Narrative
The Seven Who Were Hanged
Рассказ о семи повешенных
Leonid Andreyev · 1908
Opening lines
Так как министр был человек очень тучный, склонный к апоплексии, то со всякими предосторожностями, избегая вызвать опасного волнения, его предупредили, что на него готовится очень серьезное покушение.
As the minister was a very stout man, prone to apoplexy, he was warned with every precaution, so as to avoid causing a dangerous agitation, that a very serious attempt on his life was being prepared.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from ru.wikisource.org
Synopsis
A minister learns that there is a plot to kill him and spends the most terrible night of his life. The five revolutionaries who were preparing the attack are arrested, tried and sentenced to hanging. Two other condemned prisoners are added to them, Tsiganok, a thief, and Yanson, an Estonian farmhand. Each waits alone: among them are Tanya Kovalchuk, Werner, who discovers compassion, and Sergei Golovin, a former officer who keeps up his gymnastics. The narrative follows these seven waits, each person facing the approach of death in his or her own way.
Context
The story was published in 1908 in the fifth book of the almanac Shipovnik, with a dedication to Leo Tolstoy, at a time when the Empire was multiplying political executions. The first French translation, by Serge Persky, appeared in 1911; the most recent, by Sophie Benech, in 2010. In English, Herman Bernstein translated it as early as 1909 under the title “The Seven Who Were Hanged”, and Anthony Briggs in 2016 under that of “Seven Hanged”.
Who it is for
A short narrative, of about one hundred and thirty pages in the most recent French translation, that can be read in one sitting.
Prizes and reception
The story was adapted for the screen by Pyotr Chardynin and for the stage, notably at the Edinburgh Festival in 1961.