Romantic stories of Gorky. Early romantic works M

The first period of creativity of the great writer M. Gorky was characterized as a period of romanticism.

The main romantic works of Gorky is the image of a heroic man, ready for a feat in the name of the people. The story “Old Woman Izergil” is of great importance in revealing this image. In it, Gorky showed the fate of two people: Larra and Danko. One of them brought good to people, the other - evil.

Larra was the son of an eagle, very proud, like his father. Once in his mother's tribe, he spoke to highly respected people as equals. Larra believed that he was the best on earth, and there were no others like him. He treated people like slaves. For him, pity, respect for others, love were incomprehensible. He was alone and he was proud of himself. He didn't need anything, and he didn't give anything to others.

When he brutally killed one girl, people could not come up with a decent punishment for him. After talking with him, they realized that attachments and feelings were alien to him. Larra wanted to be like his father in everything, to be just as independent and lonely proud. But his father was alone. He needs communication, family, love, friendship, responsibility for someone. Then the people from the tribe decided that it was better to leave him alone. Larra walked the earth for a long time. He got everything he wanted for himself, and people could not kill him, protected by God's punishment. And when they realized this, they began to laugh at him. People have lost all interest in him. Then Larra became even more lonely. He understood what the people had condemned him to, what cruel punishment they had chosen for him. He understood how people feel and how they live. He wanted communication, affection, love, but he could not get this, because he was rejected by everyone.

Another hero of the story is Danko. Enemies attacked one tribe. And before them was a choice: to surrender into eternal slavery to the enemy or go through an impenetrable forest. They could not decide, they all sat and thought. And then Danko appeared. He was a brave and handsome young man. He said: “Do not turn a stone out of the way with thought. Whoever does nothing, nothing will happen to him. Why do we waste energy on thought and longing? Get up, let's go to the forest and go through it!” People, frightened by death, fettered by fear and exhausted by thoughts, obeyed the clear and truthful voice of Danko. They, weak-willed and weakened, obeyed the good and powerful force radiated by Danko. In them, he gave birth to hope for a good life. However, when people got tired and lost heart, they became ashamed to admit it to themselves. Then they became embittered against Dan-ko. People attacked him and wanted to kill him. Danko could not get mad at them because of pity. He loved people very much, and he proved all his love with his act. Danko tore his heart out of his chest and, illuminating the path, led people through the forest. When people came out of the forest, they, blinded by joy, forgot what a high price Danko had paid for them. He died, his heart scattered with sparks all over the sky, but the image of the hero-liberator will forever live in the hearts of people. “In life there is always a place for exploits,” says the old woman Izergil.

In the poem "The Girl and Death" M. Gorky glorifies the feeling of love that conquered death.

In the famous play “The Song of the Falcon” the idea of ​​a feat can be traced. Falcon - the personification of a fighter for national happiness. M. Gorky shows us the ideal hero, who is characterized by courage, heroism, contempt for death and hatred of the enemy. “Madness, courage - this is the wisdom of life! Oh brave falcon! You bled out in battle with your enemies. But there will be time - and drops of your hot blood, like sparks, will flare up in the darkness of life and many brave hearts will be kindled with an insane thirst for freedom, light!

Every hero romantic stories M. Gorky is active, goal-oriented person opposing evil in every way.

