[Translation of the Foregoing Letter in Russian] I am very glad that "The Story of the Seven Who Were Hanged" will be read in English.

The misfortune of us all is that we know so little, even nothing, about one another--neither about the soul, nor the life, the sufferings, the habits, the inclinations, the aspirations of one another.

Literature, which I have the honor to serve, is dear to me just because the noblest task it sets before itself is that of wiping out boundaries and distances.
As in a hard shell, every human being is enclosed in a cover of body, dress, and life.

Who is man?
We may only conjecture.

What constitutes his joy or his sorrow?
We may guess only by his acts, which are oft-times enigmatic; by his laughter and by his tears, which are often entirely incomprehensible to us.