The name of Maxim Gorky is probably familiar to any Russian person. In honor of this writer, cities and streets were named in Soviet times. The outstanding revolutionary prose writer came from the common people, self-taught, but the talent he possessed made him world famous. Such nuggets appear once in a hundred years. The life story of this man is very instructive, because it clearly shows what a person from the bottom can achieve without any outside support.

Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov (this was the real name of Maxim Gorky) was born in Nizhny Novgorod. This city was renamed in his honor, and only in the 90s of the last century it was returned to its former name.

The biography of the future writer began on March 28, 1868. The most important thing that he remembered from childhood, Alexei Maksimovich described in his work "Childhood". Alyosha's father, whom he hardly remembered, worked as a carpenter.

He died of cholera when the boy was very young. Alyosha's mother was then pregnant, she gave birth to another son, who died in infancy.

The Peshkov family lived at that time in Astrakhan, because the father had to work in the last years of his life in a steamship company. However, literary critics are arguing about who Maxim Gorky's father was.

Taking two children, the mother decided to return to her homeland, to Nizhny Novgorod. There her father, Vasily Kashirin, kept a dye workshop. Alexei spent his childhood in his house (now there is a museum). Alyosha's grandfather was a rather domineering person, had a stern character, often punished the boy for nothing, using rods. Once Alyosha was whipped so badly that he lay down in bed for a long time. After that, the grandfather repented and asked for forgiveness from the boy, treating him with a candy.

The autobiography described in the story "Childhood" says that the grandfather's house was always full of people. Numerous relatives lived in it, everyone was busy with business.

Important! Little Alyosha also had his own obedience, the boy helped dye the fabrics. But for poorly done work, grandfather severely punished.

Mom taught Alexei to read, then his grandfather taught his grandson the Church Slavonic language. Despite his harsh nature, Kashirin was a very religious person, often went to church. He forced Alyosha to go to church almost by force, but the child did not like this activity. Atheistic views that manifested themselves in Alyosha in childhood, he carried through his whole life. Therefore, his work was revolutionary, the writer Maxim Gorky in his works often said that "God is invented."

As a child, Alyosha attended a parish school, but then became seriously ill and left school. Then his mother married a second time and took her son to her new home in Kanavino. There the boy went to elementary school, but the relationship with the teacher and the priest did not work out.

One day, coming home, Alyosha saw a terrible picture: his stepfather was kicking his mother. Then the boy grabbed a knife to intercede. She reassured her son, who was about to kill his stepfather. After this incident, Alexei decided to return to his grandfather's house. By that time, the old man was completely ruined. Alexey attended a school for poor children for some time, but was expelled because the young man looked untidy, he smelled bad. Alyosha spent most of his time on the street, stealing to feed himself, finding clothes for himself in a landfill. Because the teenager got in touch with a bad company, where he received the nickname "Bashlyk".

Alexei Peshkov did not study anywhere else, never having received a secondary education. Despite this, he had a strong desire for self-education, independently reading and briefly memorizing the work of many philosophers, such as:

• Nietzsche;
• Hartmann;
• Selly;
• Caro;
• Schopenhauer.

Important! All his life, Alexei Maksimovich Gorky wrote with spelling and grammatical errors, which were corrected by his wife, a proofreader by education.

First independent steps

When Alyosha was 11 years old, his mother died of consumption. Grandfather, finally impoverished, was forced to let go of his grandson in peace. The old man could not feed the young man and told him to go "to the people." Alexei was alone in this big world. The young man decided to go to Kazan to enter the university, but was refused.

Firstly, because that year the enrollment of applicants from the lower strata of society was limited, and secondly, because Alexei did not have a certificate of secondary education.

Then the young man went to work on the pier. It was then that a meeting took place in Gorky's life that influenced his further worldview and creativity. He met with a revolutionary group, which briefly explained what the essence of this progressive doctrine. Alexey began to attend revolutionary meetings, was engaged in propaganda. Then the young man got a job in a bakery, the owner of which sent income to support the revolutionary development in the city.

Alexey has always been a mentally unbalanced person. Upon learning of the death of his beloved grandmother, the young man fell into a severe depressive state. Once, near the monastery, Alexei tried to commit suicide by shooting a lung with a gun. The watchman, who witnessed this, called the police. The young man was taken urgently to the hospital and managed to save his life. However, in the hospital, Alexei made another attempt at suicide by swallowing poison from a medical vessel. The young man was again saved by washing his stomach. The psychiatrist established many mental disorders in Alexei.

Wanderings

Further, the life of the writer Maxim Gorky was no less difficult, briefly we can say that various misfortunes befell him. At the age of 20, for the first time, Alexei was imprisoned for revolutionary activities. After that, the police conducted constant surveillance of the disadvantaged citizen. Then M. Gorky went to the Caspian Sea, where he worked as a fisherman.

Then he went to Borisoglebsk, where he became a weigher. There he first fell in love with a girl, the boss's daughter, and even asked for her hand. Having been refused, Alexey, however, remembered his first love all his life. Gorky tried to organize a Tolstoy movement among the peasants, for this he even went to meet Tolstoy himself, but the writer's wife did not let the poor young man see the living classics.

In the early 90s, Alexei met the writer Korolenko in Nizhny Novgorod. By that time, Peshkov was already writing his first works, he showed one of them to a famous writer. It is interesting that Korolenko criticized the work of the novice writer, but this could not in any way affect the firm desire to write.

Peshkov was then imprisoned again for his revolutionary activities. Coming out of prison, he decided to go wandering around Rus', visited different cities, in the Crimea, the Caucasus, and Ukraine. In Tiflis, he met a revolutionary who advised him to write down all his adventures. This is how the story "Makar Chudra" appeared, which was published in 1892 in the newspaper "Kavkaz".

Creativity Gorky

The heyday of creativity

It was then that the writer took the pseudonym Maxim Gorky, hiding his real name. Then a few more stories appeared in the Nizhny Novgorod newspapers. By that time, Alex decided to settle in his homeland. All interesting facts from the life of Gorky were the basis of his works. He wrote down the most important thing that happened to him, and interesting and truthful stories were obtained.

Again, Korolenko became the mentor of the beginning writer. Gradually, Maxim Gorky gained popularity among readers. The talented and original author was talked about in literary circles. The writer met Tolstoy and.

