Genus and genre of the work Gorky's childhood. "Childhood" of Maxim Gorky as an autobiographical story

Russian writer, prose writer, playwright Maksim Gorky(Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov) was born in 1868. Despite the fame of the writer, Gorky's biography, especially in childhood, is full of uncertainties. His father, Maxim Savvatievich Peshkov (1840-1871), came from the townspeople of the Perm province. Gorky's grandfather, Savvaty Peshkov, was a man of strong character: he rose to the rank of officer, but for cruel treatment of his subordinates he was demoted and exiled to Siberia. His attitude towards his son Maxim was no better, which is why he ran away from home several times. At the age of 17, he left home forever - after that, the son and father never saw each other again. Maxim Peshkov was a talented, creative person. He learned the craft of a cabinetmaker, settled in Nizhny Novgorod and began working as a carpenter in the shipping company of I. S. Kolchin. Here he married Varvara Vasilievna Kashirina (1842-1879), who came from a family of Nizhny Novgorod merchants. Only the mother of the bride, Akulina Ivanovna, gave consent to the marriage, while her father, Vasily Vasilyevich Kashirin, did not give consent, but then reconciled. In the spring of 1871, Maxim Peshkov left with his family for Astrakhan, where he began working as the manager of the Astrakhan office of the Kolchin shipping company. In the summer of 1871, Maxim Savvatievich, while nursing Alyosha, who fell ill with cholera, became infected himself and died. Varvara Vasilievna with her son and mother returned to Nizhny Novgorod to her father's house.

Gorky's grandfather, Vasily Vasilyevich Kashirin, was a barge hauler in his younger years, then he got rich and became the owner of a dyeing workshop. At one time he was the foreman of the dyeing shop, was elected a vowel (deputy) of the Nizhny Novgorod Duma. In addition to grandfather Gorky, two of his sons lived in the house with their families. The best times for the Kashirin family are over - because of the factory production, the business was in decline. In addition, the Kashirin family was not friendly. They lived like in a war, and Alyosha Peshkov was only a burden there. Gorky believed that his mother did not love him, considering him the culprit of misfortunes, and therefore moved away from him. She began to arrange her personal life and remarried. Only the grandmother - Akulina Ivanovna - treated Alyosha with kindness. She replaced his mother and, as best she could, supported her grandson. It was his grandmother who gave him a love for folk songs and fairy tales. The grandfather, despite his complex nature, taught the boy at the age of six to read and write according to church books. In 1877-1879 Alyosha Peshkov successfully studied at the Nizhny Novgorod Sloboda Kanavinsky Primary School. In August 1879, his mother died of consumption. By that time, grandfather had completely gone bankrupt and sent his 11-year-old grandson "to the people."

"In people" Alexey Peshkov changed many occupations: he worked as a "boy" in a shoe store, a dishware on a steamer, was in the service, caught birds, was a salesman in an icon shop, a student in an icon-painting workshop, an extra in a theater at the Nizhny Novgorod fair, a foreman in repairs fair buildings, etc. While working on the Dobry steamship, Alexei Peshkov's boss was a cook - a retired guards non-commissioned officer Mikhail Smury, who noticed the boy's curiosity and aroused in him a love of reading. Books in many ways saved Alexei Peshkov from the evil, unjust world, helped to understand a lot. Despite early hardships and suffering, he managed to maintain his love of life. Subsequently, M. Gorky wrote: “I did not expect outside help and did not hope for a lucky break ... I realized very early that a person is created by his resistance to the environment.”

In 1884 Alexey Peshkov went to enter Kazan University. He returned to Nizhny Novgorod in 1889 and lived here intermittently until 1904. In 1913-1914 M. Gorky wrote the autobiographical story Childhood.

In Nizhny Novgorod, there is the Museum of A. M. Gorky's childhood "Kashirin's House". Alyosha Peshkov began to live in this house from the end of August 1871, after arriving with his mother from Astrakhan. In the spring of 1872, Gorky's grandfather divided the property between his sons, and the house was left to his son Yakov. Vasily Vasilyevich himself, with his wife Akulina Ivanovna and grandson Alyosha, moved to live in another house. The Museum of Childhood of A. M. Gorky reproduces the original atmosphere of the house of the Kashirin family.

