Gorky - Top Ten World Literati

Author: Tong Yiqiu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features:
1. A Difficult Childhood On March 28, 1868 (March 16 by the Old Style calendar), in Nizhny–Novgorod on the Volga River (now Gorky City), the great literary giant, whom Lenin called the most outstanding representative of proletarian art, Maxim Gorky was born. Gorky's grandfather was once a cruel officer during the Tsarist era. Due to his brutal treatment of his subordinates, Tsar Nicholas I dismissed him from his position. He was not only cruel in the army but also a tyrant at home. Gorky's grandmother died when Gorky was nine years old. According to My Autobiography, Gorky's father, Maxim Savvich Peskhov, often suffered punishments as a child. Unable to endure his grandfather's abuse, he ran away from his grandfather five times between the ages of 10 and 17. On his last escape, his father successfully fled the family. Gorky's father was an intelligent, kind, optimistic, and cheerful man. Initially, he worked as an apprentice in a furniture store in Nizhny–Novgorod. By the age of 20, he had become an excellent carpenter, paperhanger, and decorator. At 22, he was appointed manager of the Volga Steamship Company's office in Astrakhan. Gorky's mother was named Varvara Vasilyevna Kashiagina. Gorky's parents fell in love freely, though Kashiagina's father strongly opposed it, they eventually married. In the spring of 1871, when Gorky was three years old, the family moved to Astrakhan. A few months later, Gorky contracted cholera. His father and mother cared for him day and night. Although Gorky recovered, his father contracted cholera from caring for him. When Gorky was four years old, his father passed away. Later, to honor him, Gorky chose his father's name, Maxim, as his pen name. His real name was Alexey Maximovich Peskhov. After his father's death, Gorky and his mother returned to their hometown of Nizhny–Novgorod to live with Gorky's mother's family. In Nizhny–Novgorod, Gorky began a new life. This life was vastly different from the warm and harmonious life he had known in Astrakhan. Gorky's maternal grandfather's family was a typical petty bourgeois household. His maternal grandfather, Kashiulin, was a greedy, cruel, and distrustful, thin old man. He had once been a on the Volga River. After three voyages, he became a foreman in a merchant ship fleet. Later, he got rich in the dyeing business and opened a large dyeing workshop in Nizhny–Novgorod. Gorky's two uncles also worked in his grandfather's dyeing workshop. At that time, the development of machine-woven cotton and the widespread use of machine-printed cloth had marginalized family-based hand-dyeing industries. This situation severely threatened the Kashiulin family, forcing each family member to desperately try to preserve the remaining assets of their once prosperous workshop, which led to arguments and savage fights. The son of Maxim Peskhov, Gorky, who was clearly disliked by the Kashiulin family, was equally unwelcome in this household. In his grandfather's house, Gorky disliked both adults and children. In this family, people seemed to harbor deep hatred for one another. The adults were poisoned by hatred, and even the children were "infected." Gorky felt like an outsider among them. Especially his grandfather, his hostile gaze made Gorky feel an inexplicable fear. Shortly after Gorky arrived at his grandfather's house, his two uncles argued with him. One day, while eating in the kitchen, the two uncles leaned over the table and yelled at their grandfather, demanding to divide the family property. Gorky's grandmother said in pain, "Give them everything! Divide it among them!" But for some reason, the two uncles had another argument. Suddenly, Uncle Mikhail slapped his younger brother hard on the face. His younger brother roared and grabbed him, and the two fought on the floor, a chorus of gasps, groans, and curses filling the air. When the argument first broke out, Gorky was so scared that he jumped onto the stove and hid. Later, Gorky asked his grandmother why the adults fought. His grandmother told Gorky: "Before your mother came back, her two younger brothers were stubbornly demanding to divide the family property. She returned suddenly, intensifying their desire to split up. They feared that your mother would claim the dowry that was originally set aside for her but was withheld by your grandfather because she married against his will. The uncles believed the dowry should be divided among them. Additionally, they had long been fiercely arguing over who should open the dyeing workshop in the city and who should go to Kunavino village across the Okka River." From then on, Gorky often witnessed his two selfish uncles fighting over the family property. Gorky's mother believed that her son's illness was the reason for her father's death. Shortly after returning to Nizhny–Novgorod, she left the Kashiulin family and left Gorky behind. P1-3