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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens to a sense of self when fear and betrayal shape the world around it?
In The Spy, Maxim Gorky brings betrayal, fear, and identity into the world of revolutionary Russia. Subtitled The Story of a Superfluous Man, this classic places the question of belonging beside the threat of betrayal. What does it mean to feel unnecessary?
The title points toward secrecy; the subtitle turns attention toward a person’s place in the world. Together, they invite you into a story where fear is more than a passing feeling. Read for the tension between identity and the sense of being superfluous.
What you’ll discover
- The weight of fear Explore fear as a central thread in this tale of identity and betrayal.
- A question of belonging Consider what the phrase “a superfluous man” suggests about a person’s place.
- Betrayal at the center Enter a story that brings the threat of betrayal into sharp focus.
- Revolutionary Russia Encounter the setting that frames Gorky’s tale of fear and identity.
- An unsettled sense of self Follow the questions of identity that give this classic its personal stakes.
Who will love it
Readers who like Russian fiction, tales of spies and secret police, and close portraits of a troubled mind will enjoy it. It also suits anyone curious about how ordinary people drift into serving power.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Hiding becomes a child's idea of safety
- Information earns approval from his master
- A shared secret becomes a trap
- Betraying kindness binds him to power
- The agents share his own fear
- Trust puts his loyalty under strain
- Fear governs servants and masters alike
- Longing needs trust to become hope
- Small betrayals add up to ruined lives
Who’s who
- Yevsey KlimkovA tiny, timid orphan who wants to go through life unseen and finds his only safety in obeying whoever holds power over him.
- Uncle PiotrThe village blacksmith who raises Yevsey, argues with his own stupidity while he works, and sends the boy to the city with plain advice.
- RaspopovA bookseller with dark glasses who recites psalms, informs on his customers and teaches Yevsey that telling secrets earns approval.
- Rayisa PetrovnaThe calm piano player who rents rooms in the house, shows Yevsey kindness and keeps a dangerous secret of her own.
- Kapiton IvanovichAn old chancery clerk called the Smokestack who reads the New Testament and believes the Czar should share his wealth with the poor.
- MaklakovA fair-haired, serious agent who treats Yevsey with quiet decency and carries a private sorrow about the work they do.
- SashaA sick, snarling agent who preaches hatred of the gentry and wants to unleash a counterrevolution in the streets.
- OlgaA tall, gray-eyed factory girl who believes that to trust a person is to respect them and draws Yevsey toward a better life.
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The Spy
by Maxim Gorky · 1908
A timid orphan who wants only to be unseen becomes a paid spy in revolutionary Russia.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Can a person live so that he can go everywhere and see everything, but nobody can see him?”
In short
A boy of seven looks at his dead mother and feels no fear, only strangeness. Years later the same boy, small and timid, is working as a paid spy for the Czar's secret police.
The Spy at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 35 min4 h 25 min fast, 6 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 79,900 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1908by Maxim Gorky
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A frightened child learns that hiding is safety
Yevsey Klimkov loses his father at four and his mother at seven. His uncle Piotr, a blacksmith, takes him in and calls him Old Man. The boy is tiny, with round pale eyes and a thin voice, and the village children beat him for it. At home his cousin Yakov pinches and kicks him under the table.
Yevsey answers by making himself small. When Yakov attacks, he drops to the ground, pulls up his knees and covers his head. Once Yakov tells him that the pain will pass, and Yevsey repeats those words to himself for years. The church draws him with its quiet, gentle twilight and singing, though choir rehearsals bring further beatings. He asks his uncle whether a person can live seeing everything while nobody sees him.
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Details
- First published
- 1908
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Gorky, Maxim. The Spy. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-spy-gorky.
Gorky, M. (2026). The spy. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-spy-gorky (Original work published 1908)
Gorky, Maxim. The Spy. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-spy-gorky.
@book{gorky2026spy,
author = {Gorky, Maxim},
title = {The Spy},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-spy-gorky},
note = {First published 1908}
}
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What is The Spy by Maksim Gorky about?
It follows Yevsey Klimkov, a frightened orphan who moves from a village to the city and gradually becomes an informer for the Czar's secret police during the years of Russian revolution.
Who is Yevsey Klimkov?
Yevsey is a small, timid young man who wants to go unnoticed. He serves whoever gives him orders, and the book shows what that habit of obedience costs him and the people around him.
What does It will pass mean in the book?
It is a phrase Yevsey first hears from his bullying cousin Yakov. He repeats it as a comfort, but as he grows it becomes a habit that no longer feels like hope.
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.
“Can a person live so that he can go everywhere and see everything, but nobody can see him?”
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