In his "walking around Russia" M. Gorky peered into the dark corners of life and spent a lot of writing effort to show what kind of hard labor their working days can become for people. He tirelessly searched at the “day” of life for something bright, kind, human, which could be opposed to the mundane, soulless world. But Gorky had little to say about how badly people live. Gorky began to look for those who are capable of a feat. He dreamed of the strong strong-willed natures, about people-fighters, but did not find them in reality. The writer contrasted the gray existence of people with the bright, rich world of the heroes of his stories.
main theme Gorky's romantic stories became the theme of love and freedom. Already in one of his first stories - "Makar Chudra" - Gorky expresses his own point of view: freedom for a person is the main thing in the world. A hymn to freedom and love is the story of young gypsies Loyko Zobar and Radda. Their love burned with a bright flame and could not get along with the world of ordinary, dull living people. In the gray life that people have created, the beloved would have to "submit to the tightness that squeezed them." But Radda and Loiko preferred death. Heroes do not want to sacrifice their will even for each other. For them, freedom, will is the main thing in life. “I have never loved anyone, Loiko, but I love you. Also, I love free will. Will then, Loiko, I love more than you. Even love turned out to be powerless before a person's desire for freedom, which is achieved at the cost of life.
In another story by Gorky - "Old Woman Izergil" - the writer combines the legend of Larra, the story of the life of Izergil and the legend of Danko. The main idea repeated in all three parts - the dream of people ready for a feat - makes the story a single whole. A special place in the story is occupied by the image of Izergil, who carried the feeling through her whole life. dignity. The story of her life is the personification of freedom, beauty, moral values person. And a reproach to the wingless, boring life of people, a reproach to many generations that have disappeared from the face of the earth without a trace: “In life, you know, there is always a place for exploits ... everyone would want to leave their shadow behind in it. And then life would not devour people without a trace.” She knew what a feat was, but she could not live her life with dignity. The heroine can only rely on her mistakes to point out to people Right way.
The old woman Izergil is frightened by the fate of Larra, casting a shadow on her own life. The strength of character, pride and love of freedom in Larr turn into their opposite, because he despises people, treats them cruelly. In a rush to freedom, he set foot on the path of crime, for which people punish him, dooming him to eternal loneliness. Protesting against the routine of life, Larra forgot about moral laws. Thus, Gorky says that life for the sake of freedom in solitude loses its meaning. The writer condemns Larra's selfishness and cruelty, his pride and contempt for people.
According to Izergil, hallmark Danko was his beauty, and "beautiful ones are always bold." Danko was driven only by love and compassion for people, and despite all their evil thoughts, his heart “flared with the desire to save” them. He takes it upon himself to lead the people out of the dark forest. Saving people, the hero gives the most precious thing he has - his heart. Gorky calls for self-sacrifice in the name of people. But Danko's act was not appreciated: “People. they did not notice his death and did not see what was still burning. his brave heart. Only one careful person. afraid of something, he stepped on a proud heart with his foot. By this, Gorky says that the time for such heroes has not yet come.
Thus, in Gorky's romantic works, the author clearly protests against a meager life, humility, humility, contempt, selfishness, slave psychology. The heroes of the works destroy the usual course of life, strive for love, light, freedom. They refuse the miserable fate of serving things and money, their life has meaning, the main thing is will. Glorifying the beauty and grandeur of a feat in the name of people, they oppose people who have lost their ideals. Bright, passionate, freedom-loving - they glorify activity, the need to act. "The folly of the brave is the wisdom of life."

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The life of A. M. Gorky was varied and contradictory. Childhood was not easy, mother died early, grandfather went bankrupt, and his “life among people” begins. From the hardships and blows of a hard life, he will be saved by the love of reading and the desire to become a writer, to describe what he saw. Literature played a huge role in Gorky's life. She helped him rise above the everyday life, showing how wide, difficult and at the same time wonderful human life.
M. Gorky's first story - "Makar Chud-ra" - was fanned with enthusiastic admiration for the image of the gypsy Radda, who at the cost of her life tested the mighty heart of Loika Zobar. The writing of this story marked the beginning of his further work in the spirit of heroic romanticism, since the writer himself was looking for ways to solve eternal problems humanity, striving for a better life. And change this life into better side, as he understood, people could be deeply spiritualized, disinterested, decent and purposeful, not for a moment thinking about their personal well-being, seeing in life its beautiful sides, its spiritual values.
Such heroes in Gorky's works are Danko, Burevestnik, Sokol, Chelkash and others.
The first lines in most of these works by Gorky were a call to heroism. In the story "Old Woman Izergil" a connection is established between the legend and reality. The two legends in the story are opposed to each other. Lar-ra is proud, selfish, selfish, he values ​​only himself and freedom. Danko strives to get freedom for everyone. Larra did not want to give people even a particle of his “I”, and Danko gives his whole self.
The tale "The Girl and Death" is a remarkable expression of the writer's unchanging faith in the ability human heart win, survive Hard time.
“Chelkash” is one of the stories from the cycle about people from the people who carry high aesthetic qualities. The conflict is connected with the situation of wandering, flight from home. On the road of complicity in a crime, two people collide - one is driven by habit, the other by chance. Distrust, envy, submissive readiness to serve, fear, Gavrila's servility oppose Chelkash's indulgence, contempt, self-confidence, courage, and love for Chelkash's freedom. The author emphasizes the spiritual superiority of Chelkash. However, society does not need Chelkash, unlike the little master Gavrila. This is both the romantic pathos of the work and the tragic one. Romantic worldview is also present in the description of nature.
The genre of the works “Song of the Petrel”, “Song of the Falcon” is defined as a song. Both songs also have other genre features - they contain the features of a parable. The point of view of the main characters: opposition strong personality and society. Nature reflects the inner state of the characters. In the image of these bold and proud birds, the writer wants to see as many people as possible who are striving to change people's lives for the better, so that all people live in peace and harmony.
Creating your early works, Gorky wanted to see in the people who read them, the desire to take an example from his goodies, the desire to use their example to change their internal and spiritual world, its appearance, and as a result, life itself. This is what the writer is trying to achieve.

