Ilman tietä by V. V. Veresaev
QR code
"Ilman tietä" by V. V. Veresaev is a novel written in the late 19th century. It presents the diary of a disillusioned Russian zemstvo doctor who searches for meaning amid generational upheaval, growing social distrust, and a looming cholera epidemic; his strained exchanges with the earnest Natasha and his frontline medical work frame the struggle between ideals and harsh reality. The focus is psychological and social: conscience versus fatigue, duty versus fear,
and the fragile bond between educated reformers and the people they hope to serve. At the start of the novel, the doctor returns to a country estate and reflects on three bleak years of inner paralysis, then tries to rest, even as Natasha presses him for a guiding purpose he cannot honestly give. News of cholera draws him to a provincial city, where warnings of anti-doctor violence clash with his resolve. After a charged night—music, a moonlit boat, and his confession that he has “no road”—Natasha recoils, though she later gives him an ardent farewell before he departs. In Slesarsk’s Tshemerovka (Saretshje), he sets up a cholera barrack with a phlegmatic feldsher, meets sullen hostility, rumors, and threats, and lies awake fearing a night attack. The first confirmed case (a furniture maker, Tsherkasov) forces him to win trust by sharing water from the patient’s cup; he saves the man but cannot compel the family to allow disinfection, a failure that gnaws at him. As more mild cases appear, he speaks with everyone, keeps the ward open to visitors, and slowly gains a toehold against panic and suspicion. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Download for free
For your e-reader or reading app — Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, Calibre etc.
Kindle → Use Send-to-Kindle
Kobo, Nook etc → Transfer via USB
Phone, tablet or computer → Open in a reading app
Other formats & older devices
There may be more files related to this item.
About this eBook
| Author | Veresaev, V. V. (Vikentiĭ Vikentʹevich), 1867-1945 |
|---|---|
| Uniform Title | Bez dorogi. Finnish |
| Title | Ilman tietä |
| Original Publication | Helsinki: Kustantaja tuntematon, 1903. |
| Note | Translation of: Без дороги (Bez dorogi). |
| Credits | Juhani Kärkkäinen and Tapio Riikonen |
| Language | Finnish |
| LoC Class | PG: Language and Literatures: Slavic (including Russian), Languages and Literature |
| Subject | Physicians -- Fiction |
| Subject | Diary fiction |
| Subject | Cholera -- Fiction |
| Subject | Russian fiction -- Translations into Finnish |
| Subject | Epidemics -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78574 |
| Release Date | Apr 29, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 740 downloads in the last 30 days. |
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!