What is the background of Gorky's Childhood?

Childhood is a novel based on the author's own childhood experience, it is a historical scroll of the Russian society in the late 19th century, from which the writer's childhood and adolescence can be seen in the dark society to find the light of the struggle. The novel reproduces the social environment in which the Russian people lived in the 19th century under the rule of Tsarist Russia, and it is about the suffering that the author experienced in his childhood, which was also a common phenomenon in the society at that time.

The novel tells the story of Alyosha's (Gorky's maiden name) childhood from the age of three to ten, and vividly reproduces the living conditions of the lower class people in the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, and shows Gorky's understanding of suffering and unique insights into society and life, with an everlasting fervor and strength surging between the lines.

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Works Appreciation

In this book, Gorky truly describes his own bitter childhood, reflecting some of the typical features of the social life of the time, in particular, draws a picture of a real and vivid customs and feelings of the Russian commoner class.

It is a very interesting book.

It not only reveals those "leaden and heavy scandals", but also depicts many excellent ordinary people around the author, among which the image of grandmother is one of the most glorious and poetic images in Russian literature. It was these ordinary people who gave the young Gorky a good influence, so that he developed the character of not bending the knee to the ugly phenomenon, and worked out into a strong and kind person.

About the Author

Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) was the founder of Soviet literature. Originally named Alexei Maximovich Pishkov, Gorky was born to a carpenter on the banks of the Volga River, and when he was young, his parents died and he lived in the house of his maternal grandfather, who owned a small dye house. Then his maternal grandfather went bankrupt, and at the age of ten Alexei wandered through society, working as a variety of odd jobs.

While he only went to elementary school for two years, he always insisted on diligent self-education and read many books. He had extensive contact with social life and accumulated a wealth of material, which finally made him a world-renowned writer. Gorky's debut novel was the short story "Makar Chudra" published in 1892. Foma Gordeev (1899) was Gorky's first full-length novel.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Childhood