Quote message Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov-Maxim Gorky was born on March 28, 1868.
Alexei Peshkov, better known as the writer Maxim Gorky, is a cult figure for Russian and Soviet literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize five times, was the most published Soviet author throughout the existence of the USSR and was considered on a par with Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin and Leo Tolstoy the main creator of Russian literary art.
Alexey Peshkov - the future Maxim Gorky
He was born in the town of Kanavino, which at that time was located in the Nizhny Novgorod province, and now is one of the districts of Nizhny Novgorod. His father, Maxim Peshkov, was a carpenter, and in the last years of his life he ran a steamship office. Mother Varvara Vasilievna died of consumption, so Alyosha Peshkov's parents were replaced by grandmother Akulina Ivanovna. From the age of 11, the boy was forced to start working: Maxim Gorky was a messenger at the store, a barmaid on a steamer, an assistant baker and an icon painter. The biography of Maxim Gorky is reflected in the stories "Childhood", "In People" and "My Universities".
After an unsuccessful attempt to become a student at Kazan University and an arrest due to connection with a Marxist circle, the future writer became a watchman on the railway. And at the age of 23, the young man sets off to wander around the country and managed to get on foot to the Caucasus. It was during this journey that Maxim Gorky briefly writes down his thoughts, which later will be the basis for future works. Gorky's first stories began to be published around that time.
In 1902, Gorky was elected an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences ... But before he could exercise his new rights, his election was annulled by the government, since the newly elected academician "was under police surveillance." In this regard, Chekhov and Korolenko refused membership in the Academy
Gorky published the poem "The Wallachian Legend", which later became known as the "Legend of Marko". According to contemporaries, Nikolai Gumilyov highly appreciated the last stanza of this poem:
And you will live on earth
How blind worms live:
No fairy tales will be told about you,
No songs will be sung about you.
Gorky was friends with Lenin. How could a great proletarian writer not be friends with the petrel of the revolution, Lenin? A legend was born about the proximity of two powerful figures. She was visualized by numerous sculptures, paintings and even photographs. They show the leader's conversations with the creator of socialist realism. But after the revolution, the political position of the writer was already ambiguous, he lost his influence. In 1918, Gorky found himself in Petrograd in an ambiguous situation, starting to write essays “Untimely Thoughts” critical of the new government. In Russia, this book was published only in 1990. Gorky feuded with Grigory Zinoviev, the influential chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. Because of this, Gorky left for an honorary, but exile. It was officially believed that Lenin insisted on the treatment of the classic abroad.
There was no place for a writer in post-revolutionary life. With such views and activities, he was threatened with arrest. Gorky himself helped to create this myth. In his biographical sketch, Lenin, he rather sentimentally described his friendship with the leader. Lenin met Gorky back in 1905, quickly becoming close. However, then the revolutionary began to note the mistakes and hesitations of the writer. Gorky looked differently at the causes of the First World War, could not wish for his country to be defeated in it. Lenin believed that the reason for this was emigration and weakened ties with the Motherland. PublicationGorky in 1918in the newspaper "New Life" was openly criticized by "Pravda". Lenin began to see Gorky as a temporarily deluded comrade.
Alexey Peshkov, who took the pseudonym Gorky
The first of Maxim Gorky's published stories was the famous "Makar Chudra" (1892). The two-volume Essays and Stories brought fame to the writer. It is interesting that the circulation of these volumes was almost three times higher than was usually accepted in those years. Of the most popular works of that period, it is worth noting the stories "Old Woman Izergil", "Former People", "Chelkash", "Twenty-Six and One", as well as the poem "Song of the Falcon". Another poem "Song of the Petrel" became a textbook. Maxim Gorky devoted a lot of time to children's literature. He wrote a number of fairy tales, for example, "Sparrow", "Samovar", "Tales of Italy", published the first special children's magazine in the Soviet Union and organized holidays for children from poor families.
Legendary Soviet writer
The plays “At the Bottom”, “Petty Bourgeois” and “Egor Bulychov and Others” by Maxim Gorky are very important for understanding the work of the writer, in which he reveals the talent of the playwright and shows how he sees the life around him. The stories “Childhood” and “In People”, the social novels “Mother” and “The Artamonov Case” are of great cultural importance for Russian literature. The last work of Gorky is the epic novel "The Life of Klim Samgin", which has the second name "Forty Years". He worked on this manuscript for 11 years, but did not have time to finish it.
