Childhood

Author: Maxim Gorky
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2000-05-01
Features: "Childhood" and the entire autobiographical trilogy undoubtedly belong to the list of Gorky's outstanding works, and can also be considered as the representative works of his mid-career creation. The creation of "Childhood," whether in terms of its expressive techniques or artistic style, also differs greatly from the earlier period, showing various characteristics of the new creative period. "Childhood" is the th volume of Gorky's autobiographical trilogy. "Childhood" is the th volume of Gorky's autobiographical trilogy, covering the life fragments of Gorky's childhood from the age of three to ten. After the death of Alisaash Peshkov at the age of three, he was taken by his mother and grandmother to the home of his maternal grandfather. Grandfather Kashiin was a small dye merchant, on the brink of bankruptcy. He was temperamental, ill-tempered, greedy, and selfish; his two uncles, Mikhail and Yakov, were also uncouth, selfish bourgeois figures, and even the third generation was influenced very negatively. In the grandfather's house, a dense fog of intense hatred between people hung in the air; the adults were poisoned by hatred, and even the children fervently participated in it. This was a typical Russian petty bourgeois family. Grandfather often cruelly beat his grandmother and the children, even beating the young Alisaash unconscious, resulting in a serious illness; once, he violently beat his grandmother's head, causing the pins in her hair to pierce her scalp.