The Black Monk

Two short stories in this Penguin 60s book.

The title story - the story of Andrey Korvin, a successful writer who suffers from exhaustion and is sent to the countryside to rest and recuperate. He doesn't stop working, but spends more and more time visiting an old friend, and eventually falls in love with, and marries his daughter. He recalls a legend, about visions of the Black Monk in Syria (or Arabia), followed by similar sightings in Africa, Spain, the far North, who will appear 1000 years after he was first seen. Kovrin begins to see, and have philosophical discussions with the monk himself. The story goes on to examine the relationship between genius and insanity. 2/5.

Peasants is about a waiter in Moscow, who becomes ill and loses his job. He makes the decision with his wife and daughter to return to his village for the support of his family. It appears he has forgotten how poor his beginnings were, has he has returned to a poor peasant existence. This one is written in a much more atmospheric way, really descriptive. However the story was ultimately a bit slow. 4/5.

So balancing out at 3 stars.

P88 peasants: ...people appeared to live worse than cattle, and life with them was really terrible. They were coarse, dishonest, filthy, drunk, always quarrelling and arguing amongst themselves, with no respect for one another and living in mutual fear and suspicion. Who maintains the pubs and makes the peasant drunk? The peasant. Who embezzles the village, school and parish funds, and spends it all on drink? The peasant. Who robs his neighbour, sets fire to his house and perjures himself in the court for a bottle of vodka? Who is first to revile the peasant at district council and similar meetings? The peasant. Yes it was terrible living with these people... great stuff.