Four essays on the Kashirin dye works, a grandfather formed by the Volga towrope, two gods under one roof, and a child sent out into the world.
Gorky’s memoir does not sort people into monsters and rescuers. It traces how violence becomes normal, how survival methods become household law, and how apparently useless acts—stories, dancing, exact speech, an arm beneath a switch—keep that law from becoming total.
Maxim Gorky’s Childhood, published in 1913–1914. Full-book spoilers throughout.
A household prices every person by use—until Tsyganok quietly places his arm beneath the switch beating a child.
The habits that carried Grandfather from the Volga towpath to property become the violence with which he governs his family.
Alyosha sees that Grandmother’s God accompanies life while Grandfather’s God keeps accounts and punishes enemies.
Good Thing teaches accurate speech; the mother dies; and a child enters the world carrying contradictory inheritances and a method of judgment.
四篇文章，从卡希林家的染坊、被伏尔加河纤绳塑成的外祖父，到一间屋子里的两个上帝，以及被送到人间的孩子。
高尔基的回忆录不把人整理成恶人与救赎者。它追踪暴力如何成为常规、生存办法如何变成家庭法律，也保存那些看似无用的行动——故事、舞蹈、准确的言说、伸到枝条下的一只胳膊——如何让那套法律始终无法成为全部。
马克西姆·高尔基《童年》，一九一三至一九一四年发表。全书剧透。