In a short period of time, Gorky wrote the most talented works:

• "Old Woman Izergil" (1895);
• "Essays and Stories" (1898);
• "Three", a novel (1901);
• "The Philistines" (1901);
• (1902).

Interesting! Soon, Maxim Gorky was awarded the title of member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, but Emperor Nicholas II personally canceled this decision.

Useful video: Maxim Gorky - biography, life

Moving abroad

In 1906, Maxim Gorky decided to go abroad. He first settled in the United States. Then, for health reasons (he was diagnosed with tuberculosis), he moved to Italy. Here he wrote much in defense of the revolution. Then the writer briefly returned to Russia, but in 1921 he again went abroad due to conflicts with the authorities and an aggravated illness. He returned to Russia only ten years later.

In 1936, at the age of 68, the writer Maxim Gorky ended his earthly journey. In his death, some saw the poisoning of ill-wishers, although this version was not confirmed. The life of the writer was not easy, but filled with diverse adventures. On sites where biographies of various writers are published, you can see a table of chronological life events.

Personal life

M. Gorky had a rather interesting appearance, which can be seen by looking at his photo. He was tall, expressive eyes, thin hands with long fingers, which he waved when talking. He enjoyed success with women, and, knowing this, he knew how to show his attractiveness in the photo.

Alexei Maksimovich had many admirers, many of those with whom he was close. For the first time Maxim Gorky married in 1896 Ekaterina Volgina. Two children were born from her: son Maxim and daughter Katya (she died at the age of five). In 1903, Gorky became friends with the actress Ekaterina Andreeva. Without filing a divorce from their first wife, they began to live as husband and wife. He spent many years with her abroad.

In 1920, the writer met Maria Budberg, Baroness, with whom he had an intimate relationship, they were together until 1933. There were rumors that she worked for British intelligence.

Gorky had two adopted children: Ekaterina and Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky, the latter became a famous Soviet director and cameraman.

Useful video: interesting facts from the life of M. Gorky

Conclusion

The work of Alexei Maksimovich Gorky made an invaluable contribution to Russian and Soviet literature. It is peculiar, original, surprising in its beauty of words and power, especially considering that the writer was illiterate and uneducated. Until now, his works are admired by descendants, they are studied in high school. The work of this outstanding writer is also known and revered abroad.

Biography

Maksim Gorky Born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a cabinetmaker, after the death of his father he lived in the family of his grandfather V. Kashirin, the owner of a dyeing establishment.

Real name - Peshkov Alexey Maksimovich

At the age of eleven, having become an orphan, he began to work, replacing many "owners": a messenger at a shoe store, a cookware on steamboats, a draftsman, etc. Only reading books saved him from the despair of a hopeless life.

In 1884 he came to Kazan to fulfill his dream - to study at the university, but very soon realized the whole unreality of such a plan. Started to work. Later Bitter writes: "I did not expect outside help and did not hope for a lucky break ... I realized very early that a person creates his resistance to the environment." At the age of 16, he already knew a lot about life, but the four years spent in Kazan shaped his personality and determined his path. He began to conduct propaganda work among the workers and peasants (with the populist M. Romas in the village of Krasnovidovo). Wanderings began in 1888 Gorky in Russia in order to get to know it better and get to know the life of the people better.

Passed Bitter through the Don steppes, across Ukraine, to the Danube, from there - through the Crimea and the North Caucasus - to Tiflis, where he spent a year working as a hammerman, then as a clerk in railway workshops, communicating with revolutionary leaders and participating in illegal circles. At this time, he wrote his first story - "Makar Chudra", published in the Tiflis newspaper, and the poem "The Girl and Death" (published in 1917).

Since 1892, having returned to Nizhny Novgorod, he took up literary work, publishing in the Volga newspapers. From 1895 stories Gorky appeared in the capital's magazines, in the "Samarskaya Gazeta" he became known as a feuilletonist, speaking under the pseudonym Yehudiel Khlamida. In 1898, Essays and Stories were published. Gorky which made him widely known in Russia. He works hard, quickly growing into a great artist, an innovator, able to lead. His romantic stories called for struggle, brought up heroic optimism ("Old Woman Izergil", "Song of the Falcon", "Song of the Petrel").

In 1899, the novel Foma Gordeev was published, which put forward Gorky into a number of world-class writers. In the autumn of this year, he arrived in St. Petersburg, where he met Mikhailovsky and Veresaev, with Repin; later in Moscow - S.L. Tolstoy, L. Andreev, A. Chekhov, I. Bunin, A. Kuprin and other writers. He agrees with revolutionary circles and was exiled to Arzamas for writing a proclamation calling for the overthrow of the tsarist government in connection with the dispersal of a student demonstration.

In 1901 - 1902 he wrote his first plays "Petty Bourgeois" and "At the Bottom", staged at the Moscow Art Theater. In 1904 - the plays "Summer Residents", "Children of the Sun", "Barbarians".

In the revolutionary events of 1905 Bitter took an active part, was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress for anti-tsarist proclamations. The protest of the Russian and world community forced the government to release the writer. For helping with money and weapons during the Moscow December armed uprising Gorky threatened with reprisal from the official authorities, so it was decided to send him abroad. At the beginning of 1906 he arrived in America, where he stayed until autumn. Pamphlets "My Interviews" and essays "In America" ​​were written here.

Upon his return to Russia, he created the play "Enemies" and the novel "Mother" (1906). This year Bitter went to Italy, to Capri, where he lived until 1913, giving all his strength to literary creativity. During these years, the plays "The Last" (1908), "Vassa Zheleznova" (1910), the novels "Summer", "The Town of Okurov" (1909), the novel "The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin" (1910 - 11) were written.

Using the amnesty, in 1913 the writer returned to St. Petersburg, collaborated in the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda. In 1915 he founded the journal Letopis, directed the literary department of the journal, uniting around him such writers as Shishkov, Prishvin, Trenev, Gladkoe, and others.

After the February Revolution, Maxim Gorky participated in the publication of the New Life newspaper, which was the organ of the Social Democrats, where he published articles under the general title Untimely Thoughts. He expressed fears about the unpreparedness of the October Revolution, was afraid that "the dictatorship of the proletariat would lead to the death of politically educated Bolshevik workers ...", reflected on the role of the intelligentsia in saving the nation: "The Russian intelligentsia must again take on the great work of spiritual healing of the people."

