In a story by this author, the origins of a mysterious moving shadow and blueish sparks are explained in stories by the title very old woman. In another story by this author, a group of bakers turn against their favorite customer after she is seduced by a soldier. A father only worries about the impact on his political prospects after his daughter’s suicide attempt in this author’s debut play The Philistines. In a play by this author, a character reading Fatal Love is hit on the head with a book and called a fool. An actor in that play by this author is inspired to seek help in a sanatorium but hangs himself when Luka disappears. For 10 points, name this author who followed the lives of a group living in a shelter near the Volga in The Lower Depths. ■END■
ANSWER: Maxim Gorky [or Alexei Maximovich Peshkov]
<UBC A, European Literature>
= Average correct buzz position