Coloured by poverty and horrifying brutality Gorky's childhood equipped him to understand - in a way denied to a Tolstoy or a Turgenev - the life of the ordinary Russian. After his father a paperhanger and upholsterer died of cholera five-year-old Gorky was taken to live with his grandfather a polecat-faced tyrant who would regularly beat him unconscious and with his grandmother a tender mountain of a woman and a wonderful storyteller who would kneel beside their bed (with Gorky inside it pretending to be asleep) and give God her views on the day's happenings down to the last fascinating details. She was in fact Gorky's closest friend and the epic heroine of a book swarming with characters and with the sensations of a curious and often frightened little boy. My Childhood the first volume of Gorky's autobiographical trilogy was in part an act of exorcism. It describes a life begun in the raw remembered with extraordinary charm and poignancy and without bitterness. Of all Gorky's books this is the one that made him 'the father of Russian literature'.
Coloured by poverty and horrifying brutality Gorky's childhood equipped him to understand - in a way denied to a Tolstoy or a Turgenev - the life of the ordinary Russian. After his father a paperhanger and upholsterer died of cholera five-year-old Gorky was taken to live with his grandfather a polecat-faced tyrant who would regularly beat him unconscious and with his grandmother a tender mountain of a woman and a wonderful storyteller who would kneel beside their bed (with Gorky inside it pretending to be asleep) and give God her views on the day's happenings down to the last fascinating details. She was in fact Gorky's closest friend and the epic heroine of a book swarming with characters and with the sensations of a curious and often frightened little boy. My Childhood the first volume of Gorky's autobiographical trilogy was in part an act of exorcism. It describes a life begun in the raw remembered with extraordinary charm and poignancy and without bitterness. Of all Gorky's books this is the one that made him 'the father of Russian literature'.
Über den Autor
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, better known as Maxim Gorky, was a renowned Russian and Soviet writer and a strong advocate for socialism. Born on March 28, 1868, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, he became one of the most prominent figures in Russian literature during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Gorky's works often reflected his deep concern for the oppressed and his belief in social justice, which made him a leading figure in the socialist movement. His literary contributions include novels, plays, and short stories that critiqued social inequality and the human condition. Gorky was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, a testament to his influence and the impact of his writing. His personal life included a marriage to Yekaterina Peshkova, from 1896 to 1903, though he later separated from her. Maxim Gorky spent his later years in Gorki-10, Russia, where he died on June 18, 1936, at the age of 68. His legacy as a writer and a proponent of socialist ideals continues to be a significant part of Russian literary history.