Soon Bitter became actively involved in the construction of a new culture: he helped organize the First Workers 'and Peasants' University, the Bolshoi Drama Theater in St. Petersburg, created the publishing house World Literature. During the years of the civil war, famine and devastation, he took care of the Russian intelligentsia, and many scientists, writers and artists were saved by him from starvation.

In 1921 Bitter at the insistence of Lenin, he went abroad for treatment (tuberculosis resumed). First he lived in the resorts of Germany and Czechoslovakia, then moved to Italy in Sorrento. He continues to work hard: he finished the trilogy - "My Universities" ("Childhood" and "In People" came out in 1913 - 16), wrote the novel "The Artamonov Case" (1925). He began work on the book "The Life of Klim Samgin", which he continued to write until the end of his life. In 1931 Gorky returned to his homeland. In the 1930s he again turned to dramaturgy: Yegor Bulychev and Others (1932), Dostigaev and Others (1933).

Summing up the acquaintance and communication with the great people of his time. Bitter created literary portraits of L. Tolstoy, A. Chekhov, V. Korolenko, essay "V. I. Lenin" (new edition 1930). In 1934, through the efforts of M. Gorky, the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers was prepared and held. On June 18, 1936, M. Gorky died in Gorki and was buried in Red Square.

Novels

1899 - Foma Gordeev
1900-1901 - "Three
1906 - Mother (second edition - 1907)
1925 - The Artamonov Case
1925-1936- Life of Klim Samgin

Tale

1900 - Man. Essays
1908 - The life of an unnecessary person.
1908 - Confession
1909 - Summer
1909 - The town of Okurov,
1913-1914 - Childhood
1915-1916 - In people
1923 - My universities
1929 - At the edge of the Earth

Stories, essays

1892 - Girl and death
1892 - Makar Chudra
1892 - Emelyan Pilyai
1892 - Grandfather Arkhip and Lyonka
1895 - Chelkash, Old Woman Izergil, Song of the Falcon
1897 - Former people, Spouses Orlovs, Malva, Konovalov.
1898 - Essays and stories "(collection)
1899 - Twenty-six and one
1901 - Song about the Petrel (poem in prose)
1903 - Man (poem in prose)
1906 - Comrade!
1908 - Soldiers
1911 - Tales of Italy
1912-1917 - In Rus' "(a cycle of stories)
1924 - Stories 1922-1924
1924 - Notes from a diary (a cycle of stories)

Plays

1901 - Philistines
1902 - At the bottom
1904 - Summer residents
1905 - Children of the sun
1905 - Barbarians
1906 - Enemies
1908 - Last
1910 - Freaks
1910 - Children
1910 - Vassa Zheleznova
1913 - Zykovs
1913 - Fake coin
1915 - Old Man
1930-1931 - Somov and others
1931 - Yegor Bulychov and others
1932 - Dostigaev and others

1868 - Alexey Peshkov was born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a carpenter - Maxim Savvatevich Peshkov.

1884 - tried to enter Kazan University. Gets acquainted with Marxist literature and propaganda work.

1888 - arrested for connection with the circle of N.E. Fedoseev. It is under constant police surveillance. In October, he enters as a watchman at the Dobrinka station of the Gryase-Tsaritsyno railway. Impressions from staying in Dobrinka will serve as the basis for the autobiographical story "The Watchman" and the story "For the sake of boredom".

1889 , January - by personal request (complaint in verse), transferred to the Borisoglebsk station, then as a weigher to the Krutaya station.

1891 , spring - went to wander around the country and reached the Caucasus.

1892 - first appeared in print with the story "Makar Chudra". Returning to Nizhny Novgorod, he publishes reviews and feuilletons in the Volzhsky Vestnik, Samarskaya Gazeta, Nizhny Novgorod Leaf, and others.

1897 - "Former people", "Spouses Orlov", "Malva", "Konovalov".

1897, October - mid-January 1898 - lives in the village of Kamenka (now the city of Kuvshinovo, Tver region) in the apartment of his friend N.Z. Vasilyev, who worked at the Kamensk paper factory and led an illegal working Marxist circle. Life impressions of this period served as material for the novel "The Life of Klim Samgin".

1898 - the publishing house of Dorovatsky and A.P. Charushnikov publishes the first volume of Gorky's essays "Essays and Stories" with a circulation of 3,000 copies.

1899 - the novel "Foma Gordeev".

1900–1901 - the novel "Three", a personal acquaintance with Chekhov, Tolstoy.

1900–1913 - Participates in the work of the publishing house "Knowledge".

1901 , March - "Song of the Petrel" created in Nizhny Novgorod. Participation in the Marxist workers' circles of Nizhny Novgorod, Sormov, St. Petersburg, wrote a proclamation calling for a fight against the autocracy. Arrested and expelled from Nizhny Novgorod.
Turns to dramaturgy. Creates the play "The Petty Bourgeois".

1902 - the play "At the bottom". Elected an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. But before Gorky could exercise his new rights, his election was annulled by the government, as the writer "was under police surveillance."

1904–1905 - plays "Summer Residents", "Children of the Sun", "Barbarians". Acquaintance with Lenin. For a revolutionary proclamation in connection with the execution on January 9, he was arrested, but then released under pressure from the public. Participant of the revolution 1905-1907
In the autumn of 1905 he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party.

1906 - travels abroad, creates satirical pamphlets about the "bourgeois" culture of France and the United States ("My interviews", "In America").
The play "Enemies", the novel "Mother". Because of tuberculosis, Gorky settled in Italy on the island of Capri, where he lived for 7 years.

1907 - Delegate of the V Congress of the RSDLP.

1908 - the play "The Last", the story "The Life of an Unnecessary Man".

1909 - the story "The Town of Okurov", "The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin".

1913 - edits the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda, the art department of the Bolshevik magazine Enlightenment, publishes the first collection of proletarian writers. Writes Tales of Italy.

1912–1916 - creates a series of stories and essays that made up the collection "Across Rus'", autobiographical novels "Childhood", "In People". The last part of the trilogy "My Universities" was written in 1923.

1917–1919 - Conducts a lot of social and political work.

1921 - M. Gorky's departure abroad.

1921–1923 - lives in Helsingfors, Berlin, Prague.

1924 - lives in Italy, in Sorrento. Published memoirs about Lenin.