Features of the genre of Gorky's story Childhood

The plot of M. Gorky's story "Childhood" is based on the facts of the writer's real biography. This determined the features of the genre of Gorky's work - an autobiographical story. In 1913, M. Gorky wrote the first part of his autobiographical trilogy "Childhood", where he described the events associated with the growing up of a little man. In 1916, the second part of the trilogy "In People" was written, it reveals a hard working life, and a few years later, in 1922, M. Gorky, finishing the story of the formation of man, published the third part of the trilogy - "My Universities".

The story "Childhood" is autobiographical, but it is impossible to put an equal sign between the plot of a work of art and the writer's life. Years later, M. Gorky recalls his childhood, the first experiences of growing up, the death of his father, moving to his grandfather; rethinks many things in a new way and, on the basis of what he has experienced, creates a picture of the life of a little boy Alyosha in the Kashirin family. The story is told in the first person, on behalf of the little hero of the events. This fact makes the described events more reliable, and also helps (which is important for the writer) to convey the psychology, the inner experiences of the hero. Either Alyosha speaks of his grandmother as “the closest to my heart, the most understandable and dear person - it is her disinterested love for the world that enriched me, saturating me with strong strength for a difficult life”, then he confesses his dislike for his grandfather. The task of the writer is not just to convey the events in which the little hero became a participant, but also to evaluate them already from the position of an adult who has known a lot in a person’s life. It is this feature that is characteristic of the genre of autobiographical story. The goal of M. Gorky is not to revive the past, but to tell "about that close, stuffy circle of terrible impressions in which he lived - still lives - a simple Russian man."

The events of childhood do not flicker like a kaleidoscope in the perception of the narrator. On the contrary, every moment of life, an act, the hero tries to comprehend, to get to the point. The same episode is perceived differently by the hero. The boy endures the tests that have fallen steadfastly: for example, after his grandfather beat Alyosha for a damaged tablecloth, the “days of illness” became “big days of life” for the boy. It was then that the hero began to better understand people, and his heart "became unbearably sensitive to any insult and pain, his own and someone else's."

Gorky's work "Childhood" has the boundaries of the traditional genre of the story: one leading storyline associated with an autobiographical hero, and all minor characters and episodes also help to reveal Alyosha's character and express the author's attitude to what is happening.

The writer simultaneously endows the main character with his thoughts and feelings, and at the same time contemplates the events described as if from the outside, giving them an assessment: “... is it worth talking about this? This is the truth that needs to be known to the root, in order to root it out of memory, from the soul of a person, from our whole life, heavy and shameful.

Date of writing: Date of first publication: Following: in Wikisource

"Childhood"- the first story in the autobiographical trilogy of Maxim Gorky, first published in 1913. The writer talks about his orphanhood in the wealthy family of his grandfather Vasily Kashirin in Nizhny Novgorod.

Plot

Gorky begins the story with how his father, Maxim Peshkov, dies of cholera in Astrakhan, followed by his newborn brother. Alexey moves with his mother and grandmother to Nizhny Novgorod, to the family of his grandfather, who owns a dyeing workshop. In addition to him, the adult uncles of Alexei with their families and the adopted son of the family, Ivan Tsyganok, live in the house. The mother abandons her son to his parents and does not participate in his upbringing.

Grandfather, a dry old man, keeps his family strict and considers it not shameful to flog his grandchildren, which looks like complete savagery for little Alyosha: his parents never punished him. The contrast to the grandfather is the grandmother, who always protects and pampers Alyosha. Adult uncles have long wanted the division of property, but the grandfather sees that they are useless owners and is in no hurry to give them an inheritance.

