Vsevolod Garshin
1855–1888
Biography
Vsevolod Garshin (1855–1888) was a Russian writer of short stories and also an art critic. He was born on his family's estate in Yekaterinoslav province in the south of the empire, and he lived most of his adult life in St Petersburg. He died there in 1888, aged thirty-three.
He volunteered in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, and his own experience of the front gave him the material for Four Days (Четыре дня), a story about a wounded soldier left among the dead. Garshin suffered from depression and periods of mental illness for much of his adult life, and this shows in his work, which often concerns suffering, conscience and the moral weight of small acts.
The Red Flower (Красный цветок, 1883) is the book on this site. A patient in a mental hospital becomes convinced that the red poppies in the garden hold all the evil of the world, and he resolves to pluck them. The story is short and moving, a study of illness, conviction and self-sacrifice that still reads clearly today.
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Books
Красный цветок
by Всеволод Михайлович Гаршин (1855—1888)
A madman in an asylum becomes convinced that the red poppies in the garden hold all the evil of the world and resolves to pluck them. Garshin's short tale is a moving study of illness and self-sacrifice.
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.