Fragments from My Diary

by Maxim Gorky, Moura Budberg (Translator)

Examines the life of the Russian author known for his writings depicting working class life in the pre- and post-revolutionary era

Genres: Literature, Russian Literature, Biography, Memoir, Classics, Russia

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

Russian writer Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov (Russian: Алексей Максимович Пешков) supported the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 and helped to develop socialist realism as the officially accepted literary aesthetic; his works include The Life of Klim Samgin (1927-1936), an unfinished cycle of novels.

This Soviet author founded the socialist realism literary method and a political activist. People also nominated him five times for the Nobel Prize in literature. From 1906 to 1913 and from 1921 to 1929, he lived abroad, mostly in Capri, Italy; after his return to the Soviet Union, he accepted the cultural policies of the time.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful collection of character sketches of Russian men and women between the 1890s and 1924. Reminiscent of Charles Dickens's Sketches by Boz, Maxim Gorky's Fragments from My Diary is a joy to read with its array of some of the most eccentric thinkers who have ever lived.

The translation by Baroness Budberg, who new Gorky well, is highly recommended.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories about Tolstoy, Chekhov and the lucky criminal are the best.

[شیرین عبادی · Rating 4 out of 5]

گوشه‌ای از خاطرات من، ترجمه سعدالله علیزاده - انتشارات امیرکبیر
اولین خوانش من اسفند 95 و در 15 سالگیم بود. آن زمان از شدت وسعت و انعطاف ذهن ماکسیم گورکی چنان درحیرت موندم که بلافاصله دروبلاگم یه متن در مدح خاطراتش نوشتم. خب بنا به اقتضاهای اون سن و سال مدام دنبال نتیجه‌گیری‌های اخلاقی بودم ازش :دی ولی موضوع این بود که خاطرات صرفا جنبه
روایی داشتن. ثبت بی‌طرفانه‌ی اتفاقات، بدون هیچ سوگیری یا نتیجه‌ی اخلاقی. کلا نمی‌دونم چرا انقدر دنبال اخلاقیاتم تو نوشته‌ها :)))))

[Ehsan'Shokraie' · Rating 4 out of 5]

گوشه هایی از خاطرات من حکایت انسان هایی غریب و تنها افتاده در دنیایی ست که جایگاهی برای آنان ندارد،انسان هایی که سرگذشت های عجیبشان تکان دهنده و بی رحمانه می نمایند آنگاه که بخواهیم قدمی در کفش های ایشان برداریم در می یابیم که جامعه که همه عمر به هیچش می گیریم آنگاه که بخواهد فردی را از خود براند چه انزوای سهمناک و فشار خرد کننده ای به روح یک انسان وارد می سازد،فشاری که جنون یا جنایت تنها راه های مقابله با آن برای مردمانی ست که به دنبال معنایی برای زندگی بوده اند
آنان نیز که جایگاهی مقبول دارند یا مورد احترام جامعه اند نیز البته در امان نیستند،آنان در تمام زندگی خود را وقف کار و حرفه خویش کرده اند در این جاده طولانی گاه توقف هایی در تاریکی تنهایی خویش دارند و در آن هنگام از خود معنای زندگی و فردیت خویش را می پرسند و در تاریکی به دنبال روشنایی پاسخی می گردند که به حیاتشان معنا بخشد.

[M.R. Dowsing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some years ago I read Gorki's autobiographical trilogy (My Childhood, My Apprenticeship and My Universities) and greatly enjoyed all three volumes, being especially impressed by his lack of sentimentality and ability to make you feel that you're right there with him. Sometime later, I tried reading his novel 'Mother', but found that it did not have the same impact and I didn't finish it (I subsequently learned that Gorki himself considered that book a failure). Anyway, looking for more autobiographical stuff from Gorki, I found this.

The title's a little misleading as the book is really a series of portraits of Russian eccentrics that Gorky had known. Some are harmless oddballs, but a couple are scary psychopaths, and almost all have a mania for religion. The book also includes valuable portraits of Tolstoy and Chekhov. I particularly appreciate how Gorki never tells you what to think, leaving it to the reader to draw their own conclusions. From beginning to end, it's a fascinating trip back to a time and place in which people's thoughts and actions were heavily influenced by Christianity (often a distorted view of it).

[Literati · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the great figures in Russian literature, and his musings/encounters with complex people from all over the social spectrum offers an unmatched insight into the Russian character.
Here you can see the enlightened as well as the ignorant, the murderers speaking with saints and sense the approaching chaos of the Russian Revolution.
His peers lauded him and his government always feared him because he was the perfect communicator, and in everything he wrote he gives the subject the necessary depth and context to be a complete person. It is this thoroughness that makes each fragment so powerful and unique.

[Holly Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of stories about Gorky's encounters with Russian people. A snapshot of a transformational time in Russian history.

[Tom]

First 2/3 colourful and intriguing, sketches of truly eccentric characters from a lost time and place. But bogs down towards the end.

[l · Rating 4 out of 5]

lovely portraits - particularly of course tolstoy, chekhov and blok, but the others stories and character sketches were great too. gorky himself seems like an incredible person - must read more gorky.