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My Childhood
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My Childhood

autobiographical work by Gorky
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Also known as: “Childhood”, “Detstvo”
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Article History

My Childhood, the first book of an autobiographical trilogy by Maxim Gorky, published in Russian in 1913–14 as Detstvo. It was also translated into English as Childhood.

Like the volumes of autobiography that were to follow, My Childhood examines the author’s experiences by means of individual portraits and descriptions of events. It presents vignettes of the people and situations he encountered early in life. He reveals that his mother was mostly absent after his father’s death and that his upbringing was in the hands of his brutal grandfather. He also creates a compelling portrait of his unlearned but loving grandmother. Leaving home at age 12, the young Gorky learns self-reliance and begins to educate himself by reading.

The subsequent autobiographical volumes are V lyudyakh (1915–16; In the World; also published as My Apprenticeship) and Moi universitety (1923; My Universities; also published as My University Days). Considered to constitute one of the finest Russian autobiographies, the books reveal Gorky to be an acute observer of detail with great descriptive powers.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.