“Lazarus” by Leonid Andreyev: “The Greatest (Horror) Story Ever Told”?
death...@hotmail.com
“Like a leper he was shunned by everyone, and it was proposed to tie a
bell to his neck, as is done with lepers, to warn people against sudden
meetings. But someone remarked, growing frightfully pale, that it would
be too horrible if by night the moaning of Lazarus’ bell were suddenly
heard under the pillows, and so the project was abandoned.”
It’s probably safe to say most of us are at least vaguely familiar with
the old Bible story of Christ resurrecting some poor sod named Lazarus
after he’d been four days in the grave. But ever wondered what happened
after that momentous occasion?
The much-anthologized tale “Lazarus”, by Russian writer Leonid Andreyev
(1871-1919), explores the possible aftermath of this famous Biblical
event - and is one of the most profoundly chilling works of fiction
I’ve ever read. As a work of desolate existential horror it would seem
to be without peer, a work that plays on man’s worst fears of his own
mortality and what awaits on the other side, “the void”, “the horror of
the infinite”, which this tale hints at with alarming power.
See, the initial joy and revelry surrounding Lazarus’ apparent triumph
over death falls quiet pretty damned quickly when it becomes clear that
he is nothing but a blasted shell of the man he used to be, a grotesque
mockery of life with bottomless black holes for eyes which sap the life
and vitality of every living thing his glance falls upon. And here
begins our story...
I won’t kid you, this story isn’t a bundle of laughs, nor does it end
on a high note that’ll reassure you that everything’s cool with the
world. But hey, in a day when too much horror fiction is wrapped up in
shoddily written melodramas aiming for tedious, safe shock effects, it
IS a refreshing change of pace to see something which packs a real
wallop - confronting our fears, rather than cheapening them (or
avoiding them altogether).
Today, 90 or so years after it was written, “Lazarus” would still be
considered a radical, even subversive, work. I can’t recommend it
highly enough. Seek it out if you can.
John
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Skrybe
story feature Lazarus coming back from the dead and basically robbing people
of the will to live when they look in his eyes?
Ken aka Skrybe
<death...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:834tr1$jve$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
Ray Girvan
> I'm wondering if Dennis Potter's COLD LAZARUS is based on
> Andreyev's story, or the original biblical tale. Having never seen
> Potter's, I can't say, but I'd be curious to know.
Only in the allusion to the resurrection of Lazarus. It's Potter's
last work, written to a punishing deadline (he was dying of cancer).
It's an SF drama involving a writer (identifiable with Potter) whose
head, preserved by cryonics techniques, is partially revived in the
future to recover his memories.
Ray
--
ray.g...@zetnet.co.uk +++ Technical Author +++ Topsham, Devon, UK
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rgirvan/ +++ The Apothecary's Drawer
paghat
> “Like a leper he was shunned by everyone, and it was proposed to tie a
There's an e-text available of the 1918 translation of "Lazarus" here:
http://www.unomaha.edu/~wwwengl/translations/lazarus.htm
Though of course you should try to find it as a book before resorting to
hideous e-texts, but it's nice to have this as back-up. It's from LAZARUS
& THE GENTLEMAN FROM SAN FRANCISCO (Boston: The Stratford Company, 1918)
an omnibus including the famous story by Ivan Bunin.
Leonid Andreyev is one of my favorite writers, though I read all I could
of him long enough ago that I've forgotten much more than I remember as to
which stories were supernatural. Even the realistic ones are so deeply
depressingly beautiful though, they read like some sort of aesthetic
horror. In his day -- though he often had to fight being banned -- he was
a household name better liked by the public than his friend Gorky. Later
it became a fashionable lie to attack him & Valery Brussiuv for their
grand guinol excesses but if you ask me Gorky still sucks & Andreyev
doesn't; his refusal to point a way to what would become boring socialist
realism is probably why he has made somewhat of a come-back as more & more
academics at least realize his tales still have power & significance.
