Vsevolod Garshin
Vsevolod Mikhaylovich Garshin, (b.
February 2 [February 14, New Style],
1855, Bakhmutsky district, Russian
Empire—d. March 24 [April 5], 1888, St.
Petersburg), Russian short-story writer
whose works helped to foster the vogue
enjoyed by that genre in Russia in the
late 19th century.
Garshin was the son of an army officer
whose family was wealthy and landed. The
major Russo-Turkish war of the 19th
century broke out when Garshin was in
his early twenties, and, perhaps feeling
obligated by his father’s profession, he
renounced his youthful pacifism to
serve.
He wrote of the plight of injured
soldiers in his first story, “Chetyre
dnya” (1877; “Four Days”), the title of
which refers to the length of time the
wounded main character remains
unattended on the battlefield. The theme
of wartime casualty is continued in his
“A Very Short Novel,” the story of a
soldier whose injury precipitates an
emotional crisis when he returns home.
In perhaps his most famous story,
“Krasny tsvetok” (1883; “The Red
Flower”), a madman dies after destroying
a flower he believes to contain all of
the world’s evil. Haunted by similar
delusions in his own life, Garshin
committed suicide by throwing himself
down a stairwell.
