Excerpt from The Wall"Why does a red cow give white milk?" was the question propounded by a Hindu philosopher. One way out of the dilemma would appear to be to whitewash the cow. The cow may not like it, but the minds and hearts of those who would like to see the question answered would be set at rest."How can so charming a boy as Vanya have become such an outrageous little villain?" many a reader who has read the earlier life of Vanya in "The Mask" will doubtless propound to the author. The way out of this dilemma would appear to be to whitewash Vanya, to call his villainy heroism, the progressive disintegration of his character a triumph of civilisation. That, at any rate, would be pleasant to the author, particularly since Vanya has been accused of being none other than the author himself.But it is inconceivable that any person who has imbibed the benefits of Western civilisation should ask such a silly question as "Why does a red cow give white milk?"It is equally inconceivable that any person of this enlightened age, on seeing his own reflection in a mirror, should want to jump at it and clutch it by the throat, as if he were no more than a common orangoutang.In Vanya - now John Gombarov - the author has sought to present not his own face, which cannot possibly interest anyone, but the face of the world, and the traits which humanity have more or less in common.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.