Maxim Gorki

Ostwald, Hans, 1873-1940Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 65K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Maxim Gorki by Hans OstwaldAuthor: Ostwald, Hans, 1873-1940,Language: English, Class: PG: Language and Literatures: Slavic (including Russian), Languages and Literature, Release Date: Jul 10, 2007

Editor's review

This is a German biographical work about Maxim Gorky by Hans Ostwald, a German writer and folklorist of the early 20th century. According to the public-domain catalog classification, it falls under Slavic language and literature, indicating that its focus is on Gorky the man and his literary path rather than a guide to his complete works. The strength of such early biographies lies in their closeness to the social atmosphere of the subject's era, offering contemporary perspectives and details that later research has rarely preserved; their limitation is that they were written early, so materials and evaluations are inevitably shaped by the ideas and stance of the time. As a public-domain electronic text, it is suitable for reading alongside Gorky's works: first understand the outline of his life, then return to autobiographical works such as Childhood, and it becomes clearer what is experience and what is literary elaboration. Readers should treat it as a historical document and remain cautious about unverified anecdotes.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in Gorky's life and creative background
Enthusiasts studying the reception history of early 20th-century Russian literature
People who can read German or are willing to use reference tools to read a foreign-language biography
Language teachers preparing to help students understand the outline of a writer's life

Not a good fit for

Researchers seeking an authoritative, rigorous modern academic biography
Readers who only want to read Gorky's works and have no interest in his life
People with no command of German and no auxiliary tools

Reading tips

Read Gorky's autobiographical works first, then compare them with the life narrative in this book.
While reading, mark evaluations that may be skewed by the date of composition and review them together.
Read it alongside short biographies of the writer in other languages and compare differences in the selection of material.
If German is difficult, read through the chapter titles first to grasp the structure, then read chapter by chapter in detail.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a selected collection of Gorky's works?

No. According to the material, it is a biographical work about Gorky, classified under Slavic language and literature, focusing on the writer himself and his literary path rather than a selection of his works. To read the original works, you need to find Gorky's texts separately.

Is the material in the book considered reliable today?

The book was written early and is an early biography; its sources and evaluations bear traces of the ideas and stance of the time. It can serve as a document for understanding contemporary perspectives, but specific facts and dates should be checked against modern research or the writer's own accounts.

Can I read it without knowing German?

The original is in German, and reading it requires some German foundation. If you do not know German, you can use translation tools to understand it paragraph by paragraph, but this will lose style and detail; alternatively, first read a relevant Chinese biography to build a framework, then use this book as supplementary material for reference.

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About the author

Ostwald, Hans, 1873-1940 Author

Hans Ostwald (1873–1940) is known in Chinese library resources mainly by the German spelling of his surname, but public information is limited and many details of his life remain uncertain. The library currently holds only one work by him, Maxim Gorki, a study devoted to the Russian writer Maxim Gorky. This work suggests that Ostwald was interested in Russian literature and in biographical and critical writing, and that his book was intended for readers seeking to understand Gorky's life and creative work, combining introduction with commentary. Because source material is scarce, his style and influence cannot be described in detail; readers who wish to learn more may consult the book itself alongside related studies of the same period.