1925 - the novel "The Artamonov Case", begins to write the novel "The Life of Klim Samgin", which was never completed.

1928 - at the invitation of the Soviet government, makes a trip around the country, during which Gorky is shown the achievements of the USSR, depicted by the writer in a series of essays "Across the Soviet Union".

1931 - visits the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp.

1932 returns to the Soviet Union. Under the leadership of Gorky, many newspapers and magazines were created: the book series "History of Factories and Plants", "History of the Civil War", "Poet's Library", "History of a Young Man of the 19th Century", the journal "Literary Studies".
The play "Egor Bulychev and others".

1933 - the play "Dostigaev and others".

1934 - Gorky holds the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, makes a keynote speech at it.

Maxim Gorky is a great Russian prose writer. His real name is Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov, the writer took his pseudonym in memory of his father, Maxim Savvatyevich. Gorky is the author of famous works, in the Soviet Union he was the most published writer. He is considered the founder of socialist realism. The life and work of Gorky are filled with many events, the writer had a rich, versatile, partly tragic fate. Next, we will analyze in detail the most important aspects of the biography of the recognized genius of the 20th century.

Alexey Peshkov was born in 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod, the boy was baptized according to the Orthodox rite in infancy. At the age of three, Alexey falls ill with cholera, his father, Maxim Savvatevich Peshkov, becomes infected with the disease from his son and dies. Alexei's mother, Varvara Vasilievna, suffered an equally tragic fate - after the death of her husband, she marries a second time, but soon dies of consumption.

Alexei, having lost his parents early, lived with his grandparents. The boy almost did not remember his father, but because of the stories of his grandfather, he greatly appreciated the memory of his father. The future writer had to work at the age of 11: a baker, an errand boy, etc. Peshkov also studied at a parish school, but left due to illness. At school, teachers considered Lyosha a difficult child, from a very early age he did not believe in God, considering himself a convinced atheist. Another school for Gorky was the street, he talked a lot with homeless children, which in the future will affect the theme of his work.

And although Gorky never received a secondary education, he read a lot, had an incredible memory and a mobile mind. He was well acquainted with the serious works of many philosophers, read Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Hartmann and many others. And yet, according to biographers, until the age of 30, Maxim Gorky wrote with a large number of mistakes, which his wife carefully corrected.

Youth and education

In 1884, Alexey tries to enter a university, but to no avail, because he never graduated from school. The guy had to work, and in the service he communicates with revolutionary-minded young people, gets acquainted with the works of Karl Marx. In 1887, Peshkov's grandparents died, so he suffered from a prolonged depression.

In 1888, Alexey makes a feasible contribution to the revolutionary movement and is arrested. The police begin to closely monitor the young rebel. Peshkov still has to do hard work.

Then he lights up with the idea of ​​​​creating an agricultural colony of the Tolstoy type and even tries to meet with Tolstoy himself, but at that time there were a huge number of people who wanted to talk with him, and Peshkov could not meet with Lev Nikolaevich. He goes back to Nizhny Novgorod.

History of success

In 1891, Peshkov sets off on a spontaneous journey through Russia, during this journey many extraordinary stories happen to Alexei, which he is strongly advised to write down. This is how the story "" appears, biographers often consider this particular work to be the writer's first real work, because it was signed with a pseudonym - Maxim Gorky. This is where the promising creative path of young talent begins.

This is followed by several publications in literary magazines, the writer is slowly but surely gaining momentum. He quickly learns journalism. Work in the editorial office allows the creator to earn a living by intellectual work. Over the course of two and a half years, Gorky published about five hundred articles. At the same time, a new work by Gorky called "" was published. It is this story that brings the writer fame.

creative way

In 1898, the first two volumes of Maxim Gorky's works were published. The publishers took a risk and printed books in large numbers, but the risk was justified - the works were quickly sold out. Glory to Gorky begins to spread rapidly throughout the country.

In 1899, several more works of the writer were published. His works were first translated into foreign languages. For any writer, this is a very high level of recognition.

A year later, Gorky met the master of prose Chekhov. At the same time, Alexey finally fulfills his old dream - he meets Tolstoy. After all, now Alexey is not just an ambitious young man, but a recognized writer.

During this period of time, the author often got into trouble with the law due to his revolutionary activities, which does not affect his growing popularity. Gorky turned to drama for the first time and undoubtedly had success in this complex genre.

In 1902, Gorky was elected a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, but the writer loses this status incredibly quickly due to his anti-state activities. This case becomes very famous, which creates an aura of a fighter around the writer. Now many famous figures want to get acquainted with a talented creator.

In 1902-1903, Gorky's popularity peaked. He becomes a real trendsetter in literature, establishes the trend of "social realism", the whole country follows every word of the author. It even comes to the appearance of epigones who are trying to copy their idol in everything. Such figures were ironically called "submaxims". But the writer does not bathe in the rays of glory, he continues to work fruitfully. During this period, he completed the play "At the Bottom" and began work on the story "Mother". In 1904-1905, several more plays saw the light, these are: "Barbarians", "Summer Residents", "Children of the Sun".

From 1902 to 1921, Gorky was successfully engaged in publishing activities. His publishing house "Knowledge" opened to readers promising unknown writers. He had a delicate taste and carefully selected the authors whom he would publish. In fact, Peshkov is engaged in educational activities, he is again at the forefront, his publishing house is the most popular in Russia, but now he is leading many other authors. The publishing house publishes joint almanacs and collections in large editions, Gorky and his colleagues incredibly quickly move forward the ponderous literary process.

Two emigrations and one political struggle

First departure

In 1906, Gorky was forced to emigrate to the United States, his native state mercilessly persecuted the writer for his political views and activities. "Knowledge" quickly disintegrates without its ideological founder. It is worth noting that emigration did not affect the author's fame at all, his activities continued to be actively discussed in Russia, and in the USA the writer was received very warmly.

Gorky continues to write despite everything. He completes the novel "Mother", and also writes a new play "Enemies". In 1906, the writer was forced to move to Italy due to tuberculosis. There he continues to work in his large house in Capri. He is working on the Okurov Town trilogy.

In the same place, the creator finishes his new work called "Confession", where he points out his differences with Lenin's position. In 1908, the author completed two works: the play "The Last" and the story "The Life of an Unnecessary Man." In the next four years, several more works were published: “The Town of Okurov”, “The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin”, as well as a cycle of stories “Tales of Italy”.