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The work of the early Gorky should not be reduced only to romanticism: in the 1890s. he created both romantic and realistic works in style (among the latter, for example, the stories "Beggar", "Chelkash", "Konovalov" and many others). Nevertheless, it was precisely the group of romantic stories that was perceived as a kind of calling card of the young writer, it was they that testified to the arrival in literature of a writer who stood out sharply against the background of his predecessors.

First of all, the type of hero was new. Much in Gorky's heroes made me think of a romantic literary tradition. This is the brightness, the exclusivity of their characters, which distinguished them from those around them, and the drama of their relationship with the world of everyday reality, and the fundamental loneliness, rejection, mystery for others. The Gorky romantics make too strict demands on the world and the human environment, and in their behavior they are guided by principles that are "insane" from the point of view of "normal" people.

Two qualities are especially noticeable in Gorky's romantic heroes: this is pride and strength, forcing them to contradict fate, to boldly strive for unlimited freedom, even if one has to sacrifice one's life for freedom. It is the problem of freedom that becomes central problem early stories writer.

Such are the stories "Makar Chudra" and "Old Woman Izergil". In itself, the poeticization of freedom-loving is a feature that is quite traditional for the literature of romanticism. It was not fundamentally new for Russian literature and the appeal to the conventional forms of legends. What is the meaning of the conflict in Gorky's early romantic stories, what are the specifically Gorky signs of his artistic expression? The originality of these stories is already in the fact that the source of conflict in them is not the traditional confrontation between "good" and "evil", but the clash of two positive values. Such is the conflict between freedom and love in Makar Chudra, a conflict that can only be resolved tragically. Loving each other, Radda and Loiko Zobar value their freedom so much that they do not allow the thought of voluntary submission to a loved one.

Each of the heroes will never agree to be led: the only role worthy of these heroes is to dominate, even if it is a mutual feeling. “Will, Loiko, I love you more than you,” says Radda. The exclusivity of the conflict lies in the complete equality of equally proud heroes. Not being able to conquer his beloved, Loiko at the same time cannot give up on her. Therefore, he decides to kill - a wild, "crazy" act, although he knows that by doing so he sacrifices pride and his own life.

The heroine of the story “Old Woman Izergil” behaves in a similar way in the sphere of love: feelings of pity or even regret recede before the desire to remain independent. “I was happy ... I never met after those whom I once loved,” she tells the interlocutor. “These are not good meetings, it’s all the same with the dead.” However, the heroes of this story are included not only and not so much in love conflicts: it is about price, meaning and various options for freedom.

The first option is represented by the fate of Larra. This is another “proud” person (such a characterization in the mouth of the narrator is more of a praise than a negative assessment). The story of his "crime and punishment" receives an ambiguous interpretation: Izergil refrains from a direct assessment, the tone of her story is epicly calm. The verdict is entrusted to the nameless "wise man":

«– Stop! There is a punishment. This is a terrible punishment; you won't invent something like that in a thousand years! His punishment is in himself! Let him go, let him be free. Here is his punishment!