The personal life of Maxim Gorky was quite stormy. For the first and officially the only time he married at the age of 28. The young man met his wife Ekaterina Volzhina at the Samarskaya Gazeta publishing house, where the girl worked as a proofreader. A year after the wedding, the son Maxim appeared, and soon the daughter Ekaterina, named after her mother. Also in the upbringing of the writer was his godson Zinovy Sverdlov, who later took the name Peshkov.
With his first wife Ekaterina Volzhina
Soon Gorky became weary of family life and their marriage with Ekaterina Volzhina turned into a parental union: they lived together solely because of the children. When little daughter Katya died unexpectedly, this tragic event was the impetus for breaking family ties. However, Maxim Gorky and his wife remained friends until the end of their lives and maintained correspondence.
With his second wife, actress Maria Andreeva
After parting with his wife, Maxim Gorky, with the help of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, met the actress of the Moscow Art Theater Maria Andreeva, who became his de facto wife for the next 16 years. It was because of her work that the writer left for America and Italy. From a previous relationship, the actress had a daughter, Ekaterina, and a son, Andrei, who were raised by Maxim Peshkov-Gorky. But after the revolution, Andreeva became interested in party work, began to pay less attention to the family, so in 1919 this relationship also came to an end.
With third wife Maria Budberg and writer HG Wells
Gorky himself put an end to it, declaring that he was leaving for Maria Budberg, the former baroness and concurrently his secretary. The writer lived with this woman for 13 years. The marriage, like the previous one, was unregistered. The last wife of Maxim Gorky was 24 years younger than him, and all the acquaintances were aware that she was "twisting novels" on the side. One of the lovers of Gorky's wife was the English science fiction writer Herbert Wells, to whom she left immediately after the death of her actual husband. There is a huge possibility that Maria Budberg, who had a reputation as an adventurer and clearly collaborated with the NKVD, could be a double agent and also work for British intelligence.
After the final return to his homeland in 1932, Maxim Gorky worked in the publishing houses of newspapers and magazines, created a series of books "The History of Factories and Plants", "The Poet's Library", "The History of the Civil War", and organized the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers. After the unexpected death of his son from pneumonia, the writer wilted. During the next visit to the grave of Maxim, he caught a bad cold. For three weeks Gorky had a fever that led to his death on June 18, 1936.
In the last years of life
Later, the question was raised several times that the legendary writer and his son could have been poisoned. People's Commissar Heinrich Yagoda, who was the lover of Maxim Peshkov's wife, was involved in this case. The involvement of Leon Trotsky and even Joseph Stalin was also suspected. During the repressions and consideration of the famous "doctors' case", three doctors were blamed, among other things, for the death of Maxim Gorky.
Real name and surname - Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov.
Russian writer, publicist, public figure. Maxim Gorky was born March 16 (28), 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod in a petty-bourgeois family. He lost his parents early, was brought up in the family of his grandfather. He graduated from two classes of a suburban elementary school in Kunavin (now Kanavino), a suburb of Nizhny Novgorod, but could not continue his education due to poverty (his grandfather's dyeing establishment went bankrupt). M. Gorky was forced to work from the age of ten. Possessing a unique memory, Gorky was intensely engaged in self-education all his life. In 1884 went to Kazan, where he participated in the work of underground populist circles; connection with the revolutionary movement largely determined his life and creative aspirations. In 1888-1889 and 1891-1892. wandered around the south of Russia; impressions from these "walks in Rus'" subsequently became the most important source of plots and images for his work (primarily early).
The first publication is the story "Makar Chudra", published in the Tiflis newspaper "Kavkaz" September 12, 1892. In 1893-1896. Gorky actively collaborated with the Volga newspapers, where he published many feuilletons and stories. The name of Gorky received all-Russian and all-European fame shortly after the release of his first collection, Essays and Stories (vols. 1-2, 1898 ), in which the sharpness and brightness in the transfer of life's realities were combined with neo-romantic pathos, with a passionate call for the transformation of man and the world ("Old Woman Izergil", "Konovalov", "Chelkash", "Malva", "On Rafts", "Song of Sokole, etc.). The symbol of the growing revolutionary movement in Russia was the "Song of the Petrel" ( 1901 ).
