The Man Who Was Afraid
by Maxim Gorky 1868–1936
The book, and the century it came out of.
Translated by Herman Bernstein
A Volga merchant’s son inherits the barges, the money and the trade, and cannot make himself want any of it — he drinks, he asks people what life is for, and nobody in the merchant world has an answer. Gorky — the name means Bitter — was orphaned at eleven, worked as a dishwasher, baker and dock hand and shot himself at nineteen; this 1899 novel is the first great portrait of the class that was running Russia and did not know why. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Adam, Locher and Sorolla among them.
OUT of the darkest depths of life, where vice and crime and misery abound, comes the Byron of the twentieth century, the poet of the vagabond and the proletariat, Maxim Gorky.
The Man Who Was Afraid, by Maxim Gorky, complete and unabridged. Spelling and punctuation follow present-day American usage; the sentences, the paragraphs and the voice are the author’s, word for word.
It was written in another era and may carry attitudes a reader today will find dated. They are kept for the sake of the work and do not reflect the views of this house.
- Series
- Salon & Steppe
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 376 pages
- Reading time
- about 8 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Translation
- Herman Bernstein
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785501000087
60 paintings are bound into this edition
Six of them are shown here, taken from the volume itself. Each is reproduced full page and named with its painter and year.
A page from this edition
Not a mock-up: this page is taken from the finished volume. The ornament above the chapter belongs to its shelf and to no other, the opening letter is set as a drop capital, and the plate below carries the name of the painter and the year.
Both photographed from the finished volume.
The Man Who Was Afraid, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Salon & Steppe shelf. Newly set, with the ornament of its series above each chapter and a drop capital on the opening page. Illustrated with full-page plates, each named with its painter.
Published as an ebook and not issued in print by this house; it carries one ISBN, 9785501000087, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.
Questions readers ask
- Is this the whole of The Man Who Was Afraid?
- Yes — complete and unabridged. Nothing is cut, condensed or paraphrased. This is the book, not a summary of it.
- What exactly did you change?
- The spelling and the punctuation follow present-day American usage. Maxim Gorky's sentences are untouched — same words, same order, same rhythm.
- Are the pictures really in the book?
- Yes. The edition carries full-page plates bound into the text, each one named with its painter and the year it was made. Six of them are shown on this page.
- How long is it?
- About 376 pages, which is roughly about 8 hours of reading.
- What do I actually get?
- An illustrated ebook with its own ISBN, sold worldwide. One file, yours to keep, readable on any device.