So, the individualistic freedom of Larra, not enlightened by the mind, is the freedom of exclusion, which turns into its opposite - the punishment of eternal loneliness. The opposite "mode" of freedom is revealed by the legend of Danko. With his position “above the crowd”, his proud exclusivity, and finally, his thirst for freedom, at first glance, he resembles Larra. However, the elements of similarity only emphasize the fundamental difference between the two "freedoms". Danko's freedom is the freedom to take responsibility for the team, the freedom to selflessly serve people, the ability to overcome the instincts of self-preservation and subordinate life to a consciously defined goal. The formula “in life there is always a place for a feat” is an aphoristic definition of this freedom. True, the ending of the story about the fate of Danko is devoid of unambiguity: the people saved by the hero are assessed by Izergil in no way complimentary. Admiring the daredevil Danko is complicated here by a note of tragedy.

The central place in the story is occupied by the story of Izergil herself. The framing legends about Larra and Danko are deliberately conditional: their action is devoid of specific chronological or spatial signs, attributed to indefinite antiquity. On the contrary, the story of Izergil unfolds against a more or less specific historical background (in the course of the story, well-known historical episodes are mentioned, real toponyms are used). However, this dose of reality does not change the principles of character development - they remain romantic. The life story of the old woman Izergil is the story of meetings and partings. None of the heroes of her story is honored detailed description– the characterization of the characters is dominated by the metonymic principle (“part instead of the whole”, one expressive detail instead of a detailed portrait). Izergil is endowed with character traits that bring her closer to the heroes of legends: pride, rebelliousness, disobedience.

Like Danko, she lives among people, for the sake of love she is capable of heroic deed. However, in her image there is no integrity that is present in the image of Danko. After all, a series of her love interests and the ease with which she parted with them evokes associations with the antipode of Danko - Larra. For Izergil herself (namely, she is the narrator), these contradictions are invisible, she tends to bring her life closer to the model of behavior that makes up the essence of the final legend. It is no coincidence that, starting with a story about Larra, her story rushes to the "pole" of Danko.

However, in addition to Izergil's point of view, the story also expresses another point of view, which belongs to that young Russian who listens to Izergil, occasionally asking her questions. This stable in early prose Gorky's character, sometimes called "passing", is endowed with some autobiographical signs. Age, range of interests, wandering in Russia bring him closer to biographical Alexei Peshkov, therefore, in literary criticism, the term “autobiographical hero” is often used in relation to him. There is also another version of the terminological designation - "author-narrator". You can use any of these designations, although from the point of view of terminological rigor, the concept of "the image of the narrator" is preferable.

Often the analysis of Gorky's romantic stories comes down to talking about conditional romantic heroes. Indeed, the figures of Radtsa and Loiko Zobar, Larra and Danko are important for understanding Gorky's position. However, the content of his stories is wider: they themselves romantic plots are not independent, are included in a more voluminous narrative construction. Both in "Makar Chudra" and "Old Woman Izergil" legends are presented as stories of old people who have seen the life of old people. The listener of these stories is the narrator. From a quantitative point of view, this image occupies little space in the texts of stories. But for understanding the author's position, its significance is very high.

Let us return to the analysis of the central plot of the story "Old Woman Izergil". This segment of the narrative - the story of the heroine's life - is in a double frame. The inner frame is made up of legends about Larra and Danko, told by Izergil herself. External - landscape fragments and portrait characteristics of the heroine, reported to the reader by the narrator himself, and his short remarks. The outer frame determines the spatio-temporal coordinates of the "speech event" itself and shows the narrator's reaction to the essence of what he heard. Internal - gives an idea of ethical standards the world in which Izergil lives. While Izergil's story is directed towards the Danko pole, the narrator's mean statements make important adjustments to the reader's perception.

Those short remarks with which he occasionally interrupts the old woman's speech, at first glance, are purely official, formal in nature: they either fill in the pauses or contain harmless "clarifying" questions. But the direction of the questions itself is revealing. The narrator asks about the fate of the “others”, the life companions of the heroine: “Where did the fisherman go?” or “Wait! .. Where is the little Turk?”. Izergil is inclined to talk primarily about herself. Her additions, provoked by the narrator, indicate a lack of interest, even indifference to other people ("Boy? He died, boy. From homesickness or from love ...").