With the beginning of Gorky's work in 1900 in the publishing house "Knowledge" began his many years of literary and organizational activities. He expanded the publishing program, organized from 1904 the release of the famous collections "Knowledge", rallied around the publishing house the largest writers close to the realistic direction (I. Bunin, L. Andreev, A. Kuprin, etc.), and actually led this direction in its opposition to modernism.
At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. the first novels of M. Gorky "Foma Gordeev" were published (1899) and "Three" ( 1900) . In 1902 in the Moscow Art Theater, his first plays were staged - "Petty Bourgeois" and "At the Bottom". Together with the plays "Summer Residents" ( 1904 ), "Children of the Sun" ( 1905 ), "Barbarians" ( 1906 ) they identified a kind of Gorky type of Russian realistic theater of the early 20th century, based on acute social conflict and clearly expressed ideological characters. The play "At the Bottom" is still preserved in the repertoire of many theaters around the world.
Involved in active political activity at the beginning of the first Russian revolution, Gorky was forced to in January 1906 emigrate (returned at the end of 1913). The peak of the writer's conscious political engagement (social-democratic coloring) fell on 1906-1907 years, when the plays "Enemies" were published ( 1906 ), the novel "Mother" ( 1906-1907 ), publicistic collections "My Interviews" and "In America" (both 1906 ).
A new turn in Gorky's worldview and style was revealed in the stories "The Town of Okurov" ( 1909-1910 ) and "The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin" ( 1910-1911 ), as well as in autobiographical prose 1910s.: stories "The Master" ( 1913 ), "Childhood" ( 1913-1914 ), "In people" ( 1916 ), a collection of short stories "In Rus'" ( 1912-1917 ) and others: Gorky turned to the problem of the Russian national character. The same trends were reflected in the so-called. second dramatic cycle: plays "Eccentrics" ( 1910 ), "Vassa Zheleznova" (1st edition - 1910 ), "Old Man" (created in 1915, published in 1918 ) and etc.
During the revolutions 1917 Gorky sought to fight the anti-humanistic and anti-cultural arbitrariness, which the Bolsheviks staked on (a series of articles "Untimely Thoughts" in the newspaper "New Life"). After October 1917 on the one hand, he got involved in the cultural and social work of the new institutions, and on the other, he criticized the Bolshevik terror, tried to save representatives of the creative intelligentsia from arrests and executions (in some cases successfully). The intensified disagreements with the policies of V. Lenin led Gorky to October 1921 to emigration (formally it was presented as going abroad for treatment), which actually (with interruptions) continued before 1933.
First half of the 1920s marked by Gorky's search for new principles of artistic worldview. The book Notes from a Diary. Memories" ( 1924 ), in the center of which is the theme of the Russian national character and its contradictory complexity. Collection "Stories 1922-1924" ( 1925 ) is marked by an interest in the secrets of the human soul, a psychologically complicated type of hero, and a gravitation towards conventionally fantastic perspectives of vision that were unusual for the former Gorky. In the 1920s Gorky began work on wide-ranging artistic canvases highlighting Russia's recent past: "My Universities" ( 1923 ), the novel "The Artamonov Case" ( 1925 ), epic novel "The Life of Klim Samgin" (parts 1-3, 1927-1931 ; unfinished 4 hours, 1937 ). Later, this panorama was supplemented by a cycle of plays: "Egor Bulychov and Others" ( 1932 ), "Dostigaev and others" ( 1933 ), "Vassa Zheleznova" (2nd edition, 1936 ).
Finally returning to the USSR in May 1933, Gorky took an active part in cultural construction, led the preparation of the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, participated in the creation of a number of institutes, publishing houses and magazines. His speeches and organizational efforts played a significant role in establishing the aesthetics of socialist realism. The journalism of these years characterizes Gorky as one of the ideologists of the Soviet system, indirectly and directly speaking with an apology for the Stalinist regime. At the same time, he repeatedly appealed to Stalin with petitions for the repressed figures of science, literature and art.
