Maxim Gorky: Selected Short Stories

Maxim Gorky (1868-1936), Russian writer was born in poverty, he wandered the Volga region, educating and supporting himself, from the age of eight. My Childhood (1913), In the World (1916), and My Universities (1923) describe his early years. His first story appeared in 1892. In sketches and stories (1898) he wrote of the vigor and nobility of peasants, workers, and vagabonds. In 1902 The Lower Depths, the first and greatest of his 15 plays, was performed by the Moscow Art Theater. Gorky’s friendships with the writers Andreyev, Chekhov, and Tolstoy date from this time; he later published memoirs of all three. When the 1905 revolution failed he was forced into exile. Mother (1906), which became the prototype of the revolutionary novel, was written in the U.S. After living in Capri (1907-13) Gorky returned to Russia in 1914. In the period of turmoil after the Russian Revolution (1917), he used his friendship with Lenin and his post as head of the state publishing house to aid writers and artists. In 1921 he went abroad again, returning in 1928. The Life of Klim Samgin (1927-36), a four-part novel often considered his masterpiece, was unfinished at his death. Gorky’s work, vital and optimistic, combines realism with a strong poetic strain. He is considered the father of Soviet literature and the founder of the doctrine of Socialist Realism.