It is even more important that in the portrait description of the heroine given by the narrator, features are constantly recorded that associatively bring her closer not only to Danko, but also to Larra. Speaking of portraits. Note that both Izergil and the narrator act as "portrait painters" in the story. The latter seems to deliberately use in his descriptions of the old woman certain signs that she endowed the legendary heroes, as if “quoting” her.

The portrait of Izergil is given in the story in some detail (“time bent her in half, her once black eyes were dull and watery”, “the skin on the neck and arms is all wrinkled”, etc.). Appearance of the legendary heroes is presented through characteristics snatched out separately: Danko - "a handsome young man", "a lot of strength and living fire shone in his eyes", Larra - "a handsome and strong young man", "only his eyes were cold and proud".

The antithetical nature of the legendary heroes is already set by the portrait; however, the appearance of the old woman combines the individual features of both. “I, like a sunbeam, was alive” is a clear parallel with Danko; “dry, chapped lips”, “wrinkled nose, curved like an owl’s beak”, “dry ... skin” - details that echo the features of Larra’s appearance (“the sun dried up his body, blood and bones”). Particularly important is the common motif of the “shadow” in the description of Larra and the old woman Izergil: Larra, having become a shadow, “lives for thousands of years”; the old woman - "alive, but dried up by time, without a body, without blood, with a heart without desires, with eyes without fire - is also almost a shadow." Loneliness turns out common destiny Larra and the old woman Izergil.

Thus, the narrator by no means idealizes his interlocutor (or, in another story, Makar Chudra's interlocutor). He shows that the consciousness of a "proud" person is anarchic, not enlightened by a clear idea of ​​the price of freedom, and his love of freedom itself can take on an individualistic character. That's why the final landscape sketch adjusts the reader to concentrated reflection, to the counter activity of his consciousness. There is no straightforward optimism here, the heroism is muted - the pathos that dominated the final legend: “It was quiet and dark in the steppe. Clouds were all crawling across the sky, slowly, boringly ... The sea rustled muffled and sad. The leading beginning of the Gorky style is not spectacular external pictoriality, as it might seem if only "legends" were in the reader's field of vision. The inner dominant of his work is conceptuality, tension of thought, although this is the quality of style in early work somewhat "diluted" with stylized folk imagery and a tendency to external effects.

The appearance of the characters and the details of the landscape background in early stories Gorky were created by means of romantic hyperbolization: showiness, unusualness, "excessiveness" - the qualities of any Gorky image. The very appearance of the characters is depicted in large, expressive strokes. Gorky does not care about the pictorial concreteness of the image. It is important for him to decorate, highlight, enlarge the hero, draw the reader's attention to him. The Gorky landscape is created in a similar way, filled with traditional symbols brimming with lyricism.

Its stable attributes are the sea, clouds, moon, wind. The landscape is extremely conditional, it plays the role of a romantic scenery, a kind of screen saver: “... the dark blue patches of the sky, adorned with golden specks of stars, shone affectionately.” Therefore, by the way, within the same description, the same object can be given contradictory, but equally catchy characteristics. For example, initial description moonlit night in "Old Woman Izergil" contains color characteristics that contradict each other in one paragraph. At first, the "disk of the moon" is called "blood-red", but soon the narrator notices that the floating clouds are saturated with the "blue glow of the moon."

The steppe and the sea are figurative signs of the infinite space that opens up to the narrator in his wanderings in Russia. The artistic space of a particular story is organized by correlating the boundless world and the “meeting point” of the narrator with the future narrator (the vineyard in “Old Woman Izergil”, the place by the fire in the story “Makar Chudra”) allocated in it. AT landscape painting the words "strange", "fantastic" ("fantasy"), "fabulous" ("fairy tale") are repeated many times. Pictorial accuracy gives way to subjective expressive characteristics. Their function is to represent the "other", "alien", romantic world, to oppose it to a dull reality. Instead of clear outlines, silhouettes or "lace shadow" are given; lighting is based on the play of light and shadow.

The external musicality of speech is also palpable in the stories: the flow of the phrase is leisurely and solemn, replete with a variety of rhythmic repetitions. The romantic "excessiveness" of the style is also manifested in the fact that nouns and verbs are entwined in the stories with "garlands" of adjectives, adverbs, participles - a whole series of definitions. This stylistic manner, by the way, was condemned by A.P. Chekhov, who in a friendly way advised the young writer: “... Cross out, where possible, the definitions of nouns and verbs. You have so many definitions that the reader finds it difficult to understand and gets tired.