The peaks of M. Gorky's work include a cycle of memoir portraits of his contemporaries (L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, L.N. Andreev, etc.), created by him at different times.
June 18, 1936 Maxim Gorky died in Moscow, was buried in Red Square (the urn with the ashes was buried in the Kremlin wall).
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. Alexei 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.
General view of Red Square during the funeral of Maxim Gorky. Photo by Emmanuil Evzerikhin. 1936 ITAR-TASSThe Gorky myth, having been formed in its main features even before the revolution, was cemented by the Soviet canon, and then debunked by dissident and perestroika criticism. The true figure of the writer was blurred to absolute indistinguishability under layers of contradictory mythologizations and demythologizations, and a biography full of fascinating episodes successfully replaced his work in the collective imagination. Arzamas has collected controversial moments from the biography and work of the tramp writer, the petrel of the revolution, the founder of socialist realism, a close friend of Lenin, a Soviet boss, a singer of the White Sea Canal and the Solovetsky camp.
1. Gorky is an insignificant writer
The most famous formulation of this thesis belongs, apparently, to Vladimir Nabokov. “Gorky’s artistic talent is not of great value” and “is not without interest” only “as a bright phenomenon of Russian social life”, Gorky is “pseudo-intelligent”, “deprived of visual acuity and imagination”, he “completely lacks intellectual scope”, and his gift "wretched". He tends to "flat" sentimentalism
“in the worst case”, in his works there is “not a single living word”, “only ready-made stamps”, “solid molasses with a small amount of soot”. Merezhkovsky spoke no less caustically about Gorky's literary talent:
“It is not worth talking about Gorky as an artist more than two words. The truth about the tramp, told by Gorky, deserves the greatest attention; but poetry, with which, unfortunately, he sometimes considers it necessary to decorate this truth, deserves nothing but condescending oblivion.
Dmitry Merezhkovsky. "Chekhov and Gorky" (1906)
Another recognized bearer of high literary taste, I. A. Bunin, directly wrote about the “unprecedented undeservedness” of Gorky’s world fame (“Gorky”, 1936), accusing him of almost falsifying his own tramp biography.
Stepan Wanderer, Leonid Andreev, Maxim Gorky, Nikolai Teleshov, Fyodor Chaliapin, Ivan Bunin, Evgeny Chirikov. Postcard from the beginning of the 20th century vitber.lv But next to these derogatory characteristics it is easy to put others - directly opposite, breathing love for Gorky and admiration for his talent. According to Chekhov, Gorky is a “real”, “roaring” talent, Blok calls him a “Russian artist”, Khodasevich, always caustic and restrained, writes about Gorky as a writer of high standard, and Marina Tsvetaeva notes on the occasion of Bunin being awarded the Nobel Prize: “I I don’t protest, I just don’t agree, because incomparably more Bunin: more, and more humane, and more original, and more necessary - Gorky. Gorky is an era, and Bunin is the end of an era ”(in a letter to A. A. Teskova dated November 24, 1933).
2. Gorky - the creator of socialist realism
Soviet literary criticism interpreted the development of realistic art as a transition from critical realism, embodied in the work of Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev and Tolstoy, to socialist realism, which was the official and only artistic method of Soviet art. Chekhov was appointed the last representative of critical realism, and Gorky got the role of "the founder of the literature of socialist realism" and "the founder of Soviet literature" (Great Soviet Encyclopedia).
Gorky's play Enemies (1906) and especially the novel Mother (1906) were recognized as "outstanding works of socialist realism". At the same time, the theory of socialist realism finally took shape only in the 30s, it was then that the genealogy of this “artistic method ... which is an aesthetic expression of the socialist conscious concept of the world and man” was built - with Gorky at the head and with his written almost 30 years ago in America with the novel "Mother" as the highest example.
Later, Gorky felt the need to justify the fact that the masterpiece of socialist realism was written in America, away from Russian realities. In the second edition of the essay "V. I. Lenin "(1930), the phrase appeared:" In general, the trip was not a success, but I wrote "Mother" there, which explains some of the "blunders", the shortcomings of this book.