A lot of his work has been available in English from time to time -- when
he was alive to appreciate his success even -- but never in large
editions, so these can be hard to find, except for THE SEVEN WHO WERE
HANGED, a horror of realism that's had several editions of multiple
translations. THE RED LAUGH has had a couple large editions besides being
included in omnibus with HANGED. ABYSS had an edition of 500 from Golden
Cockerel Press,1929, & was included in a modern selection of his work
VISIONS -- but I can't find my copy in a hurry so perhaps I misremember
it's in there. There's another collection laying around here somewhere
that I'm too disorganized to find quickly so can't remember more than the
title just now, WHEN THE KING LOSES HIS HEAD, & there were some
never-in-book translations by John Cornos that appeared only in magazines
of the 'teens which I reprinted in FANTASY & TERROR some while back.
Rushing to my "Russian translation" bookcase I see I've managed to keep
three of his books alphabetically arranged rather than leaving them lying
about somewhere else:
JUDAS ISCARIOT & OTHER STORIES (London: Westhouse, 1947) includes the
weird novelette "Phantoms." The title story has the same "twisted" take on
Christian myth as had "Lazarus." A third novelette fills out the book "The
Christians" but I've forgotten that story, except that Hubin's ciminist
fiction bibliography should've included it.
A more substantial collection is THE CRUSHED FLOWERS & OTHER STORIES
(Knopf, 1916) which includes the Judas story & related "On The Day of the
Crucifixion" but that's nothing compared to "The Serpent's Story."
Andreyev was often said to be a bitter writer -- in enough trouble for
writing what he felt that bitterness might be expected (in 1917 when even
that sell-out & I think a little frightened Gorky could no longer protect
him, he fled to Finland & died in exile two years later) -- but it strikes
me more often that reality IS bitter & his tales of Russian experience
during sundry convulsive changes are merely deeply tragic & real, & filled
with such stunning simplicities of observation as "Our prison is beautiful
at sunset."
THE LITTLE ANGEL & OTHER STORIES (Knopf, 1924) begins with the sad & cruel
title tale & has the marginally supernatural tales of "Silence" and "In
the Basement" mixed in, & the hideously poetic "Laughter" about a
"colossal success" at carnival time, in which the narrator cries out "Oh
if but for a moment I could have a human face!"
Other of his works can be found in anthologies of sundry Russian writers.
Also, if you can lay hands on it, Valery Brussiuv's THE REPUBLIC OF THE
SOUTHERN CROSS (McBride, 1919) is one of the best collections of horror &
fantasy I've ever encountered. I found my copy for something like $2 while
rumaging about bookshops in Dallas, not realizing at the time I would not
see a second copy in twenty years. I mentioned it to David Hartwell at a
convention once & some while later saw that one of the stories was
reprinted in one of David's anthologies, I forget which one, Classic
Fantasy or some such.
-paghat the ratgirl
Richard Pace
paghat wrote:
> There's an e-text available of the 1918 translation of "Lazarus" here:
> http://www.unomaha.edu/~wwwengl/translations/lazarus.htm
> Though of course you should try to find it as a book before resorting to
> hideous e-texts, but it's nice to have this as back-up. It's from LAZARUS
> & THE GENTLEMAN FROM SAN FRANCISCO (Boston: The Stratford Company, 1918)
> an omnibus including the famous story by Ivan Bunin.
I have this in one of my anthologies buried in a box somewhere, but I'm always
on the look out for public domain short stories or novellas in e-texts -- if
only to avoid using OCR.
I've been casting about for the better part of a year looking for project to
sink my teeth into as an illustrator and designer -- and I've looked over
several sites with e-texts and managed to miss this one -- thanks.
Richard
(still, nothing would beat a classic muck-monster tale)
--
The framework of my site is now up and most of the sections have artwork for
your viewing pleasure - http://webhome.idirect.com/~rpace/
Poppy Z. Brite
that I have loved this story for years. Thought about choosing it for the Mike
Baker antho, but Thomas' "The Tree" was a much bigger influence on my own work.
