Another novel of Ryeshétnikoff, _The Glúmoffs_, is perhaps one of the most depressing novels in this branch of literature. There is nothing striking in it--no misfortunes, no calamities, no dramatic effects; but the whole life of the ironworkers of the Uráls, who are described in this novel, is so gloomy, there is so little possibility of possible escape from this gloominess, that sheer despair seizes you, as you gradually realise the immobility of the life which this novel represents. In _Among Men_ Ryeshétnikoff tells the story of his own terrible childhood. As to his larger two-volume novel--_Where is it Better?_--it is an interminable string of misfortunes which befell a woman of the poorer classes, who came to St. Petersburg in search of work. We have here (as well as in another long novel, _One’s Own Bread_) the same shapelessness and the same absence of strongly depicted characters as in _The Glúmoffs_, and we receive the same gloomy impression. The literary defects of all Ryeshétnikoff’s work are only too evident. Yet in spite of them, he may claim to be considered as the initiator of a new style of novel, which has its artistic value, notwithstanding its want of form and the ultra-realism of both its conception and structure. Ryeshétnikoff certainly could not inspire a school of imitators; but he has given hints to those who came after him as to what must be done to create the true folk-novel, and what must be avoided. There is not the slightest trace of romanticism in his work; no heroes; nothing but that great, indifferent, hardly individualised crowd, among which there are no striking colours, no giants; all is small; all interests are limited to a microscopically narrow neighbourhood. In fact, they all centre round the all-dominating question, Where to get food and shelter, even at the price of unbearable toil. Every person described has, of course, his individuality; but all these individualities are merged into one single desire: that of finding a living which shall not be sheer misery--shall not consist of days of well-being alternating with days of starvation. How lessen the hardships of work which is beyond a man’s forces? how find a place in the world where work shall not be done amid such degrading conditions? these questions make the unanimity of purpose among all these men and women.