Only a confident person can immerse himself in life with confidence everywhere and realize his will. -Gorky
The higher a person pursues, the faster his talent will develop and the more beneficial it will be to society. Gorky
It's never too late to learn. -Gorky
Books are the ladder of human progress. -Gorky
Books make me a happy person and make my life a relaxed and comfortable poem. -Gorky
The world's fastest and slowest, longest and shortest, most ordinary and most precious, most easily overlooked and most regrettable is time. -Gorky
The harder life is, the stronger and even smarter I feel. -Gorky
People need truth just as the blind need a lively guide. -Gorky
The wider one's knowledge, the more perfect one is. -Gorky
Genius is developed because of the love of career. It can be said that genius-in essence-is just a love of career and work. -Gorky
Genius comes from diligence. -Gorky
There is nothing unknown, we can only say that there are things that have not yet been recognized. -Gorky
It is much more difficult to turn words into actions than actions into words. -Gorky
About Childhood
Writing background
Childhood is the first of Gorky's autobiographical novels. As early as the 189s, Gorky had the idea of writing biographical works. From 198 to 191, Lenin visited Gorky's apartment in Capri, Italy, and Gorky told him about his childhood and teenage life more than once. On one occasion, Lenin said to Gorky, "You should write everything out, old friend, and you must write it out! All this is very educational and excellent! " Gorky said, "One day, I will write it ..." Soon, he fulfilled this promise.
Gorky truly describes his miserable childhood in this book, reflecting some typical characteristics of social life at that time, especially drawing a vivid picture of the customs and human feelings of the Russian petty bourgeoisie. It not only reveals those "lead-like scandals", but also depicts many outstanding ordinary people around the author, among which the image of grandmother is one of the most glorious and poetic images in Russian literature. It is these ordinary people who have given the young Gorky a good influence, making him develop a character that does not bend his knees to ugly phenomena and exercise into a strong and kind person.
Summary
Gorky lost his father at the age of 4 and his mother at the age of 1, and then he became a great writer in the Soviet Union through his own hard work and struggle. The autobiographical trilogy was written with Lenin's encouragement. They are independent and connected, artistically reappearing the three stages of the protagonist Aliosha's growth process, truly and profoundly reflecting the life of the Russian people at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 2th century, and reflecting the vulgar selfishness and emptiness of the ordinary citizen class.
Childhood is the first part of this trilogy, which tells the story of Gorky's childhood when his father died and his mother remarried, and he lived with his grumpy and declining grandparents. Through a child's innocent eyes, this book vividly shows the life of the bottom figures in Russian society in the mid-19th century, and depicts the ugly and ignorant life style of many ordinary citizens in society and the folk customs such as religion and funeral in Russia at that time. These memories of Gorky are helpful for us to understand the style of Tsarist Russia and the social environment of Gorky's childhood.
Little Aliosha's childhood life is "a rich, colorful, bizarre and indescribable life", "as if it were a tragic fairy tale beautifully told by a kind and extremely honest genius". In the process of describing his childhood life, almost every big thing that happened to Aliosha will arouse his consciousness, which is manifested in his works that every story is followed by a sentence or a paragraph of Aliosha's philosophical language. In Gorky's works, Aliosha's life is the life of some talented people from the lower classes, and their works reflect the process of their character formation and the growth of their consciousness.
This book not only has a rigorous artistic structure, but also has excellent characterization. The novel focuses on three characters: Aliosha, grandfather and grandmother.
the influence of status
Childhood is a unique autobiography. Unlike most autobiographies, it does not create a portrait with a hero as the image. It is more like a long and colorful oil painting, restoring a period of life in an era and a family. In this period of life, there have been many protagonists. Both beauty and ugliness stand in front of the readers at the same time, impacting their hearts, and we have to hold back our excitement again and again and continue reading. This great magical appeal is an artistic effect praised by many critics, and some western critics even think that Childhood is Gorky's most outstanding work. Childhood, with its unique artistic form, profound ideological content and unique artistic features, occupies an important position in the history of Russian and Soviet literature and even the world literature, and has incomparable artistic value.
Introduction by Famous Artists
Why does Childhood remain in people's hearts for a long time and inspire people to fight for a better tomorrow? Here it is best to use Gorky's own words to answer: "The task of literature and art is to show the best, beautiful and honest things in people, that is, noble things, to arouse people's pride and sense of responsibility for themselves, and the era of needing heroes has arrived. People should draw strength from the hero's soul and body ... "
-The famous translator Ge Baoquan
Childhood, On Earth, My University, Mother ... These books let me know that Comrade Gorky's grandfather was a Russian military officer in an old woolen uniform, and his grandfather was a tracker on the Volga River, the kind with bare bronze backbone in Lie Bin's oil paintings. I also learned that Gorky had been a little apprentice in a shoe store, and even saw with him how the owner of the shoe store touched the fat feet of the female customers, kissed his stinking fingers, and heard Gorky giggling behind the door. Gorky is my childhood partner with our generations.
-Han Jingting, a famous writer
Analysis of the characters
Aliosha is the central figure in the book. He was kind from an early age, especially under the nurturing of his grandmother, and he generated a soul with a clear distinction between good and evil, right and wrong, and the ability to love and hate. He is diligent in study, hard-working, and the severe life makes him grow into a strong-willed, ambitious and promising newcomer. The most important things in his character are: the desire for knowledge and the longing for a better future. The hardships of life did not make him retreat. He firmly believed that the darkness would eventually pass and the future would be bright. The image of Aliosha is the representative of a new generation of Russian people, and his growth path is the road for millions of Russian workers to move towards revolution and a new life.