The Spy: The Story of a Superfluous Man

by Maksim Gorky

"The Spy: The Story of a Superfluous Man" by Maksim Gorky is a novel written in 1907 and published in 1908. It follows Yevsey Klimkov, a weak and frightened orphan coerced into becoming a spy for the Tsarist police. Forced to inform on revolutionaries he secretly admires, Klimkov descends into the role of agent provocateur, entrapping innocent people while his conscience tears him apart. The novel examines the moral corruption of espionage under imperial rule.