The Orloff Couple, and Malva. By Alexei Maximovitch Peshkoff, Maxim Gorki ; Authorized Translation from the Russian by Emily Jakowleff and Dora B. Montefiore

Aleksey Maximovich Peshkov chose the name 'Gorky' - loosely, 'bitter one' in Russian - to reflect the many hardships of his life. Gorky was an orphan, forced into labor at age nine - before he began writing, he had already worked at many industrial jobs and had attempted suicide. Gorky's stories, novels, and plays depict the Russian working class from which he came; some of his better-known works include the plays The Petit-Bourgeois, also known as Philistines, and The Lower Depths, as well as a widely-read autobiographical trilogy. Gorky fled Russia after his arrest as a Bolshevik supporter; he later returned to develop the 'Socialist Realism' literary style.