was from his grandmother that he received what little kindness he
experienced as a child. During his thirteenth year, Gorky ran away from Nizhniy
Novgorod, the city of his birth (later renamed Gorky), and lived as a tramp and
vagrant, wandering from one job to the next. Frequently beaten by his
employers, nearly always hungry and ill-clothed, Gorky came to know the seamy
side of Russian life as few writers before him. At the age of nineteen, he
attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest. The event became the
turning point in Gorky's life; his outlook changed from one of despair to one
of hope. Within a few years, he began publishing stories in the provincial
press. Written under the pseudonym Maxim Gorky ("Maxim the Bitter"),
these stories stressed the strength and individualism of the Russian peasant.
When they were collected and published in Ocherki i rasskazy (1898-99),
Gorky gained recognition throughout Russia. His later volumes of stories, known
collectively as Rasskazy (1900-10), along with the production of his
controversial play Na dne (1902; The Lower Depths),
assured his success and brought him acclaim in western Europe and the United
States. Gorky's fame in the West coincided with increasing suspicion from
Russian authorities, however. In 1901 he was briefly jailed for publishing the
revolutionary poem "Pesnya o burevestnike" ("Song of the Stormy
Petrel") in a Marxist review. Ultimately, negative reaction to his
political radicalism, including his establishment of the Znanie publishing firm
to provide a forum for socially conscious writers and his activities during the
failed 1905 revolution, necessitated that Gorky flee into exile abroad. Allowed
to return home in 1913, he resumed his revolutionary activities and actively
supported the 1917 Revolution. Subsequently, he left Russia one last time and
settled on the island of Capri for health reasons. In 1928, he returned to a
national celebration of his literary, cultural, and moral contributions to the
socialist cause, which took place on his sixtieth birthday. His death several
years later, allegedly by poisoning, is still enveloped in mystery.
Major Works of Short Fiction
Gorky's short stories generally portray the
subjugation of the Russian peasantry and the dismal lives of social
outcasts—tramps, minor hoods, and other down-and-outers. Many of these tales,
such as "Makar Chudra" and "Chelkash," are based upon actual
peasant legends and folk allegories. "Makar Chudra" (Gorky's first
short story, originally published in 1892) follows the brief life of Loiko
Zobar, a young man who falls in love with and marries a willful gypsy woman.
Rather than become enslaved to her, he stabs her. Learning of this, the gypsy's
father vindicates her death by slaying his son-in-law. In "Chelkash"
Gorky champions the wisdom and self-reliance of his prototypical vagabond while
criticizing the brutality and pettiness of the decaying bourgeoisie. Though a
thief, Grishka Chelkash honors the request of his one-time accomplice Gavrila
for a share of their ill-gotten loot, even after he learns that this man had
planned to kill him and seize all of the spoils. One of the most accomplished of
Gorky's stories, "Dvádtsaf shest' i odná" ("Twenty-six Men and a
Girl," published separately in 1902) details the pitiful lives of
twenty-six bakers forced to suffer in sweatshop working conditions. In an
effort to transcend this dreary existence, the men focus their attention on a
lovely and innocent young seamstress, Tania. Rather than offering them moral
enlightenment, Tania disappointingly succumbs to the seductive advances of a
swaggering ex-soldier. Disillusioned by her lost purity, the bakers sink back
to their original, degraded state. Many of Gorky's other stories also introduce
topics that he was to explore more fully in his subsequent novels and plays,
although critics observe that he rarely did this with an equal degree of
artistic success. "Konovalov" represents such a tale by describing
the life of a "superfluous man," a common figure in nineteenth- and
early twentieth-century Russian literature.
Critical Reception
The first national publication of the story
"Chelkash" in 1895 brought Gorky considerable notoriety. The
appearance of the majority of his short fiction over the course of the next
decade soon secured his position as Russia's most popular writer at the turn of
the century. Later, he was hailed as the father of Soviet literature and the
originator of proletarian humanism. Such laudatory titles, however, have since
taken on a somewhat ironic tone as critics have reassessed Gorky's reputation,
noting the limitations of his often sentimental, coarse, and careless style,
seemingly motivated by ideology rather than artistry. In response, some
scholars have endeavored to instead accentuate Gorky's political and social
influence, while others have focused their attention on Gorky's
autobiographical texts and early short stories. In these, many contend, Gorky
most fully realized his artistic powers. Critics have since observed in this
shorter fiction Gorky's skilled blending of romanticism, realism, and social
criticism, as well as his compelling characterizations and evocations of
atmosphere. In addition, though they are occasionally marred by a moralizing
tone and stylistic flaws, many commentators find in these early works, and
their depiction of the sordid lives of those at the bottom of society, Gorky's
most artistically significant fictional accomplishment.
B.
