Mother

Gorky, Maksim, 1868-1936Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.2

Word count: 748K words
Chapters: 75

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.Mother by Maksim GorkyAuthor: Gorky, Maksim, 1868-1936,Language: English, Class: PG: Language and Literatures: Slavic (including Russian), Languages and Literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2003

Editor's review

Mother is a major work by Gorky, showing through a mother's transformation amid turbulent times the complex relationship between ordinary people and social movements. The novel follows the protagonist's growth as its main thread, interweaving family feeling with public issues, with both realistic fine-grained portrayal and serious exploration of faith and sacrifice. The public-domain English edition from Project Gutenberg gives readers low-cost access to this work. While reading, pay attention to the process by which the mother's image changes, and to how the author presents the broader historical background through everyday detail. The book suits readers willing to immerse themselves in a character's fate and to think about the relationship between society and the individual. The English original carries period language features, and some passages move slowly; be patient and focus on the characters' psychology and the plot's advance rather than parsing every word.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English readers interested in Russian Soviet literature and social fiction
Those who want to understand Gorky's work and are willing to read public-domain e-books
Literature lovers interested in the image of the mother and themes of character growth
Learners with some English foundation who want to improve extensive reading through a long novel

Not a good fit for

Readers who want only light entertainment and avoid serious social themes
People with little English reading experience who are easily frustrated by long originals
Readers expecting a Chinese translation or a heavily annotated edition

Reading tips

Learn the historical background of the story first, then enter the text, to better understand the logic of the characters' choices.
While reading, note the clues of the mother's psychological and attitudinal changes; brief notes help.
Don't stall on slower passages; keep the overall momentum and return to key chapters after finishing.
Read alongside public-domain introductions to Gorky's other works to deepen understanding of his themes.

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

Which work by Gorky is this Mother?

According to the information, this is Mother by Gorky, in English, a Project Gutenberg public-domain e-book. It centers on a mother's experience and transformation and is one of Gorky's representative novels.

The English original is hard—what can I do?

Start with extensive reading to grasp the main characters and events without looking up every word; use dictionary tools for key unfamiliar words; or learn the story outline first before reading the original, gradually adapting to the language style and narrative rhythm.

Is this book suitable for classroom or book-club use?

Yes. The novel involves character growth, family, and social issues, making it easy to discuss. You can design topics around the change in the mother's image and the relationship between the individual and the times, but note that the English original requires some language ability from readers.

Does the public-domain e-book edition have notes?

According to the information, this is a public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg, usually text-based and not necessarily with detailed notes or an introduction. For background knowledge, consult relevant literary history materials separately.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Gorky, Maksim, 1868-1936 Author

Maxim Gorky (Gorky, Maksim, 1868-1936) is a highly influential writer in the history of Russian and Soviet literature. This site holds 32 of his works, including the plays The Lower Depths (Pohjalla: Kuvaelmia, neljä näytöstä and The Lower Depths: A Drama in Four Acts), the autobiographical In the World (a sequel to My Childhood), the novel Mother, and shorter fiction and story collections such as Twenty-six and One, Konovalov, Orlóff and His Wife, and Tales from Gorky. His writing often focuses on the wandering, struggle, and awakening of lower-class people, distinguished by realistic detail and vivid characterization; the play The Lower Depths is especially notable for its ensemble structure portraying the urban poor, and has had a lasting influence. Because the database lacks nationality, birth and death dates, and classification information, public information is limited, so no additional biographical inferences are made here.