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Although he feared death, he could not stop. 'If I stopped now, after coming all this way - well, they'd call me an idiot!'A pair of short stories about greed, charity, life and death from one of Russia's most influential writers and thinkers.Introducing Little Black Classics- 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.… (more)
User reviews
The second story was even more preachy and completely illogical (or maybe it makes prefect sense if you believe in god!). What Men Live By is the story of a poor man who when he encounters a random naked man on a cold night invites him to come home with him (all very charitable) this man ends up living with this man and his family for the next 6 years and learning to make shoes. Everyone prospers (Yay!). The end of the story we find out the stranger is an angel who has been cast out by god until he has learnt 3 lessons. The reason he was cast out was because he didn't want to collect the soul of a woman who had just had twin girls (woman's husband had been killed a week earlier). The justification of the "lessons" he learns are without any rational thought. Moral of the story as far as I can see is: God is a Dick.