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An excerpt characterizing Childhood (Bitter)

Having traveled four versts, he met his first acquaintance and joyfully turned to him. This acquaintance was one of the leading doctors in the army. He rode towards Pierre in a cart, sitting next to the young doctor, and, recognizing Pierre, stopped his Cossack, who was sitting on the goats instead of the coachman.
- Count! Your Excellency, how are you? the doctor asked.
Yes, I would like to see...
- Yes, yes, there will be something to see ...
Pierre got down and, stopping, talked to the doctor, explaining to him his intention to participate in the battle.
The doctor advised Bezukhov to turn directly to his lord.
- What do you know where God knows where to be during the battle, in obscurity, - he said, exchanging glances with his young comrade, - but the brightest still knows you and will graciously accept you. So, father, do it, - said the doctor.
The doctor seemed tired and in a hurry.
- So you think ... And I also wanted to ask you, where is the very position? Pierre said.
- Position? the doctor said. - It's not my thing. You will pass Tatarinov, there is a lot of digging. There you will enter the barrow: you can see it from there,” said the doctor.
- And can you see it from there? .. If you ...
But the doctor interrupted him and moved to the britzka.
- I would accompany you, yes, by God, - here (the doctor pointed to his throat) I am galloping to the corps commander. After all, how is it with us? .. You know, count, tomorrow there is a battle: for a hundred thousand troops, a small number of twenty thousand wounded must be counted; and we have no stretchers, no beds, no paramedics, no doctors for six thousand. There are ten thousand carts, but you need something else; do as you wish.
That strange thought that out of those thousands of people alive, healthy, young and old, who looked with cheerful surprise at his hat, there were probably twenty thousand doomed to wounds and death (perhaps the very ones he saw), Pierre was startled.

The plot of M. Gorky's story "Childhood" is based on the facts of the writer's real biography. This determined the features of the genre of Gorky's work - an autobiographical story. In 1913, M. Gorky wrote the first part of his autobiographical trilogy "Childhood", where he described the events associated with the growing up of a little man. In 1916, the second part of the trilogy "In People" was written, it reveals a hard working life, and a few years later, in 1922, M. Gorky, finishing the story of the formation of man, published the third part of the trilogy - "My Universities".

The story "Childhood" is autobiographical, but it is impossible to put an equal sign between the plot of a work of art and the writer's life. Years later, M. Gorky recalls his childhood, the first experiences of growing up, the death of his father, moving to his grandfather; rethinks many things in a new way and, on the basis of what he has experienced, creates a picture of the life of a little boy Alyosha in the Kashirin family. The story is told in the first person, on behalf of the little hero of the events. This fact makes the described events more reliable, and also helps (which is important for the writer) to convey the psychology, the inner experiences of the hero. Either Alyosha speaks of his grandmother as “the closest to my heart, the most understandable and dear person - it is her disinterested love for the world that enriched me, saturating me with strong strength for a difficult life”, then he confesses his dislike for his grandfather. The task of the writer is not just to convey the events in which the little hero became a participant, but also to evaluate them already from the position of an adult who has known a lot in a person’s life. It is this feature that is characteristic of the genre of autobiographical story. The goal of M. Gorky is not to revive the past, but to tell "about that close, stuffy circle of terrible impressions in which he lived - still lives - a simple Russian man."

The events of childhood do not flicker like a kaleidoscope in the perception of the narrator. On the contrary, every moment of life, an act, the hero tries to comprehend, to get to the point. The same episode is perceived differently by the hero. The boy endures the tests that have fallen steadfastly: for example, after his grandfather beat Alyosha for a damaged tablecloth, the “days of illness” became “big days of life” for the boy. It was then that the hero began to better understand people, and his heart "became unbearably sensitive to any insult and pain, his own and someone else's."

Gorky's work "Childhood" has the boundaries of the traditional genre of the story: one leading storyline associated with an autobiographical hero, and all minor characters and episodes also help to reveal Alyosha's character and express the author's attitude to what is happening.

The writer simultaneously endows the main character with his thoughts and feelings, and at the same time contemplates the events described as if from the outside, giving them an assessment: “... is it worth talking about this? This is the truth that needs to be known to the root, in order to root it out of memory, from the soul of a person, from our whole life, heavy and shameful.