My Apprenticeship

"Two beings dwelt within me: one of them, having seen too much of filth and loathsomeness, had become chastened. Life?s dreadful humdrum had made him skeptical and suspicious, and he looked with helpless compassion upon all people, including himself. This individual longed to lead a quiet, retired life far away from cities and people. He dreamed of going to Persia, of entering a monastery, of living in a forester?s hut or the lodge of a railway guard, or becoming a night watchman somewhere on the outskirts of town. The fewer the people and the more remote, the better." The other individual, baptized by the holy spirit of wise and truthful books, realized that life?s dreadful humdrum exerted a ruthless power which might easily lop off his head or crush him under a grimy heel. And so he summoned all his strength in self- defense, baring his teeth, clenching his fists, ever ready for a fight or an argument."In My Apprenticeship, Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) gives an exact account of his own adolescence. After the death of his mother, fourteen-year-old Alexei Peshkov ( Gorky ) sets out to earn his own living. First he is the errand boy in a shoe shop; then, in turn, a draughtsman?s apprentice, a dishwasher on a Volga steamboat, and an apprentice in a studio where icons are painted. Repulsed by the ugly mediocrity of middle-class life, by the "senseless, stupid animosity poisoning the life around him," he constantly searches for something better. My Apprenticeship (1916) is the second book of Gorky?s autobiographical trilogy, each book of which represents and independent work.