The writer is experiencing a mental crisis, events in the world are heating up, but this does not prevent Gorky from continuing to do his life's work. It is also important to note that "Tales of Italy" made a good impression on the workers in Russia, this instantly brought the writer closer to the future force of the revolution, and Lenin himself did not hide the pleasure he received from reading the stories.

Return

In 1913 Gorky returned home. The writer again turns to publishing. In 1912-1916, Alexey Maksimovich published the collection "In Rus'", the novels "Childhood" and "In People".

In 1919, Gorky organized the publishing house "World Literature". The goal is the same as ten years ago - he publishes classical literature in the best translations to educate the Russian reader. This activity can hardly be called creativity, but this is another confirmation of the author's boundless love for literature.

Second departure

In 1921, the writer again leaves his native country. In exile, he takes up the pen and writes the works: “On the Russian Peasantry”, “Notes from a Diary”, “My Universities”, as well as a collection of short stories. The favorable atmosphere of Italy helps him focus on writing. In 1925, the author, continuing his treatment, released a new novel, The Artamonov Case.

In 1928, the writer turns 60 years old. For many, it is already history, a monument. Alexei Maksimovich is forbidden to publish new items in the USSR. Exhibitions dedicated to the writer are held in Europe, his plays are regularly staged in theaters. But personally Gorky did not take part in these events.

Personal life

The family life of Maxim Gorky to this day causes numerous controversies among biographers. Some facts from this life really cause genuine interest.

• 1889 Young Alexei Peshkov experienced strong love feelings for the daughter of the head of the station. He even asked the boss for the hand of his daughter, but the strict father resolutely refused him this. This love feeling was remembered by the young writer for a long time, after 10 years Gorky, a successful author and a married man, fondly recalls his youthful feelings in a letter to that woman.
• 1893 A twenty-five-year-old writer, at the dawn of his writing career, enters into an unmarried marriage with midwife Olga Kamenskaya. She also became the prototype of the heroine in Gorky's late story "On First Love" (1922). Before marriage, young people had known each other for four years, Kamenskaya was nine years older than Peshkov, before that she had already been married, she had a child from her first marriage. The end of this relationship for someone may seem comical: Gorky read aloud his new work "Old Woman Izergil", but when he looked up, he saw that Kamenskaya had fallen asleep.
• 1896 Gorky marries Ekaterina Volzhina. She was 8 years younger than her husband. For a modest girl working as a proofreader, the chosen one seemed to be a "demigod", and the writer himself treated his passion rather condescendingly. In the same year he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. His wife accompanies him on medical trips and supports him in every possible way. She also became the mother of his children. On July 21, the first-born was born, who was named Maxim without much thought. Four years later, the second child is born - the girl Katya.
• 1902 Gorky lives with his wife and two children in an apartment in Nizhny Novgorod. At that time, the writer received excellent fees, the family was in full prosperity. In the evenings, the couple received eminent guests; this period in the life of the Peshkovs seems idyllic. But there is one but...
• 1900 Two years earlier, Gorky met the Moscow Art Theater actress Maria Andreeva. She was married, and the author occasionally spent time with the couple. The rapprochement of a man and a woman was quite romantic: she played Natasha in Gorky's play "At the Bottom", and Alexey Maksimovich was amazed by her genuine game. These relationships greatly influenced the further development of the writer, because of the influence of his beloved, he joined the Leninist party.
• 1903 Andreeva leaves her former family and becomes Gorky's secretary, who does the same: immediately leaves his wife and children and leaves Nizhny Novgorod.
• 1904 Russia is torn apart by a political struggle. But the writer's family life, on the contrary, is getting better, with Andreeva they live peacefully in a holiday village near St. Petersburg. Life with Maria during this period has a positive effect on the writer: he is calm, inspired and can write. The lovers often visited the neighboring estate, where the famous artist Ilya Repin lived. Then Gorky and Andreeva go to Riga, after which they visit healing springs. This life stage can be called one of the most harmonious and happy.
• 1906 Gorky and his common-law wife visit the USA. In the same place, the writer learns that his youngest daughter fell ill with meningitis and died. Gorky comforts his wife in a letter, subsequently the couple agreed to leave, but did not officially divorce.
• 1906 In February, Andreeva and Gorky embark on a kind of romantic journey on behalf of Lenin. After spending the Finnish festival, they hastily board a steamer to America. There they are collecting donations for a political coup.
• 1906-1912 The writer again suffers from tuberculosis, he is forced to leave for Italy. Maria goes with him. The woman did housework on her own and was always close to the writer's office in order to help him at any time. Andreeva also carefully translated various news articles for her husband, who did not know foreign languages. In the evenings, the couple went out for a walk. The fate of the great writer could have turned out completely differently if this woman had not appeared in his life.
• 1912 Gorky and Andreeva often traveled together, this time after a long stay in Italy the couple went to Paris. There Gorky meets Lenin again.
• 1914 Travelers return to Russia and settle in a large apartment in St. Petersburg. Their new house had exactly 11 rooms. Gorky was famous for his hospitality all his life, he always helped people get out of a difficult financial situation. Thus, about thirty people settled in the writer's apartment, some of them were ordinary hangers-on.
• It is known that Maria Brudberg lived in the next room with Gorky. She appeared in the writer's apartment under interesting circumstances: she brought some papers, but suddenly fainted from hunger. The hosts fed the guest and offered to stay in one of the rooms. After a while, the girl captured the heart of the owner of the house.
• The atmosphere in Gorky's St. Petersburg apartment was very unusual. Every day, crowds of people came to the writer with various complaints, in the evening he was visited by famous artists. Most of the time, the guests drank alcohol, ate a lot, played cards for money, arranged readings of pornographic novels, and discussed with great love the work of the Marquis de Sade. During this period, Andreeva and Gorky are, as if on different sides, each of them leads a separate life.
• 1919 Revolutions thundered in Russia, they seriously shook the inner state of the writer, a period of apathy and disharmony sets in. In the same year, there is already a clear cooling in relations with Andreeva. This was influenced by their political differences, which only intensified over time. The main reason for the separation is considered to be a short-term relationship between Gorky and a certain Varvara Shaikevich.
• 1921 Gorky cannot tolerate the state of affairs in the country, he enters into a confrontation with Lenin. The author at this time is very lonely, he opposes everyone without any help from other people. The result was the forced emigration of the writer.
• Alexei Maksimovich is sent to Germany, and then Andreeva is sent to supervise Gorky, Maria must closely monitor her husband's activities. She takes her lover with her - Pyotr Kryuchkov, who becomes an editor at the International Book publishing house. Thus, Kryuchkov became a direct intermediary between Gorky and his literary publications.
• 1928 After isolation, the writer visits the USSR and decides to stay at the house of Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova, his legal wife, whom he has not seen for many years.
• 1934 Alexey Maksimovich becomes more and more distant, the writer experiences incredible mental fatigue after treacherous expulsions, he feels that his personal struggle for peace is lost. This year, his first-born, Maxim, dies. At that moment, the author was talking enthusiastically with Speransky about immortality, and suddenly he was informed of the death of his son. The father took note of this and continued his nightly conversation with the same animation.

