8 h 13 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Where do you look for God when the people around you go hungry?
In Maxim Gorky's The Confession, Matvei looks back on a life shaped by poverty and a restless search for faith. Unable to settle, he takes to the road. Monasteries, pilgrims and village crowds offer answers, but the suffering of ordinary people keeps him asking what those answers are worth.
An older wanderer, Iona, guides Matvei with the experience of the road. Beggars, monks and travellers bring other views of God, while villagers' hunger, work and small kindnesses test what he hears. Told as a plain, personal confession, this short novel explores doubt, human brotherhood and the hope of finding something that can hold people together.
What you’ll discover
- A voice worth hearing Matvei speaks as though you have time to listen, bringing his restless questions close.
- The pilgrim road Follow a poor wanderer through monasteries and village crowds, weighing the answers he receives.
- A guide with experience Meet Iona, whose long acquaintance with faith and wandering puts Matvei's ideas to the test.
- Faith under pressure Consider questions about God alongside hunger, cruelty and hardship that prayer does not ease.
- The pull of brotherhood Explore Gorky's argument about religious hope, socialism and what people might find in one another.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who enjoy Russian fiction, stories of pilgrims and wanderers, and honest argument about faith and doubt. It is a good choice if you like a strong narrating voice. Those who want a fast plot may find it slow and thoughtful.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A poor man begins to ask questions
- He takes to the road
- Teachers, old answers and uneasy comfort
- Doubt, sorrow and the sight of other people
- What the book argues about God and people
- A confession told in a plain, warm voice
Who’s who
- MatveiA poor wanderer and the narrator, who tells his life as a search for God and for some truth that can help ordinary people.
- IonaAn older wanderer who guides Matvei on the road, speaking from long experience and testing the young man's ideas.
- The pilgrimsBeggars, monks and travellers on the roads, each holding a different idea of God, who give Matvei many answers to weigh.
- The villagersPoor country people whose hunger, work and small kindnesses press on Matvei and shape his questions about faith.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Language: English
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A poor man begins to ask questions
The story opens with Matvei looking back over his life. He comes from the poorest layer of Russian society, the world of peasants, labourers and people who own nothing. From early on he learns that life is hard and that the powerful are seldom gentle. He does not begin as a rebel or a philosopher. He begins as a man who simply wants to understand why things are as they are.
The church teaches that God is good and sees everything. Matvei hears this from childhood, as nearly everyone around him does. Yet what he sees in villages and towns does not match it. People work to exhaustion and still go hungry. They are cheated by their betters and sometimes cruel to each other. A boy who looks closely at such a world will start to wonder.
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The author
Maxim Gorky
1868–1936 · Russian and Soviet novelist
Maksim Gorky (1868–1936) was a Russian and Soviet writer born in Nizhny Novgorod. His real name was Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov. He wrote novels, stories and plays, including The Lower Depths (1902) and Mother (1906). He lived in Russia and Italy and died near Moscow.
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What is The Confession by Gorky about?
It tells the story of Matvei, a poor Russian wanderer who walks the roads in search of God. He meets pilgrims, monks and villagers, and tests each idea of faith against the suffering and kindness he sees.
When was The Confession written?
Gorky published it in 1908, after the failed 1905 revolution. It is a work of fiction, though it draws on real pilgrim life in Russia and on ideas Gorky held at the time.
What is god-building in Gorky's book?
God-building was an idea among some Russian socialists, including Gorky, that the awe and hope of religion could be turned toward the collective strength of the people. The Confession tells this idea as a story.
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