Maxim Gorky achieved literary acclaim in Russia against all odds. Orphaned at a young age and forced to fend for himself on the streets, Gorky had virtually no schooling, but he managed to capture the imaginations of readers through his intensely realistic descriptions of the hardships faced by the impoverished and marginalized. From the very beginning of his career, Gorky maintained a correspondence with Russian literary luminary Anton Chekhov, which later blossomed into a lasting friendship. This volume some of Gorky's impressions of Chekhov, as well as those by fellow Russian writers Aleksandr Kuprin and Ivan Bunin.