PZB
jpe...@cnw.com
pag...@my-dejaUNSPAMO.com (paghat) & death...@hotmail.com wrote:
excellent articles on Leonid Andreyev which have been SNIPPED>>
I can only add a footnote to Jessica's excellent bibliographic work:
there's a much more recent collection VISIONS (HBJ 1987) that includes
two of my favorites "The Seven Who Were Hanged" and "The Red Laugh". On
the strength of these two pieces, I included the book in my "Top 100"
for my Cemetery Dance column.
Oh yes, by happy coincidence I have an extra copy (F/F) $25 postpaid.
death...@hotmail.com
"Skrybe" <skr...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:
> I've read a Lazarus story but I can't remember the author. Does
Andreyev's
> story feature Lazarus coming back from the dead and basically robbing
people
> of the will to live when they look in his eyes?
>
> Ken aka Skrybe
Check out the link in Paghat's post, or preferably find one of the
anthologies where the story appeared and reread posthaste!
death...@hotmail.com
pag...@my-dejaUNSPAMO.com (paghat) wrote:
> There's an e-text available of the 1918 translation of "Lazarus" here:
> http://www.unomaha.edu/~wwwengl/translations/lazarus.htm
> Though of course you should try to find it as a book before resorting
to
> hideous e-texts, but it's nice to have this as back-up.
Excellent work! Now even the most il-literally inclined members of this
newsgroup have no excuse to miss out!
But, agreed, the books are an infinitely better medium.
Fantastically informative and many thanks. And there I was wondering
about this Andreyev fellow, whose "Lazarus" is my only acquaintance
with his work. What a treasure trove of stories and collections. Some
of the tales you mention sound pretty sinister. I'm surprised (even
disappointed) Andreyev hasn't been reprinted more often besides the
occasional appearances of "Lazarus".
One thing, in your list I don't see mention of the play He Who Gets
Slapped, supposed to be a pretty dark work. Any thoughts?
It seems like he had something of an ongoing mockery of Christianity
going - never a bad thing, especially when up to the standards of "L".
How do his takes on Judas, the Crucifixion, and the Serpent stand up to
"Lazarus"? One of the things I liked most about that story is that
Jesus himself is never mentioned (except possibly in a vague and
slightly sininster term as "the Master" near the beginning).
I'm also curious as to what exactly he got into trouble over. Was it
his subversive rewriting of religious traditions? What were his
politics? It doesn't sound like he had much to do with post-
Revolutionary Russia, didn't really even live long enough to see how
bad it would get with Stalin and everything.
Nonetheless, thanks for an insightful post that answered a lot of
questions I'd never have thought to ask.
death...@hotmail.com
jpe...@cnw.com wrote:
> I can only add a footnote to Jessica's excellent bibliographic work:
> there's a much more recent collection VISIONS (HBJ 1987) that includes
> two of my favorites "The Seven Who Were Hanged" and "The Red Laugh".
On
> the strength of these two pieces, I included the book in my "Top 100"
> for my Cemetery Dance column.
>
> Oh yes, by happy coincidence I have an extra copy (F/F) $25 postpaid.
>
> John
Fantastic! Does this also include some of his other weird stories that
Jessica mentioned?
death...@hotmail.com
Wow! I'll be damned, Poppy Z. Brite, eh? You know no less a writer than
Ramsey Campbell named you among, actually I can't remember the other
two right now, but as one of the best writers on the scene today, in
the lastest book of his stories Ghosts & Grisly Things (not his best,
but anyway...). That has to be as good as compliments go far as I can
tell.
Some of your stories coming to mind from those Best New Horror books -
great story in Book of the Dead 2, standout in a pretty great antho
there, and one I was particularly impressed with, from a collection
Wormwood
(checked out from a library years back), a nightmarish thing about a
trip to an abortion clinic.
But I'm rambling - great to see this story affected you, too. I think
Thomas' "The Tree" is actually in the same book I first read Lazarus.
