More than a hundred years have passed since Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) wrote the play "The Lower Depths," yet its characters remain vivid and recognizable: homeless people, thieves, prostitutes — society's outcasts from the “depths” — seem to have been transported through time, retaining their problems, from Gorky's den to the streets of the modern metropolis. Equally relevant remains the question of choosing one’s stance: “Man is a proud sound!” or “Man needs pity”? What to choose — a lie to save or bitter truth? The book also includes the plays “The Philistines” and “Vassa Zheleznova,” the stories “Makar Chudra,” “Old Woman Izergil,” “Chelkash,” and the prose poems “Song of the Falcon” and “Song of the Stormy Petrel.” The works are preceded by an article by Vladislav Khodasevich about Gorky.