At the end of his life, the author closed himself in, finding the only salvation - in creativity. Gorky lived a hard life full of hardships, perhaps he was happy with Andreeva in Capri, or maybe in the first year of his life with his lawful wife, or maybe he was not happy at all. Even analyzing Gorky's life from the point of view of an ordinary, human, it turns out that for Alexei Maksimovich, literature has always been in the first place.

Attitude to power

Throughout his life, Maxim Gorky had a clear and well-reasoned political position. Since his youth, the writer has been engaged in social and political activities. He was not afraid of arrests and registrations, exiles and prisons. The author has always honestly and directly stated his views on the future of the whole world and his native country.

Was Gorky lucky to be born in such unstable times, should he have seen revolutions and subsequent injustices and atrocities? Each of us must answer this question for ourselves. And in this chapter we will focus on the political views of the writer, trace their evolution and, of course, analyze Gorky's difficult relationship with the "old" and "new" authorities.

An important element in understanding the writer's political position can be his own self-determination; from an early age, the future writer called himself a man who "came into the world to disagree." And in later years, the creator, already known to the whole world, called himself an "eternal revolutionary."

To the royal

Already in his youth, Peshkov had a long-term conflict with the government of Tsarist Russia. He is constantly arrested, expelled and arrested again for his connections with various circles. He is constantly under police surveillance. The tsar even opposes his admission to the Academy of Sciences, and the writer is deprived of his privileged position.

• 1905 Aggressive attacks on the writer by the authorities continue. For the revolutionary proclamation, Gorky is arrested again, this time exiled to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he has to stay in solitary confinement. The prisoner calmly endured adversity of this kind, he was not going to retreat.
• 1906 The authorities tighten the penalties, and Gorky has no choice - he becomes a political emigrant. Around the same years, the author met Lenin, and soon the two thinkers would meet again, but under different circumstances. At this stage, the creator believes in revolution, he considers the overthrow of the current regime as the main task.
• 1908 This year Gorky publishes the story "Confession". This is a very important event, since in this example we can observe all the sincerity of a wise writer. He does not hesitate in his work to criticize Lenin and express his disagreement about specific statements. The author is an idealist, for him there are no sides, he has his own opinion, which he broadcasts to the masses. Perhaps that is why the whole life of the writer was associated with attacks by the authorities, whatever it was.

• 1917-1919 After two revolutions that were not accepted by Gorky, the writer is engaged in human rights activities, he vehemently criticizes the activities of the Bolsheviks. Alexei Maksimovich did not understand the cruelty of repression and defended the intelligentsia with all his might. In the end, he resorts to the word - and creates the newspaper "New Life". In it, the writer continues to criticize the newly nascent government, he draws attention to the huge problems in the country, which for some reason the authorities are in no hurry to eliminate. Gorky again shows himself as an honest man. He is not ready to agree, not ready to endure, he bluntly criticizes in his articles the people with whom several years ago he walked shoulder to shoulder - against the monarchical regime. He did not need changes for the sake of change, his goal is to make the world cleaner and better, such is the nature of Alexei Maksimovich. On July 29, 1918, the New Life newspaper was immediately closed. For all Gorky's struggle for a better world, people come to power who, in their methods, are no different from the previous rulers. The writer is again taken “on a pencil”, the views of the creator once again do not correspond to the position of those in power.
• In 1918, Gorky again establishes communication with Lenin. The writer is trying to find support in a reasonable leader, but following the results of the debate, Lenin, who respected the former merits of the writer, gently hints that it is better for the author to leave the country for a while. And again - persecution and emigration.
• 1921 Gorky is in Germany, his every step is closely watched. The writer is limited in everything: finances, publications, travel. Emigration turns into imprisonment. For several years he has been trying to continue the fight against the injustice of the new government, and yet the creator understands that nothing can be done about the Soviet giant.
• 1928 Gorky is invited to the USSR. The writer is loved and appreciated in a changed country; without exaggeration, he was the main national writer. For several years the author visits the Soviet Union and finally returns to his homeland. This is the last stage of the writer's unequal struggle with the authorities. Alexei Maksimovich is old, he is physically incapable of resistance, the Soviet government is doing everything to finally pacify the "eternal revolutionary". He is actively printed and praised, the years of struggle and disagreement are successfully erased, and Gorky in the eyes of the people becomes "a real Soviet writer."

• On December 12, 1887 (after the death of his grandparents and unsuccessful admission to the university), Alexei shoots himself through the chest with a gun in an attempt to commit suicide. Miraculously, the future genius was saved, but this youthful impulse provoked a long-term illness of the respiratory organs. In the hospital, the patient again tries to commit suicide by drinking a toxic solution. With the help of gastric lavage, the future writer was saved a second time.
• Gorky was nominated for the Nobel Prize five times, but never received it.
• The last work of the writer was the epic novel in four parts, The Life of Klim Samgin. The book reflects all those thoughts and experiences that have tormented the writer for the past ten years. And although Alexei Maksimovich did not have time to complete the work, critics perceive the novel as complete and complete. In the USSR, he entered the mandatory reading program.
• Maxim Gorky had a number of unusual physical characteristics, allegedly he did not experience physical pain, and some psychologists claimed that he suffered from mental illness. Others attribute painful hypersexuality to Gorky, finding its reflection in the writer's works, in his relations with women.
• The owners of hotels in the United States, where illegal spouses stayed, were offended by such a brazen violation of American foundations. Andreeva and Gorky almost remained on the street, they were refused to be served.
• Stalin disposed of the body of the writer at his own discretion. It was decided to cremate Gorky's body and place the ashes in the Kremlin wall. The writer's wife asked permission to bury some of Alexei's ashes in the grave of his son Maxim, but this was denied to Elizabeth Peshkova. The urn with the ashes was brought to the Kremlin wall personally by Stalin and Molotov.