In Gorky's early work, "excessive" colorfulness was closely connected with the attitude of the young writer, with his understanding of real life as a free play of unfettered forces, with the desire to bring a new, life-affirming tone to literature. AT further style M. Gorky's prose evolved towards greater conciseness of descriptions, asceticism and accuracy portrait characteristics, syntactic balance of the phrase

The great Russian writer Maxim Gorky (Peshkov Alexei Maksimovich) was born on March 16, 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod- died June 18, 1936 in Gorki. AT early age"went among the people," in his own words. He lived hard, spent the night in the slums among all sorts of rabble, wandered, interrupted by a random piece of bread. He passed vast territories, visited the Don, Ukraine, the Volga region, South Bessarabia, the Caucasus and the Crimea.

Start

He was actively engaged in social and political activities, for which he was arrested more than once. In 1906 he went abroad, where he began to successfully write his works. By 1910, Gorky gained fame, his work aroused great interest. Earlier, in 1904, they began to publish critical articles, and then the book "About Gorky". Gorky's works interested politicians and public figures. Some of them believed that the writer was too free to interpret the events taking place in the country. Everything that Maxim Gorky wrote, works for the theater or journalistic essays, short stories or multi-page stories, caused a resonance and was often accompanied by anti-government speeches. During World War I, the writer took an openly anti-militarist position. met with enthusiasm, and turned his apartment in Petrograd into a turnout for politicians. Often Maxim Gorky, whose works became more and more topical, spoke with reviews on own creativity to avoid misinterpretation.

Abroad

In 1921, the writer went abroad for treatment. For three years, Maxim Gorky lived in Helsinki, Prague and Berlin, then moved to Italy and settled in the city of Sorrento. There he took up the publication of his memoirs of Lenin. In 1925 he wrote the novel The Artamonov Case. All Gorky's works of that time were politicized.

Return to Russia

The year 1928 was a turning point for Gorky. At the invitation of Stalin, he returns to Russia and for a month moves from city to city, meets people, gets acquainted with the achievements in industry, observes how socialist construction is developing. Then Maxim Gorky leaves for Italy. However, the following year (1929), the writer again comes to Russia and this time visits the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camps. At the same time, the reviews leave the most positive. Alexander Solzhenitsyn mentioned this trip of Gorky in his novel

The writer's final return to Soviet Union happened in October 1932. Since that time, Gorky has been living in the former on Spiridonovka, at a dacha in Gorki, and travels to the Crimea on vacation.

First Congress of Writers

Some time later, the writer receives a political order from Stalin, who entrusts him with the preparation of the 1st Congress Soviet writers. In the light of this instruction, Maxim Gorky creates several new newspapers and magazines, publishes book series on the history of Soviet plants and factories, civil war and some other events of the Soviet era. Then he wrote plays: "Egor Bulychev and others", "Dostigaev and others". Some of Gorky's works, written earlier, were also used by him in the preparation of the first congress of writers, which took place in August 1934. At the congress, organizational issues were mainly resolved, the leadership of the future Union of Writers of the USSR was chosen, and writers' sections were created by genre. Gorky's works were also ignored at the 1st Congress of Writers, but he was elected chairman of the board. In general, the event was considered successful, and Stalin personally thanked Maxim Gorky for his fruitful work.

Popularity

M. Gorky, whose works for many years caused fierce controversy among the intelligentsia, tried to take part in the discussion of his books and especially theatrical plays. From time to time, the writer visited theaters, where he could see for himself that people were not indifferent to his work. Indeed, for many, the writer M. Gorky, whose works were understandable to the common man, became the conductor of a new life. Theater audience went to the performance several times, read and re-read books.

Gorky's early romantic works

The writer's work can be divided into several categories. Gorky's early works are romantic and even sentimental. They still do not feel the rigidity of political sentiments, which are saturated with later stories and novels of the writer.

