13 h 46 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the fortune you inherit cannot give you a reason to live?
On the Volga, barges and steamboats carry grain, timber and fortunes. Ignat Gordeyev rises from poverty to become a proud shipowner, and expects his son to inherit his world. But Foma Gordeyev is thoughtful, restless and troubled by questions that ships and deals cannot answer. Taking his place in the family business means facing a life he cannot accept.
In The Man Who Was Afraid, Maxim Gorky places Foma among people with competing ideas of how to live. His shrewd godfather, Yakov Mayakin, wants the business to prosper. Sofya Medynskaya seems to offer something finer, while Lubov Mayakina turns toward books and ideas. Around them, a river town measures worth in money; Foma searches for an honest reason to live.
What you’ll discover
- A river of fortunes Enter the Volga merchant world, where grain, timber and ships carry the promise of wealth.
- An heir at odds Follow Foma as family duty pulls against his restless need for meaning.
- A father's fierce pride Meet Ignat, whose strength and nerve build a fortune his son struggles to embrace.
- Lives beyond the business Discover Sofya, Lubov and Yozhov, whose lives and ideas draw Foma beyond the merchants.
- Questions money cannot answer Spend time with slow, thoughtful scenes that ask what makes a life worth living.
Who will love it
For readers who love Russian fiction, social portraits and stories about a person at odds with his family and class, with questions of wealth, rebellion and the search for meaning.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A fortune built on the Volga
- A son who does not fit
- Money, women and a restless search
- What the novel is about and how it speaks
Who’s who
- Foma GordeyevThe restless son of a rich shipowner, who wants an honest reason to live and cannot find it in business.
- Ignat GordeyevFoma's father, a self-made Volga merchant of great strength and pride, who expects his fortune to pass to his son.
- Yakov MayakinFoma's godfather, a shrewd and cynical old merchant who wants the family business to prosper and Foma to take his place.
- Sofya MedynskayaA cultured woman of the town whom Foma admires, and who seems to offer him a finer way of living.
- Lubov MayakinaMayakin's daughter, an independent young woman drawn to books and ideas, who stands close to Foma's search.
- YozhovA writer and thinker among Foma's acquaintances, who talks of ideas and the future in ways that merchants do not.
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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El hombre que tenía miedo
by Maksim Gorki · 1899
Heir to a Volga shipping fortune, Foma searches for a reason to live beyond the business world his father prizes.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Man Who Was Afraid is a novel by Maksim Gorky, first published in Russian at the very end of the 1890s under the name Foma Gordeyev. It is set among the merchants of the Volga, the great river that carried grain, timber and fortunes across Russia.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A fortune built on the Volga
The story begins with Ignat Gordeyev, a self-made man who has risen from poverty to own barges and steamboats on the Volga. He is loud, strong and proud of what his hands and nerve have won. Gorky shows him as a force of nature rather than a polished gentleman.
Around Ignat stand the other merchants of the river town, men who count their worth in ships, cargo and credit. Their world is practical and hard. Gorky does not simply hate these men, and he lets their energy and shrewdness show.
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What is The Man Who Was Afraid about?
It follows Foma Gordeyev, the son of a rich Volga merchant, who cannot accept the money-driven life of his class and searches for a deeper purpose, clashing with his family and the business world.
Is The Man Who Was Afraid the same as Foma Gordeyev?
Yes. Foma Gordeyev is the novel's Russian title, from the main character's name. The English edition was published as The Man Who Was Afraid, a title that points to the hero's fear of an empty life.
When was The Man Who Was Afraid written?
Gorky wrote it in the late 1890s, and it appeared in Russian around 1899. It is fiction, but it draws on his knowledge of Volga river life and the merchant class of his time.
The author
Maxim Gorky
1868–1936 · Russian and Soviet novelist
Maksim Gorky (1868–1936) was a Russian and Soviet writer born in Nizhny Novgorod. His real name was Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov. He wrote novels, stories and plays, including The Lower Depths (1902) and Mother (1906). He lived in Russia and Italy and died near Moscow.
More by Maksim Gorki
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