My Childhood – Maxim Gorky

This was Maxim Gorky?s first memory of his childhood.

Born into abject poverty, Gorky was sent to live with his grandparents at five years old.

While his grandmother was a kind woman who had an endless store of tales to tell the young boy, his grandfather, a dictatorial tyrant, used to beat him to a state of unconsciousness.

Thus for the next seven years Gorky?s life was filled with suffering, cruelty and barbarity, with the only solace being his grandmother?s stories.

My Childhood is a masterpiece in Russian social realism that truly depicts the hardships of peasant life in late nineteenth century. Written in vivid prose the book transports the reader to a world that is unimaginable for many in the twenty-first century.

Gorky?s work is essential reading not only for those interested in Russian literature but also for anyone interested in modern history as it depicts how many Russian peasants were living prior to the revolution of 1917.

?With a few words M. Gorky can draw a portrait or sketch an incident so it lives before the reader, and though the portrait is often unpleasant and the incident one of violence, the skill of the artist cannot be denied.? The Spectator

?His 1914 autobiographical masterpiece, Childhood, found millions of readers, including many Russians who had rarely, if ever, read before.? Harvard MagazineMy Childhood – Maxim Gorky (Old/Bargain)