The Seven Who Were Hanged and Other Stories

Leonid Andreiev is widely regarded as one of the most talented writers in Russian literature. In his prose, he reflected the influence of A. Chekhov's realism, the fascination with F. Dostoevsky's psychological paradoxes, and a constant obsession with the insignificance of life and the inevitability of death, in the manner of L. Tolstoy. Written in 1909 and dedicated precisely to Tolstoy, "The Seven Who Were Hanged" is considered by many to be Andreiev's best novel. The work masterfully and simply delves into each of the tragedies of seven condemned to death, leading the reader unrelentingly to a revelation, a state of illumination that only the best works of art offer.

(Leonid Nikolaevich Andreiev; Orel, 1871 - Kuokkala, 1919) was, as a narrator and playwright, one of the most prominent Russian writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He graduated in Law (1897) in Moscow and moved to the literary field precisely when Gorky's success was emerging. Despite their personal friendship, Andreiev became Gorky's most qualified rival, maintaining for some time a strange balance between the two predominant currents: realism, of which Gorky was the greatest exponent, and the more complex and confused symbolism.