Death

In the last years of his life, Maxim Gorky felt constant weakness, it was clear that the life of the great writer was coming to an end. In 1936, he visits his grandchildren, who had the flu and, unfortunately, infected their grandfather. After that, Alexei Maksimovich visits his son's grave, poor health makes itself felt, and he catches a cold.

On June 8, doctors came to the disappointing conclusion that Gorky would not recover. The Soviet Union says goodbye to its beloved writer, Stalin visits the dying man three times and has leisurely conversations with him. Also, the closest people visited the author - the only legal wife of a genius, she sat at the bedside of Alexei Maksimovich for a long time, because once she loved him so much. Also paid a visit: Budberg, Chertkova, Kryuchkov and Rakitsky.

On June 18, at about 11 am, the master of words, thinker, public figure, educator, writer and just a man with a big and warm heart, Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov, died.

After his death, an autopsy was performed, which showed that the writer's body was in a terrible state, the doctors were surprised how he lived to an advanced age.

Gorky lived a long and fruitful life, with his thought he influenced the fate of millions of people, his social activities more than once saved the lives of those in trouble. The author wanted to make the world a better place, he did everything for this. We hope that the imperishable works of one of the best Russian writers are still changing people, making the world kinder, cleaner and more honest. Before his quiet death, Alexey Maksimovich said: “You know, I was arguing with God just now. Wow, how he argued!

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Initially, Gorky was skeptical about the October Revolution. However, after several years of cultural work in Soviet Russia (in Petrograd he headed the World Literature publishing house, interceded with the Bolsheviks for those arrested) and living abroad in the 1920s (Marienbad, Sorrento), he returned to the USSR, where he was surrounded for the last years of his life official recognition as a "petrel of the revolution" and "great proletarian writer", the founder of socialist realism.

Biography

The pseudonym "Gorky" Aleksey Maksimovich invented himself. Subsequently, he told Kalyuzhny: "Don't write to me in literature - Peshkov ...". More information about his biography can be found in his autobiographical stories "Childhood", "In People", "My Universities".

Childhood

Alexey Peshkov was born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a carpenter (according to another version - the manager of the Astrakhan shipping company I. S. Kolchin) - Maxim Savvatevich Peshkov (1839-1871). Mother - Varvara Vasilievna, nee Kashirina (1842-1879). Gorky's grandfather Savvaty Peshkov rose to the rank of officer, but was demoted and exiled to Siberia "for ill-treatment of the lower ranks", after which he signed up as a tradesman. His son Maxim ran away from his father five times and left home forever at the age of 17. Orphaned early, Gorky spent his childhood in the house of his grandfather Kashirin. From the age of 11, he was forced to go “to the people”: he worked as a “boy” at a store, as a buffet utensil on a steamer, as a baker, studied at an icon-painting workshop, etc.

Youth

• In 1884 he tried to enter Kazan University. He got acquainted with Marxist literature and propaganda work.
• In 1888 he was arrested for his connection with the circle of N. E. Fedoseev. He was under constant police surveillance. In October 1888 he entered as a watchman at the Dobrinka station of the Gryase-Tsaritsyno railway. Impressions from staying in Dobrinka will serve as the basis for the autobiographical story "The Watchman" and the story "For the sake of boredom".
• In January 1889, by personal request (a complaint in verse), he was transferred to the Borisoglebsk station, then as a weigher to the Krutaya station.
• In the spring of 1891 he set off to wander around the country and reached the Caucasus.

Literary and social activities

• In 1892 he first appeared in print with the story "Makar Chudra". Returning to Nizhny Novgorod, he publishes reviews and feuilletons in the Volzhsky Vestnik, Samarskaya Gazeta, Nizhny Novgorod Leaflet, and others.
• 1895 - "Chelkash", "Old Woman Izergil".
• 1896 - Gorky writes a response to the first cinematic session in Nizhny Novgorod:

• 1897 - "Former People", "The Orlov Spouses", "Malva", "Konovalov".
• From October 1897 to mid-January 1898, he lived in the village of Kamenka (now the city of Kuvshinovo, Tver Region) in the apartment of his friend Nikolai Zakharovich Vasiliev, who worked at the Kamensk paper factory and led an illegal working Marxist circle. Subsequently, the life impressions of this period served as material for the writer's novel "The Life of Klim Samgin".
• 1898 - The publishing house of Dorovatsky and A.P. Charushnikov published the first volume of Gorky's works. In those years, the circulation of the young author's first book rarely exceeded 1,000 copies. A. I. Bogdanovich advised to publish the first two volumes of "Essays and Stories" by M. Gorky, 1200 copies each. Publishers "took a chance" and released more. The first volume of the 1st edition of Essays and Stories was published in 3,000 copies.
• 1899 - the novel "Foma Gordeev", a poem in prose "The Song of the Falcon".
• 1900-1901 - the novel "Three", a personal acquaintance with Chekhov, Tolstoy.

• 1900-1913 - participates in the work of the publishing house "Knowledge"
• March 1901 - "The Song of the Petrel" was created by M. Gorky in Nizhny Novgorod. Participation in the Marxist workers' circles of Nizhny Novgorod, Sormov, St. Petersburg, wrote a proclamation calling for a fight against the autocracy. Arrested and expelled from Nizhny Novgorod. According to contemporaries, Nikolai Gumilyov highly appreciated the last stanza of this poem.

• In 1901, M. Gorky turned to dramaturgy. Creates the plays "Petty Bourgeois" (1901), "At the bottom" (1902). In 1902, he became the godfather and adoptive father of the Jew Zinovy ​​Sverdlov, who took the surname Peshkov and converted to Orthodoxy. This was necessary in order for Zinovy ​​to receive the right to live in Moscow.
• February 21 - the election of M. Gorky to the honorary academicians of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of fine literature.

• 1904-1905 - writes the plays "Summer Residents", "Children of the Sun", "Varvara". Meets Lenin. For the revolutionary proclamation and in connection with the execution on January 9, he was arrested, but then released under pressure from the public. Member of the revolution 1905-1907. In the autumn of 1905 he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party.

