Born Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov on March 16, 1868, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia - later renamed in his honor - Maxim Gorky (pseudonym which means "the bitter one") would learn early the harsh lessons of life. He spent his early childhood in Astrakhan where his father worked as a shipping agent, but when the boy was only five years old, his father died, and he was sent to live with his maternal grandparents. This was not a happy time for the young Gorky as conditions were poor and often violent. At the age of eight, the boy's grandfather forced him to quit school and apprenticed him to several tradesmen including a shoemaker and an icon painter. Fortunately, Gorky also worked as a dishwasher on a Volga steamer where a friendly cook taught him to read, and literature soon became his passion. At the present (1912) Gorky is, without doubt, by far the most popular author in Russia, and the authorities there have already paid him the compliment of branding his writings as even more dangerous than those of this veteran contemporary, Count Leo Tolstoi. He is also, likely to give them much more trouble in the future than the Count, as his temperament and genius are distinctly of the volcanic order.