Maxim Gorky in Italy, 1907 Archive ITAR-TASS
Maxim Gorky in Italy, 1912 Archive ITAR-TASS
Maxim Gorky in Italy, 1924 Archive ITAR-TASS
Today, Gorky researchers discover the ideological spring of the exemplary Soviet novel not at all in Marxism, as Soviet literary criticism wanted, but in the peculiar ideas of god-building that occupied Gorky throughout his life:
“Gorky was not fascinated by Marxism, but was fascinated by the dream of a new man and a new God...<...>The main idea of "Mother" is the idea of a new world, and it is symbolic that the place of God the Father in it is occupied by the Mother.<...>The scenes of the meetings of the working circle are sustained in the same quasi-biblical style: they resemble the secret meetings of the apostles.
Dmitry Bykov."Was there Gorky?"
It is noteworthy that, contrary to the iron chronological logic of the Soviet theory of styles, Gorky's last work, The Life of Klim Samgin (1925-1936; the fourth part was not completed), is classified as critical realism in the article of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia on socialist realism.
3. Gorky is a fighter against social injustice
Maxim Gorky at the presidium of the solemn meeting dedicated to the celebration of May 1. Petrograd, 1920 Wikimedia Commons There is no doubt that Gorky rebelled against the contemporary world order, but his rebellion was not limited to the social sphere. The metaphysical, theomachic nature of Gorky's work was pointed out by his fierce critic D. S. Merezhkovsky:
“Chekhov and Gorky are indeed ‘prophets’, although not in the sense in which they are thought of, as perhaps they think of themselves. They are "prophets" because they bless what they wanted to curse and curse what they wanted to bless. They wanted to show that man without God is God; but they showed that he is a beast, worse than a beast is cattle, worse than cattle is a corpse, worse than a corpse is nothing.
Dmitry Merezhkovsky."Chekhov and Gorky", 1906
It is known that Gorky was close to the ideas of Russian cosmism, the idea of fighting death as the embodiment of absolute evil, overcoming it, gaining immortality and resurrecting all the dead (N. F. Fedorov’s Common Cause). According to O. D. Chertkova, two days before his death, in delirium, Gorky said: “... you know, I just argued with the Lord God. Wow, how he argued! The Gorky rebellion captured the universe, life and death, was called upon to change the world order and man, that is, it aimed much higher than a simple change in the social structure. The direct artistic expression of this is the fairy tale in verse "The Girl and Death" (1892), which caused Stalin's famous resolution: "This thing is stronger than Goethe's Faust (love conquers death)".
4. Gorky is an anti-modernist
The image of Gorky as a champion of realistic tendencies in literature, an opponent of decadence and modernism, the founder of socialist realism crumbles if one looks closely at his real place in the literary process of the Silver Age. The vivid romanticism of the early stories, Nietzscheanism and God-seeking turn out to be in tune with the modernist tendencies of Russian literature at the turn of the century. Annensky writes about the play "At the Bottom":
“After Dostoevsky, Gorky, in my opinion, is the most pronounced Russian symbolist. His realism is not at all the same as that of Goncharov, Pisemsky or Ostrovsky. Looking at his paintings, one recalls the words of the author of The Teenager, who once said that at certain moments the most everyday atmosphere seems to him a dream or an illusion.
Innokenty Annensky."Drama at the Bottom" (1906)
Portrait of Maxim Gorky. OK. 1904 Getty Images/Fotobank Gorky's mythologization of his life can also be read in a new way in the context of symbolist life-creation, and closeness with many modernists clearly demonstrates the relativity of the traditional Soviet view of Gorky's place in the literary process. It is no coincidence that the subtlest look at the nature of Gorky's art belongs to none other than Vladislav Khodasevich, the most important figure of Russian modernism, who for several years was part of the writer's home circle.
5. Gorky and Lenin
The image of Gorky as a great proletarian writer, canonized by Soviet official culture, necessarily included the legend of the closest friendship that connected the petrel of the revolution with Lenin: the legend had a powerful visual component: numerous sculptures, paintings and photographs depicting scenes of lively conversations between the founder of socialist realism and the proletarian leader.
