Maxim Gorky, Na dne [The Lower Depths]

Cynthia Marsh (University of Nottingham)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.1.00: Slavic and Russian Writing and Culture: Old, Medieval and Tsarist, 700-1917.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1903

Places

Russia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

Gorky’s play Na dne [The Lower Depths], first performed in 1902, is universally known in the English speaking world by this translated title, now rather dated and misleading in its connotations. In German it was rendered as the Nachtasyl [Night Shelter, 1903], while the versions in English and French [Les Bas-fonds, 1936] are evidently linked. Gorky toyed with several titles, some of which have surfaced in various American translations, including “Without the Sun” [Bez solntsa], “On the Bottom of Life” [Na dne zhizni], before finally settling, on Leonid Andreev’s advice, for the abbreviated Na dne [At the Bottom, 1930]. Perhaps a better resonance was achieved by Down and Out [G. Noyes, A. Kaun, 1933].

The setting is a night shelter, and the characters are its inhabitants: the street people of a town in Russia in...

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2114 words

Citation: Marsh, Cynthia. "Na dne". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=20674, accessed 09 June 2026.]

Maxim Gorky, Na dne [The Lower Depths]

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

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