Analysis of Maxim Gorki’s Short Fiction

Maxim Gorky was a Russian writer known for his adept handling the genre of short fiction. His fiction is hard-core realism.

Makar Chudra
Makar Chudra is a story of a gypsy who was billeting on the steppe and the protagonist listens to his tales of valor and courage about a youth who fell in love with a gypsy girl. The story is an interesting read.

Traveling Companion
Traveling companion is a story where the protagonist meets a man who has been cheated. They travel together to a place Batumin in search of him. The writer is remarkable in the portrayal of consciousness of the fiction writers. There’s a psychological depth which sparkles the soul. Throughout the journey they become inseparable friends.

Grandfather Arkhip and Lyonka
Grandfather Arkhip and Lyonka contemplate their journey of life. The grandfather is ageing fast and is worried about the future of his son, Lyonka. There’s a passionate rendition of character. One can contemplate the meaning of life in this story.

Old Lzergil
Lizergil is an old woman who narrates strange mythical tales to the protagonist. In one a maiden is carried by an eagle to a place beyond the sky. The story has moorings of a fairy tale.

Chelkash
Chelkash is a drunkard and a petty thief. He gets accused of stealing. In the rest of the story, he is on boat in the sea and is able to haul a mighty catch of fish. This story is an interesting one from the brewery of fiction. There’s considerable character depth.

One Autumn
The protagonist encounters a girl Natasha who is of the same age and their relationship becomes a romantic one. The protagonist is encountering a girl kissing him for the first time, and he bursts into clouds of happy catharsis.

Song of the Falcon
The protagonist encounters Ragim who is a devout Muslim. He tells him a mythical story of the snake and the falcon. The falcon is the master of the sky and the snake is the mistress of the ground. They converse with each other. Gorky anthromorphizes the snake and the falcon.

For want of something better to do
The story describes the scenery of moving trains and carries a narrative about people working in the railway station. For them life is an irony and they wonder about people traveling to different destinations.

Konovalov
The story starts with the suicide of Konovalov in prison. Then the story proceeds as a flashback narrating the life of Konovalov with the protagonist. The reason for the suicide is not clear. The story is rather ambiguous.

Orlovs
The Orlovs is a story of a quarreling husband and wife. The story is swapped in ironic humor.

The Reader
There is a conversation with the protagonist and a man on the aims of literature. The aim of literature is to help a man better understand himself and develop his desire to see the truth, to fight meanness and pettiness in people and bring out the good to awaken in them a sense of anger, shame and courage.