Not a big Thomas fan but I'll have to see if I can dig it up now.
Thanks.
paghat
[clipped my quick-draft-essay]
> Fantastically informative and many thanks. And there I was wondering
> about this Andreyev fellow, whose "Lazarus" is my only acquaintance
> with his work. What a treasure trove of stories and collections. Some
> of the tales you mention sound pretty sinister. I'm surprised (even
> disappointed) Andreyev hasn't been reprinted more often besides the
> occasional appearances of "Lazarus".
A few of his stories are nearly as good as "Lazarus" & some I like better
but they tend to be very short so don't have the same "major work" feel to
them. The hallmark of all his fiction is deep sadness.
> One thing, in your list I don't see mention of the play He Who Gets
> Slapped, supposed to be a pretty dark work. Any thoughts?
He wrote several plays available in English & I've read them but do not
own copies; read them too long ago to remember anything about them except
they continue the sense of the sadness of all things.
> It seems like he had something of an ongoing mockery of Christianity
> going - never a bad thing, especially when up to the standards of "L".
> How do his takes on Judas, the Crucifixion, and the Serpent stand up to
> "Lazarus"? One of the things I liked most about that story is that
> Jesus himself is never mentioned (except possibly in a vague and
> slightly sininster term as "the Master" near the beginning).
>
> I'm also curious as to what exactly he got into trouble over. Was it
> his subversive rewriting of religious traditions? What were his
> politics? It doesn't sound like he had much to do with post-
> Revolutionary Russia, didn't really even live long enough to see how
> bad it would get with Stalin and everything.
From about 1902 through 1916 he was continously harrassed by
revolutionaries who wanted him to write in ways that were supportive of
revolution. Gorki caved in & became a voice of the "people" if "people"
are defined as a bunch of thugs running roughshod over anyone who wasn't
armed & agreeing with them. Andreyev continued to feel that things had
been sad Czarist times & things remained sad. Under thread of
assassination he fled to Finland. Nobody gave a shit about Christianity
though. To Andreyev religion was just one more sad thing.
-paghat the ratgirl
Skrybe
news:83a8bo$hir$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> In article <bnn54.2385$Dh3....@ozemail.com.au>,
> "Skrybe" <skr...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:
> > I've read a Lazarus story but I can't remember the author. Does
> Andreyev's
> > story feature Lazarus coming back from the dead and basically robbing
> > people of the will to live when they look in his eyes?
> >
> > Ken aka Skrybe
>
> Check out the link in Paghat's post, or preferably find one of the
> anthologies where the story appeared and reread posthaste!
>
> John
Ahah! Yep. The story Paghat posted is definitely the story I was thinking
of. If I recall correctly it appeared in an anthology of vampire stories (I
may be wrong though). It's a superb short story.
Ken aka Skrybe
Poppy Z. Brite
>
>Wow! I'll be damned, Poppy Z. Brite, eh? You know no less a writer than
>Ramsey Campbell named you among, actually I can't remember the other
>two right now, but as one of the best writers on the scene today, in
>the lastest book of his stories Ghosts & Grisly Things (not his best,
>but anyway...). That has to be as good as compliments go far as I can
>tell.
Ramsey is too kind. As I've been reading his work since I was 13 or so, I was
thrilled when I found out he liked mine. He and his family have also become
good friends with me and my husband.
Thanks for your kind words -- and nice handle. (I just discovered today that
my copy of DEATHBIRD STORIES has gone missing -- OH, THE HORROR. It's out of
print and I dare not beg Harlan for one.)
PZB
Bruce Baugh
>Thanks for your kind words -- and nice handle. (I just discovered today that
>my copy of DEATHBIRD STORIES has gone missing -- OH, THE HORROR. It's out of
>print and I dare not beg Harlan for one.)
http://www.powells.com/ is your friend in time of need.
--
Bruce Baugh / bruce...@sff.net
"Never let it be be said, especially by large men with guns, that
I failed to help." - Dave Weinstein