On the Day of the Crucifixion

by Leonid Andreyev

Leonid Andreyev (1871-1919), a Russian playwright and short-story writer, led the Expressionist movement in Russian literature. After he was discovered by Maxim Gorky, and his stories began appearing in the Moscow Courier, his literary career began. He became one of the most prolific writers in Russia, producing short stories, sketches and dramas. He spent his last days in bitter poverty, addressed manifestos from his house in Finland against the Bolsheviks, and died from heart failure.

This short story concerns the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Genres: Short Stories, Russia

5 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 4, 2009

About the author

Leonid Nikolayevich Andreyev (Russian: Леонид Николаевич Андреев; 1871-1919) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who led the Expressionist movement in the national literature. He was active between the revolution of 1905 and the Communist revolution which finally overthrew the Tsarist government. His first story published was About a Poor Student, a narrative based upon his own experiences. It was not, however, until Gorky discovered him by stories appearing in the Moscow Courier and elsewhere that Andreyevs literary career really began. His first collection of stories appeared in 1901, and sold a quarter-million copies in short time. He was hailed as a new star in Russia, where his name soon became a byword. He published his short story, In the Fog in 1902. Although he started out in the Russian vein he soon startled his readers by his eccentricities, which grew even faster than his fame. His two best known stories may be The Red Laugh (1904) and The Seven Who Were Hanged (1908). His dramas include the Symbolist plays The Life of Man (1906), Tsar Hunger (1907), Black Masks (1908), Anathema (1909) and He Who Gets Slapped (1915).

Reviews

[Sidharth Vardhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful fable about banality of life even in times when history is being made. It is about a character who had a toothache on the day Jesus was crucified and that is all he stayed obsessed with while Jesus died and come back.

http://www.online-literature.com/leon...

[Per · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://shortstoryproject.com/stories...

[Kid Disaster · Rating 4 out of 5]

short tale of a man whose toothache was so terrible, he didn't give a fig about the crucifixion.

[Forked Radish · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story about the great pain and suffering endured on the day of the crucifixion and how it spoiled one man's enjoyment of it.

[Matthew Turner · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dark satire about a first-century man who has the most unbearable toothache. Also the Romans are crucifying robbers up at Golgotha, but you would not believe this toothache. He's in agony!

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was an amazing short story. It shows how life can be futile. It showed how one of the greatest events of the world were just about ignored by an self important man with his unimportant toothache. It shows how much we need to pay more attention to what is going on around us and not to be overtly concerned with self. It just compared human condition to the inhumanity happening (and being duly ignored) around it. I think this deserves 5 stars but because I would have liked a bit more there at the end I will give it 4.5 stars.