Maxim Gorky wrote three autobiographical works, namely My Childhood (Russian: Детство, romanized: Detstvo), In the World (Russian: В людях, romanized: V lyudyakh) and My Universities (Russian: Мои университеты, romanized: Moi universitety).

[1] The first part of Gorky's autobiography, My Childhood, was published in Russian in 1913–14, and in English in 1915.

[6] In these works Gorky has abandoned the form of fiction and all (apparent) literary invention; he has also hidden himself and given up taking any part in his characters' "quest for truth."

This makes his autobiographical series one of the strangest autobiographies ever written.

His person is only the pretext round which to gather a wonderful gallery of portraits.