Lenin and Gorky with fishermen on Capri. Painting by Efim Cheptsov. 1931 Getty Images/Fotobank In fact, Gorky's political position after the revolution was far from unambiguous, and his influence was limited. Already since 1918, the writer played a somewhat ambiguous role in Petrograd, the reason for which was his very critical essays in relation to the socialist revolution, which compiled the book Untimely Thoughts (the book was not reprinted in Russia until 1990), and enmity with the powerful chairman of the Petrograd Soviet Grigory Zinoviev. This situation eventually led to Gorky's honorary exile, which lasted almost twelve years: there was no place for the singer of the revolution in post-revolutionary reality.
However, Gorky himself also had a hand in the creation of this myth, in sentimental colors he portrayed friendship with Lenin in a biographical sketch about him.
6. Gorky and Stalin
The last period of Gorky's life - after his return to Soviet Russia - as well as his entire biography, was overgrown with legends, bearing, however, the opposite ideological charge. A special place among them is occupied by popular rumors that Gorky, upon returning, fell under the strict control of the Chekists, that Stalin threatened him and his family and eventually cracked down on the objectionable writer (having previously organized the murder of his son).
But the facts show that Gorky's Stalinism was sincere, and relations with Stalin at least neutral. After returning, the writer changed his mind about the methods of the Bolsheviks, seeing in Soviet reality a grandiose laboratory for remaking a person, which aroused his deep admiration.
“In 1921-1928, Gorky was embarrassed and burdened by the semi-disgraced position of the petrel of the revolution, forced to live abroad in the position of almost an emigrant. He wanted to be where the proletarian revolution was going on. Stalin, who dealt with his foe Zinoviev (I mean not the execution of Zinoviev, but his preliminary disgrace), gave Gorky the opportunity to return and take that high position of arbiter on cultural issues, which Gorky could not achieve even under Lenin. The very personality of Stalin, of course, impressed him to the highest degree.<...>Undoubtedly, he flattered Stalin not only in official speeches and writings.
Vladislav Khodasevich."On the Death of Gorky" (1938)
Molotov, Stalin, Mikoyan carry the urn with the ashes of Gorky to the Kremlin wall.
Gorky's funeral. Stalin, Molotov, Kaganovich take out an urn with ashes from the House of Unions.
Moscow workers at a mourning meeting on Red Square.Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow
Gorky's funeral. Stalin, Molotov, Kaganovich, Ordzhonikidze and Andreev carry an urn with ashes during a funeral meeting.
The version that Gorky was killed was first voiced during the Third Moscow Trial in 1937: the former People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Genrikh Yagoda, as well as Gorky's secretary Pyotr Kryuchkov and three well-known doctors - Lev Levin, Ignatius Kazakov and Dmitry Pletnev. All this was presented as part of a vast "right-wing Trotskyist" conspiracy. In particular, Yagoda admitted that he had killed Gorky on Trotsky’s personal order, transmitted through Yenukidze: allegedly, the conspirators tried to quarrel Gorky with Stalin, and when nothing came of it, they decided to eliminate him, fearing that after the overthrow of the Stalinist leadership, Gorky, whose opinion was listened to and in the country, and abroad, "will raise his voice of protest against us." Yagoda allegedly ordered Maxim Peshkov to be poisoned for personal reasons, since he was in love with his wife. A little later, versions arise according to which Stalin himself ordered Yagoda to poison Gorky, or even did it himself, sending him a box of chocolates. It is known, however, that Gorky did not like sweets, but loved to give sweets to relatives and guests, so it would be difficult to poison him in this way. In general, no convincing evidence of the version of the murder is known, although a lot has been written about it.
But this version turned out to be profitable: Stalin used it as a pretext for reprisals against the Trotskyist-Zinovievist bloc. Stalin's whistleblowers, in turn, were happy to list Gorky among Stalin's victims.
7. Gorky, Russian people and Jews
Portrait of Maxim Gorky. Painting by Boris Grigoriev. 1926 Wikipedia Foundation The image of Gorky as the singer of the Russian people will crumble if we take into account that the great proletarian writer treated the Russian peasantry and the countryside with hatred. In Gorky's system of views, the peasant personified all the negative properties of human nature: stupidity, laziness, earthiness, narrow-mindedness. The tramp, Gorky's favorite type, coming from a peasant milieu, towered over her and denied her with his whole existence. The clash of Chelkash, "the old poisoned wolf", "an inveterate drunkard and a clever, bold thief", with the cowardly, weak and insignificant peasant Gavrila vividly illustrates this opposition.
