Young Russia of that day is as easily recognized as is the English
literature of the Dryden and Pope epoch by its sententiousness.
It contrasts sharply with the tone of passive resignation and
hopelessness of the preceding period. Even Chekhov, the greatest
representative of what may be called the period of despondence,
was caught by the new spirit of optimism and activism, so that he
reflected clearly the new influence in his later works. But while in
Gorky the revolt is chiefly social--manifesting itself through
the world of the submerged tenth, the disinherited masses, _les
misérables_, who, becoming conscious of their wrongs, hurl defiance
at their oppressors, make mock of their civilization, and threaten the
very foundations of the old order--Andreyev transfers his rebellion
to the higher regions of thought and philosophy, to problems that
go beyond the merely better or worse social existence, and asks the
larger, much more difficult questions concerning the general destiny
of man, the meaning of life and the reason for death.

Social problems, it is true, also interest Andreyev. "The Red Laugh"
is an attack on war through a portrayal of the ghastly horrors of the
Russo-Japanese War; "Savva," one of the plays of this volume, is
taken bodily (with a poet's license, of course) from the actual
revolutionary life of Russia; "King Hunger" is the tragedy of the
uprising of the hungry masses and the underworld. Indeed, of the works
written during the conflict and for some time afterward, all centre
more or less upon the social problems which then agitated Russia.
But with Andreyev the treatment of all questions tends to assume a
universal aspect. He envisages phenomena from a broad, cosmic point of
view; he beholds things _sub specie aeternitatis._ The philosophical
tendency of his mind, though amply displayed even in works like
"Savva"--which is purely a character and social drama--manifests