‘Grisha’ is a story told from the point of view of a little boy who is less than three years old. The nurse takes Grisha, the boy of the title, out into the world for the first time. So far, his world had been limited to the safe four corners of the nursery, and the sudden encounter with the outdoors is for Grisha an explosion of light and new emotions. The boy is afraid at first, but also curious. His understanding of what happens around him is limited, but he quickly learns to observe and imitate. Grisha’s observations are vivid but fragmented, focused on immediate impressions rather than cohesive narratives. The nurse’s conversations with other people, the bustling streets, and the overwhelming sensations are all described as Grisha perceives them, without adult interpretation or analysis. When arriving home, Grisha tries to express what he had seen and felt. “He talks not so much with his tongue, as with his face and his hands. He shows how the sun shines, how the horses run, how the terrible stove looks, and how the cook drinks”. But the words which could reach the deadened ears of grown-ups elude him, and the wonders of what he now knows fall flat in his inability to speak them, and in the inability of grown-ups to hear them.
First published in Russian in 1886. Available in English in Ward no. 6 and Other Stories, ed. David Plante, Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003
A Personal Anthology 