“The semi-wild, stupid, heavy people of Russian villages and villages will die out ... and they will be replaced by a new tribe - literate, reasonable, vigorous people. In my opinion, it will not be a very “nice and sympathetic Russian people”, but it will be - finally - a businesslike people, distrustful and indifferent to everything that is not directly related to its needs.
Maksim Gorky."On the Russian peasantry" (1922)
Merezhkovsky understood Gorky’s attitude towards the peasantry in his own way: “The tramp hates the people, because the people—the peasantry—still unconscious Christianity, while the old, blind, dark one is the religion of God, only God, without humanity, but with the possibility of paths to a new Christianity. , sighted, bright - to the conscious religion of God-manhood. The ultimate essence of the bosyatstvo is anti-Christianity...” (“Chekhov and Gorky”, 1906).
For Gorky, the Jews served as an example of a nationality in which the desired ideals of reason, diligence and efficiency had already been embodied. More than once he wrote about the Jews in the same terms in which he painted the image of a new person who would replace the Russian peasant. The Jewish theme occupies an important place in the writer's journalism; he always acts as a consistent defender of Jewry and a tough opponent of anti-Semitism:
“In the course of the whole difficult path of mankind to progress, to the light ... the Jew stood in a living protest ... against everything dirty, everything low in human life, against gross acts of violence of man against man, against disgusting vulgarity and spiritual ignorance.”
Maksim Gorky."About the Jews" (1906)
Aleksey Peshkov did not receive a real education, he only graduated from a vocational school.
In 1884, the young man came to Kazan with the intention of studying at the university, but did not enter.
In Kazan, Peshkov became acquainted with Marxist literature and propaganda work.
In 1902, the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of fine literature. However, the election was annulled by the government because the newly elected academician "was under police surveillance."
In 1901, Maxim Gorky became the head of the publishing house of the Znanie partnership and soon began to publish collections, which published Ivan Bunin, Leonid Andreev, Alexander Kuprin, Vikenty Veresaev, Alexander Serafimovich and others.
The pinnacle of his early work is the play "At the bottom". In 1902, it was staged at the Moscow Art Theater by Konstantin Stanislavsky. Stanislavsky, Vasily Kachalov, Ivan Moskvin, Olga Knipper-Chekhova played in the performances. In 1903, the Berlin Kleines Theater staged a performance of "The Lower Depths" with Richard Wallenthin as Satine. Gorky also created the plays Petty Bourgeois (1901), Summer Residents (1904), Children of the Sun, Barbarians (both 1905), Enemies (1906).
In 1905, he joined the RSDLP (Russian Social Democratic Party, Bolshevik wing) and met Vladimir Lenin. Gorky provided financial support for the revolution of 1905-1907.
The writer took an active part in the revolutionary events of 1905, was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, released under pressure from the world community.
In early 1906, Maxim Gorky arrived in America, fleeing the persecution of the Russian authorities, where he stayed until autumn. Pamphlets "My Interviews" and essays "In America" were written here.
Upon his return to Russia in 1906, Gorky wrote the novel Mother. In the same year, Gorky left Italy for the island of Capri, where he stayed until 1913.
Returning to St. Petersburg, he collaborated with the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda. During this period, the autobiographical novels "Childhood" (1913-1914), "In People" (1916) were published.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Gorky was actively engaged in social activities, participated in the creation of the World Literature publishing house. In 1921 he went abroad again. The writer lived in Helsingfors (Helsinki), Berlin and Prague, and since 1924 - in Sorrento (Italy). In exile, Gorky repeatedly opposed the policy pursued by the Soviet authorities.
The writer was officially married to Ekaterina Peshkova, nee Volzhina (1876-1965). The couple had two children - son Maxim (1897-1934) and daughter Katya, who died in childhood.
Later, Gorky tied himself in a civil marriage with actress Maria Andreeva (1868-1953), and then Maria Brudberg (1892-1974).
The writer's granddaughter Daria Peshkova is an actress of the Vakhtangov Theatre.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