The writer's first story "Makar Chudra" is about fleeting gypsy love. Not because it was fleeting because "love came and went", but because it lasted only one night, without a single touch. Love lived in the soul, not touching the body. And then the death of a girl at the hands of a loved one, the proud gypsy Rada passed away, and after her Loiko Zobar himself - sailed together through the sky, hand in hand.

amazing plot, incredible strength narration. The story "Makar Chudra" became long years hallmark of Maxim Gorky, firmly taking first place in the list of "Gorky's early works."

The writer worked hard and fruitfully in his youth. Early romantic works Gorky is a cycle of stories whose heroes are Danko, Sokol, Chelkash and others.

A short story about spiritual excellence makes you think. "Chelkash" - a story about common man carrying high aesthetic feelings. Escape from home, vagrancy, Meeting of two - one does business as usual, another case leads. Envy, distrust, readiness for submissive obedience, fear and servility of Gavrila are opposed to Chelkash's courage, self-confidence, love of freedom. However, society does not need Chelkash, unlike Gavrila. Romantic pathos is intertwined with the tragic. The description of nature in the story is also shrouded in a veil of romance.

In the stories "Makar Chudra", "Old Woman Izergil" and, finally, in "The Song of the Falcon", the motivation for "the madness of the brave" can be traced. The writer puts the characters in difficult conditions and then, without any logic, leads them to the finale. That's why the work of the great writer is interesting, that the narration is unpredictable.

Gorky's work "Old Woman Izergil" consists of several parts. The character of her first story - the son of an eagle and a woman, the sharp-eyed Larra, is presented as an egoist, incapable of high feelings. When he heard the maxim that one inevitably has to pay for what he took, he expressed disbelief, stating that "I would like to remain unharmed." People rejected him, condemning him to loneliness. Larra's pride turned out to be fatal to him.

Danko is no less proud, but he treats people with love. Therefore, he obtains the freedom necessary for his fellow tribesmen who believe him. Despite the threats of those who doubt that he is able to lead the tribe out of the young leader, he continues on his way, dragging people along with him. And when everyone was running out of strength, and the forest did not end, Danko tore his chest, took out a burning heart and lit the path that led them to the clearing with its flame. The ungrateful tribesmen, breaking free, did not even look in the direction of Danko when he fell and died. People ran away, on the run they trampled on the flaming heart, and it scattered into blue sparks.

Gorky's romantic works leave an indelible mark on the soul. Readers empathize with the characters, the unpredictability of the plot keeps them in suspense, and the ending is often unexpected. In addition, Gorky's romantic works are distinguished by deep morality, which is unobtrusive, but makes you think.

The theme of individual freedom dominates in the early work of the writer. The heroes of Gorky's works are freedom-loving and even ready to give their lives for the right to choose their own destiny.

Poem "Girl and Death" - a prime example self-sacrifice in the name of love. Young, full of life girl goes a deal with death, for one night of love. She is ready to die without regret in the morning, just to meet her beloved again.

The king, who considers himself omnipotent, dooms the girl to death only because, returning from the war, he was in a bad mood and did not like her happy laugh. Death spared Love, the girl remained alive and "bony with a scythe" already had no power over her.

Romanticism is also present in the "Song of the Petrel". The proud bird is free, it is like a black lightning, rushing between the gray plain of the sea and the clouds hanging over the waves. Let the storm blow harder, the brave bird is ready to fight. And it is important for a penguin to hide his fat body in the rocks, he has a different attitude to the storm - no matter how wet his feathers are.

Man in Gorky's works

The special, refined psychologism of Maxim Gorky is present in all his stories, while the personality is always assigned to the main role. Even homeless vagrants, the characters of the rooming house, are presented by the writer as respected citizens, despite their plight. The person in the works of Gorky is put at the forefront, everything else is secondary - the events described, political situation, even actions government agencies are in the background.

Gorky's story "Childhood"

The writer tells the story of the life of the boy Alyosha Peshkov, as if on his own behalf. The story is sad, begins with the death of the father and ends with the death of the mother. Left an orphan, the boy heard from his grandfather, the day after his mother's funeral: "You are not a medal, you shouldn't hang around my neck ... Go to the people ...". And kicked out.