• 1906 - goes abroad, creates satirical pamphlets about the "bourgeois" culture of France and the USA ("My Interviews", "In America"). He writes the play "Enemies", creates the novel "Mother". Because of tuberculosis, he settled in Italy on the island of Capri, where he lived for 7 years (from 1906 to 1913). He settled in the prestigious hotel Quisisana. From March 1909 to February 1911 he lived at the Spinola villa (now Bering), stayed at the villas (they have commemorative plaques about his stay) Blasius (from 1906 to 1909) and Serfina (now Pierina) ). On Capri, Gorky wrote "Confession" (1908), where his philosophical differences with Lenin and rapprochement with Lunacharsky and Bogdanov were clearly identified.

• 1907 - delegate to the V Congress of the RSDLP.
• 1908 - the play "The Last", the story "The Life of an Unnecessary Man".
• 1909 - the novels "The Town of Okurov", "The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin".
• 1913 - Gorky edits the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda, the art department of the Bolshevik journal Enlightenment, publishes the first collection of proletarian writers. Writes Tales of Italy.
• 1912-1916 - M. Gorky creates a series of stories and essays that compiled the collection "In Rus'", autobiographical novels "Childhood", "In People". The last part of the My Universities trilogy was written in 1923.
• 1917-1919 - M. Gorky does a lot of social and political work, criticizes the "methods" of the Bolsheviks, condemns their attitude towards the old intelligentsia, saves many of its representatives from Bolshevik repression and hunger.

Abroad

• 1921 - M. Gorky's departure abroad. A myth developed in Soviet literature that the reason for his departure was the resumption of his illness and the need, at Lenin's insistence, to be treated abroad. In reality, A. M. Gorky was forced to leave because of the aggravation of ideological differences with the established government. In 1921-1923. lived in Helsingfors, Berlin, Prague.
• Since 1924 he lived in Italy, in Sorrento. Published memoirs about Lenin.
• 1925 - the novel "The Artamonov Case".

• 1928 - at the invitation of the Soviet government and Stalin personally, he makes a trip around the country, during which Gorky is shown the achievements of the USSR, which are reflected in the series of essays "On the Soviet Union."
• 1931 - Gorky visits the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp and writes a laudatory review of his regime. A fragment of the work of A. I. Solzhenitsyn "The Gulag Archipelago" is devoted to this fact.

Return to the USSR

• 1932 - Gorky returns to the Soviet Union. The government provided him with the former Ryabushinsky mansion on Spiridonovka, dachas in Gorki and Teselli (Crimea). Here he receives an order from Stalin - to prepare the ground for the 1st Congress of Soviet Writers, and for this to carry out preparatory work among them. Gorky created many newspapers and magazines: the book series "History of Factories and Plants", "History of the Civil War", "Poet's Library", "History of a Young Man of the 19th Century", the journal "Literary Studies", he writes plays "Egor Bulychev and others" (1932), "Dostigaev and others" (1933).

• 1934 - Gorky holds the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, speaks at it with the main report.
• 1934 - co-editor of the book "Stalin's Channel"
• In 1925-1936 he wrote the novel "The Life of Klim Samgin", which remained unfinished.
• On May 11, 1934, Gorky's son, Maxim Peshkov, unexpectedly dies. M. Gorky died on June 18, 1936 in Gorki, having outlived his son by a little more than two years. After his death, he was cremated, the ashes were placed in an urn in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow. Before cremation, the brain of M. Gorky was removed and taken to the Moscow Brain Institute for further study.

Death

The circumstances of the death of Maxim Gorky and his son are considered by many to be "suspicious", there were rumors of poisoning, which, however, were not confirmed. At the funeral, among others, the coffin with the body of Gorky was carried by Molotov and Stalin. Interestingly, among other accusations of Genrikh Yagoda at the Third Moscow Trial in 1938, there was an accusation of poisoning Gorky's son. According to Yagoda's interrogations, Maxim Gorky was killed on the orders of Trotsky, and the murder of Gorky's son, Maxim Peshkov, was his personal initiative.

Some publications blame Stalin for Gorky's death. An important precedent for the medical side of the accusations in the "doctors' case" was the Third Moscow Trial (1938), where among the defendants were three doctors (Kazakov, Levin and Pletnev), who were accused of killing Gorky and others.

Family and personal life

1. Wife - Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova (née Volozhina).
   1. Son - Maxim Alekseevich Peshkov (1897-1934) + Vvedenskaya, Nadezhda Alekseevna ("Timosha")
      1. Peshkova, Marfa Maksimovna + Beria, Sergo Lavrentievich
         1. daughters Nina and Nadezhda, son Sergei (they bore the surname "Peshkov" because of the fate of Beria)
      2. Peshkova, Daria Maksimovna + Grave, Alexander Konstantinovich
         1. Maxim and Ekaterina (they bore the surname Peshkov)
            1. Alexey Peshkov, son of Catherine
   2. Daughter - Ekaterina Alekseevna Peshkova (died as a child)
   3. Peshkov, Zinovy ​​Alekseevich, brother of Yakov Sverdlov, godson of Peshkov, who took his last name, and de facto adopted son + (1) Lydia Burago
2. Cohabitant 1906-1913 - Maria Fedorovna Andreeva (1872-1953)
   1. Ekaterina Andreevna Zhelyabuzhskaya (daughter of Andreeva from the 1st marriage, stepdaughter of Gorky) + Abram Garmant
   2. Zhelyabuzhsky, Yuri Andreevich (stepson)
   3. Evgeny G. Kyakist, Andreeva's nephew
   4. A. L. Zhelyabuzhsky, nephew of Andreeva's first husband
3. Long-term life partner - Budberg, Maria Ignatievna

Environment

• Shaikevich Varvara Vasilievna - the wife of A.N. Tikhonov-Serebrov, Gorky's lover, who allegedly had a child from him.
• Tikhonov-Serebrov Alexander Nikolaevich - assistant.
• Rakitsky, Ivan Nikolaevich - artist.
• Khodasevichi: Valentin, his wife Nina Berberova; niece Valentina Mikhailovna, her husband Andrey Diderikhs.
• Yakov Izrailevich.
• Kryuchkov, Pyotr Petrovich - secretary, later, together with Yagoda, races