"Makar Chudra" () is a 1892 short story by

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

, first published by the

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

newspaper ''Kavkaz'', in the No. 242, 12 September 1892 issue.Commentaries to Макар Чудра
The Works by M.Gorky in 30 volumes. Vol.1.

Khudozhestvennaya Literatura Khudozhestvennaya Literatura () is a publishing house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The name means "fiction literature" in Russian. It specializes in the publishing of Russian and foreign works of literary fiction in Russia. History It was founde ...

// На базе Собрания сочинений в 30-ти томах. ГИХЛ, 1949-1956.

Background

"Makar Chudra" was the second published story by the author after "Emelyan Pilyai", and the first signed "M. Gorky". It was written in the summer of 1892 in Tiflis, where Gorky spent several weeks doing menial jobs, mostly for the Caucasian Railway workshops. Soon after the publication, in October, he returned to his native

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

. Instrumental in the publication was Alexander Kalyuzny, a leftist radical, who first encouraged his young friend to put to paper the story the latter had been relating to him verbally, and later handed the manuscript to his journalist friend Tsvetnitsky, who furthered it to the ''Kavkaz'' editors. In his 1925 letter to Kalyuzhny, Gorky wrote: "For thirty years I've been serving the Russian art, and all thanks to the impulse you'd given me."Isabella M. Nefedova
Maxim Gorky. The Biography
// И.М.Нефедова. Максим Горький. Биография писателя Л.: Просвещение, 1971.

Plot

The narrator meets an old Roma traveller Makar Chudra and has a conversation with him outside the camp, revolving mostly around the theme of freedom. Noticing his guest's interest in his daughter Nonka's singing, Makar warns him against falling victim to female charms and relates a story of a strong, handsome and fearless man Loiko Zobar and Radda, the latter's beauty matched only by her fierce sense of independence. Radda, well aware of her power over Loiko, orders him to kneel before her, in the presence of other men. His spirits crushed, he promises to do so the next day. Which he does, but only after putting his knife through the heart of his beloved one, to be promptly killed by Danilo, Radda's father. The story ends with the narrator having a vision: bleeding Radda walking through the skies, and Loiko behind, never able to catch up with her.

Adaptations

In 1976 the

Emil Loteanu Emil Loteanu (6 November 1936 – 18 April 2003) was a Moldovan and Soviet film director born in what is now Republic of Moldova. He moved to Bucharest and Moscow in his early life. His best known films are '' Lăutarii'', '' Gypsies Are Found Ne ...

film ''

Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven ''Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven'' (, lit. "The Gypsy camp goes to heaven"; also known as ''Queen of the Gypsies'') is a 1975 Soviet Union, Soviet Romantic film, romantic Drama film, drama film by Emil Loteanu, loosely based on short stories "Makar ...

'' came out, based upon "Makar Chudra", although fragments of " Old Izergil", another early story by Gorky, were incorporated into the plotline too.

References

External links

Макар Чудра
the original Russian text {{Authority control Works originally published in Russian newspapers 1892 short stories Short stories by Maxim Gorky