The Old Teacher by Vasily Grossman. Short summary

5 seconds

The protagonist is the 82-year-old teacher Boris Rosenthal, who left the confines of his home only on warm sunny days, because the rest of the time he suffered from manifestations of vertigo.

1 minute

The protagonist of the work is the teacher Boris Isaakovich Rosenthal. He was 82 years old and received a pension of 120 rubles. He only left the confines of his home on sunny days, as at other times he suffered from symptoms of vertigo. A doctor he knew thought that Rosenthal was dizzy because of sclerosis and therefore advised him to take a small glass of milk with 15 drops of iodine before meals.

During the warm hours of the day, the protagonist would visit the courtyard. He took a book by Chekhov, but did not read it. Boris Isaakovich enjoyed the sounds around him.

On one such day, a girl ran up to the old teacher and offered him a pancake to eat. He agreed. As he proceeded to eat the child’s gift, all the people sitting in the courtyard began to stare at him. They always wondered why this old man was visited by prominent people of their locality. Rosenthal answered them that they were his former students.