Character interrelationship between
the character and characterization.
1. Teresa :
2. Mr. Student:
C.
Summary
This story
told about Teresa who has imaginary boyfriend because she wanted to fight her
loniless. She asked Mr. Student to write letter for her and from Boles. The
first time Mr. Student did not know that Boles just imaginary person, but
finally he knew that she was the liar. Then some people put her in the prison
and she was dead.
D.
Question and Answer
1. Why the title named “Her Lover”?
Because
this story told about Teresa’s lover, whose name Boles. Then the author told about Teresa’s love
story with him, so the author gave the title “Her Lover”.
(evi, satrio, nico)
2. Who is actually “I” in the story, the writer
itself or another person?
“ I ”
in this story is refer to another person
(farouq, lely)
3. What is the relationship between
author and Teresa?
There
is no relationship
(javas,
koko)
4. “ I never left my door open when I
knew her to be at home”, what does the character worry about? Why did he/she do
that?
I
think he did that because he avoid to meet her.
(sheli, isti)
5. Does the writer want to show something
in this story sentence “ I saw her drunk, with bleary eyes, tousled hair, ...”,
if it is yes what is it?
I
think he wanted to show how pathetic she was.
(resti, rani)
6. Why would Mr. Student want to write
the letter to his neighbor, does he love her?
No,
he write letters to her because he was just sympathy with her,
(aji&lely,
Fuad&halim, gita&fitri)
7. Why did not Mr. Student tell his feeling to Teresa?
Because
Mr. Student did not love her, so that is why he did not say anything to her.
(eky, nia)
8. The woman asked the man a letter,
was she illiterate? Did she has madness or feel lonely?
She
was not illiterate neither madness,
but she was loneliness.
(ita,
lala)
9. What is the meaning of “thou heart
of gold” in this story?
This
sentence means that Boles is Teresa’s heart
gold. It expressing that he is everything for her.
(javas, koko)
10. Why he rejected Teresa’s offer in
mending his shirt/trouser?
Because
he felt the mastodon in petticoats had made him grow quite red with shame, then
he decided to refuse her serviced because of his ashamed.
(irma , indri)
11. Why the neighbor wanted to replay
the message and what the purpose of that?
Because
Teresa asked him to write another letter, then there was no purpose except helping her.
(evi, satrio, nico)
12. Who are Boles and Teresa, what is
their relationship?
·
Boles is Teresa’s imaginary boyfriend,
·
Teresa is the character who was told by the author.
In addition, they are a
couple, but are not real.
(aji & lely, fuad
& halim, gita&fitri)
13. Do you think that Teresa had known
Boles before she become strange? Or Boles was only her imagination?
Boles
was only Teresa’s imagination boyfriend.
(sheli , isti)
14. Why does Teresa have an imagination
of “Boles”, is there any reason of it?
She
invented a boyfriend “Boles” from back home, she did it because stubbornly
wanted to fight her loneliness.
(resti, rani)
15. What makes Teresa think that Boles
is real?
She
wanted to fight her loneliness of life by
accepting this invented boyfriend as a rea
(fuad, halim)
16. In your opinion, what will you do if
you were Mr. Student will you do the same thing, help Teresa to write and
replay the letters? Why?
If we
were Mr. Student, we would not to write for her, because it is useless for both
of them and it makes her imagination about Boles stranger.
(Nia, Eky)
17. In your opinion, why did Teresa get
herself in a prison?
·
In my first opinion, because she has lied to many people about her
imaginary boyfriend. It did not happen to not only Mr. Student, but also other
people around her.
·
Then my second opinion, why Teresa was put in the prison is not stated,
from the word “something or other “ page 179, it has many reason.
(nia & eky, indri
& irma)
18. Did the thing that woman do by
writing letter have relation when she was put in the prison?
No,
because in our opinion the reason why she was put in the prison is not stated
in this story.
( ita, lala)
19. Why the writer said that no doubt by
this time she is dead? What does it mean?
In my
opinion, this story happened many years ago, and this time (when the writer
wrote this story), he believed that Teresa was already dead.
(irma, indri)
20. What happened with Mr. Student after Teresa is
dead?
We do
not know exactly, because the reason is not stated in the story, may be he felt
freedom.
(grandis, henifah)
21. “The more a human creative has tasted of
bitter things the more it hunger after the sweet things of life”, what does it
mean?
If
someone more often feel sadness, he/she will know the meaning of happiness.
(grandis , henifah)
22. In your opinion, is there another
person who has same feeling as Teresa in real life? If it is yes, explain how
it could be?
No.
(rani, resti)
23. What is the moral value of this
story?
·
We have to tell the truth, and do not be a liar.
·
We might be a good and should not allow them be lonely.
(aji & lely, fuad
& halim, javas& koko)
