The Spy
by Maxim Gorky
- First published
- 1927
- Reading level
- Easy
- Price
- Free
About the book
"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.
- Spy stories
- Russian fiction
- Russia
Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #51094. The Spy on Wikipedia.
