# Vasíli — Short Fiction character guide

> Vasíli in Short Fiction by Vladimir Korolenko.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0001-short-fiction

## Snapshot

A self-styled artist of anecdote and grievance, Vasíli Ivánovitch turns provincial corruption into theatre, loving his country with a strange, self-degrading love.

## Who they are

Vasíli Ivánovitch is a man of intelligence and taste who has spent his life among exiles and officials, prizing his cultivated inclinations above every advantage. He tells stories of inspectors, bailiffs, and local Jupiters with the sympathetic touch of a true artist, and refuses comfortable posts in Russia because everything there would feel strange. His sincere, corrosive love for his country—and his craving to expose the truth—drives him toward what he calls his gradual degradation.

## In the story

### [A Saghálinian](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/a-sagh-linian)

The vagrant who arrives at the narrator's yurt, seeking shelter and sharing his story.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/i)

The narrator's companion who has left, leaving the narrator alone in the yurt.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/ii)

The Yakut horse handler who waits with the narrator, reflects on his life, and offers to tell his escape story from Sakhalin.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/iii)

Assistant starosta of the convict artel, suspected of involvement in the murder of three convicts.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/iv)

A determined convict who organizes the escape, secures ten able-bodied men, and encourages Burán. He has given up his role as stárosta's assistant to focus on the escape.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/v)

Narrator and leader of the group after Burán's unreliability is discovered.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/vi)

The narrator and escapee; tells the grim conclusion of the journey, showing grief and reluctance.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/ix)

Wins the horse race, speaks of selling his horse and joining a comrade, reveals himself as a vagrant, and disappears.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/characters/vasili
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/characters