Maxim Gorky

"The stories come from all over the world and represent many genres, such as parables, animal fables, historical fiction, fairy tales, and Christian fantasy. Definitely read these stories at Easter, but keep the book close and pull it out whenever you and your family need a reminder of the great Easter themes of transformation, reconciliation and the triumph of life over death."—National Catholic RegisterEveryone who believes Easter is about more than bunnies and eggs will be grateful for this new collection of short stories that shed light on the deeper meaning of the season. Selected for their spiritual value and literary quality, these classic tales capture the spirit of Easter in a way that will captivate readers of all ages. Parents and grandparents will find that children love to hear these stories read aloud, year after year.Easter Stories includes time-honored favorites from world-famous storytellers such as C.S. Lewis, Leo Tolstoy, Selma Lagerlof, Oscar Wilde, Elizabeth Goudge, Maxim Gorky, Ruth Sawyer, and Walter Wangerin – as well as many you’ve never heard before. Illustrated with original woodcuts.

A summer of pleasure. A storm on the horizon. It's a hot, beautiful summer in 1905, and Russia's elite retreat to the countryside to swim, sip champagne and start affairs. When they're having this much fun, why care about anything else? But Varvara just can't shake the feeling that their holiday idyll is built on borrowed time. As the party continues, how long can they ignore the storm on the horizon? Nina Raine and Moses Raine's new adaptation of Maxim Gorky's razor-sharp portrait of class, privilege and denial is premiered at the National Theatre, London, in 2026.

Creatures that once were men portrays a moving depiction of life among society's forgotten and impoverished. Set within a dilapidated lodging house, the story unfolds through the daily interactions of its inhabitants - individuals burdened by failure, poverty, and the fading echoes of better days. The narrative captures the grim yet deeply human world of those marginalized by circumstance, presenting their suffering with empathy and stark realism. Through the figure of a former captain who manages the dosshouse, the work explores themes of camaraderie, lost dignity, and the enduring fragments of hope that persist even in despair. The author reveals the delicate balance between cynicism and compassion, using vivid imagery and philosophical undertones to reflect on what defines humanity. Amid the bleakness, moments of humor and reflection illuminate the resilience of the human spirit. The story stands as both a social critique and a testament to the perseverance of those who continue to seek meaning despite the weight of adversity.

In 1920, Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s Hogarth Press published Maxim Gorky’s Reminiscences of Tolstoy and it was recognized almost immediately as one of the few masterpieces of modern biography. ‘It is one of the most remarkable biographical pieces ever written,’ writes Leonard Woolf in his autobiography. ‘It makes one hear, see, feel Tolstoy and his character as if one were sitting in the same room – his greatness and his littleness, his entrancing and infuriating complexity, his titanic and poetic personality, his superb humour.’ In 1934, the book was expanded to include Gorky’s memoirs of two other great Russian literary figures, Anton Chekhov and Leonid Andreev. Almost a hundred years later, Reminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreev is reissued in a superb new translation by Bryan Karetnyk.

A collection of short stories by one of the most eminent Russian author, Maxim Gorky. Born as Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, this great man was a Russian writer and political activist. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Gorky's most famous works are his early short stories, written in the 1890s; plays The Philistines (1901), The Lower Depths (1902) and Children of the Sun (1905); a poem, "The Song of the Stormy Petrel" (1901); his autobiographical trilogy, My Childhood, In the World, My Universities (1913-1923); and a novel, Mother (1906); and post-revolutionary works such as the novels The Artamonov Business (1925) and The Life of Klim Samgin (1925-1936), the latter is considered Gorky's masterpiece and has sometimes been viewed by critics as a modernist work. He had associations with fellow Russian writers Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov, both mentioned by Gorky in his memoirs.

'Mother' by Maxim Gorky is a timeless masterpiece of Russian literature that delves into the lives of ordinary people during a period of political upheaval. The novel follows the journey of Pelageya Nilovna, a simple, downtrodden woman whose awakening to the injustices around her leads her to embrace the revolutionary cause. From a meek housewife, she sheds her fear and steps into the fight for justice. Pelageya's love for her son fuels her courage to face brutality and hardship. Can a mother's unwavering spirit change the tide of a nation?"Mother" is considered one of the foundational texts of Russian literature.

I am attempting to colonise the last frontier. Time, Elena, time. If we could inhabit different iterations of self, we could undo all the mistakes of the past. Don’t you see?Hilary Fannin’s radical adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s classic 1905 dark comedy reworks the original text and draws it into the here and now. Children of the Sun is the story of a small family and their quixotic collection of acquaintances, entertaining and enraging each other while, unseen beyond their fragile walls, their world is being reshaped by unstoppable forces. The play asks how we survive without the benefit of hindsight and whether science, art or love are capable of saving us from uncertainty and destruction. Co-produced by Rough Magic and the Abbey Theatre, Children of the Sun premiered on the Abbey stage as part of Rough Magic’s 40th-anniversary year in April 2024. This edition was published to coincide with that production.