Thus ends Gorky's Childhood. And in the middle there were several years of living in the house of his grandfather, a lean little old man who used to flog everyone who was weaker than him with rods on Saturdays. And only his grandchildren, who lived in the house, were inferior to the grandfather in strength, and he beat them backhand, putting them on the bench.

Alexei grew up, supported by his mother, and in the house hung a thick fog of enmity between everyone and everyone. The uncles fought among themselves, threatened the grandfather that they would kill him too, the cousins ​​got drunk, and their wives did not have time to give birth. Alyosha tried to make friends with the neighbor boys, but their parents and other relatives were in such a complicated relationship with his grandfather, grandmother and mother that the children could only communicate through a hole in the fence.

"At the bottom"

In 1902 Gorky turned to philosophical theme. He created a play about people who, by the will of fate, sank to the very bottom Russian society. Several characters, the inhabitants of the rooming house, the writer described with frightening authenticity. In the center of the story are homeless people on the verge of despair. Someone is thinking about suicide, someone else is hoping for the best. M. Gorky's work "At the Bottom" is a vivid picture of the social and everyday disorder in society, often turning into a tragedy.

The owner of the doss house, Mikhail Ivanovich Kostylev, lives and does not know that his life is constantly under threat. His wife Vasilisa persuades one of the guests - Vaska Pepel - to kill her husband. This is how it ends: the thief Vaska kills Kostylev and goes to prison. The remaining inhabitants of the rooming house continue to live in an atmosphere of drunken revelry and bloody fights.

After some time, a certain Luke appears, a projector and idler. He "floods", how much in vain, conducts lengthy conversations, promises everyone indiscriminately a happy future and complete prosperity. Then Luke disappears, and the unfortunate people he has given hope to are at a loss. There was a severe disappointment. A forty-year-old homeless man, nicknamed the Actor, commits suicide. Others are not far from it either.

Nochlezhka as a symbol of the dead end of Russian society late XIX century, an undisguised ulcer of the social structure.

Creativity of Maxim Gorky

• "Makar Chudra" - 1892. A story about love and tragedy.
• "Grandfather Arkhip and Lenka" - 1893. A beggar sick old man and with him his grandson Lenka, a teenager. First, the grandfather cannot stand the hardships and dies, then the grandson dies. Good people buried the unfortunate by the road.
• "Old Woman Izergil" - 1895. Several stories old woman about selfishness and selflessness.
• "Chelkash" - 1895. A story about "an inveterate drunkard and a clever, bold thief."
• "Spouses Orlov" - 1897. The story of the childless married couple determined to help sick people.
• "Konovalov" - 1898. The story of how prison cell hanged Alexander Ivanovich Konovalov, arrested for vagrancy.
• "Foma Gordeev" - 1899. The story of the events of the late XIX century, taking place in the Volga city. About a boy named Foma, who considered his father a fabulous robber.
• "Philistines" - 1901. A Tale of Petty-bourgeois Roots and a New Trend of the Times.
• "At the bottom" - 1902. A sharp topical play about homeless people who have lost all hope.
• "Mother" - 1906. A novel on the theme of revolutionary moods in society, about the events taking place within the limits of a manufactory, with the participation of members of the same family.
• "Vassa Zheleznova" - 1910. A play about a youthful 42-year-old woman, the owner of a steamship company, strong and powerful.
• "Childhood" - 1913. Tale of simple boy and his far from simple life.
• "Tales of Italy" - 1913. Cycle short stories about life in Italian cities.
• "Passion-face" - 1913. Short story about a deeply unhappy family.
• "In people" - 1914. A story about an errand boy in a fashionable shoe store.
• "My Universities" - 1923. Tale of Kazan University and students.
• "Blue Life" - 1924. A story about dreams and fantasies.
• "The Artamonov Case" - 1925. The story of the events taking place at the woven fabric factory.
• "Life of Klim Samgin" - 1936. Events of the early XX century - St. Petersburg, Moscow, barricades.

Each read story, story or novel leaves an impression of high literary skill. Characters carry a number of unique features and characteristics. An analysis of Gorky's works involves comprehensive characterizations of the characters, followed by a summary. The depth of the narrative is organically combined with difficult, but understandable literary devices. All the works of the great Russian writer Maxim Gorky are included in the Golden Fund of Russian Culture.