Konovalov by Maxim Gorky. Short summary

5 seconds

The author learned of the suicide of his buddy Konovalov. He remembers him as a kind and good man who could not read, but loved to listen to books. Sometimes he would get bored and go on a binge.

1 minute

One day the author read in the newspaper about the suicide of his friend Konovalov, who committed suicide in prison. The author recalls his friend.

Konovalov was a hard-working, kind and sincere man. But sometimes he was seized by an incomprehensible melancholy, and the man went on a long binge.

The author met him while working in a bakery. Illiterate Konovalov loved to listen to books read aloud to him by Gorky.

He had the purity and naivety of a child and was very compassionate. Once he bought a young prostitute out of a brothel. Finding out that Konovalov rescued her out of good motives, and not out of a desire to marry, the girl was offended. She began to drink and returned to her former trade. Konovalov realized his mistake and drank heavily.

They met again with Gorky, at work in Feodosia. They reminisced about the past, their work in the bakery and books. The buddies never saw each other again.