The biography of Maxim Gorky is set out in his works: "Childhood", "In People", "My Universities", or rather, the beginning of his life. Maxim Gorky is the pseudonym of the outstanding Russian writer, playwright Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov. In his creative biography there was another pseudonym: Yehudiel Chlamyda.
Talent-nugget has been awarded five times Nobel Prize on literature. Usually he is called a proletarian, revolutionary writer for his struggle against the autocracy. The biography of Maxim Gorky was not easy. This will be discussed in this article.
Maxim Gorky was born in 1868. His biography began in Nizhny Novgorod. His maternal grandfather, Kashirin, was a demoted officer due to his harsh treatment of his subordinates. After returning from exile, he became a tradesman, kept a dye workshop. His daughter married a carpenter and left with her husband for Astrakhan. There they had two children.
The eldest of them, Alyosha, fell ill with cholera at the age of four. Because the mother was pregnant with her second child, the father took care of the sick child and contracted the disease from him. Soon he died, and the boy went on the mend. From experiences mother has given birth before term. She decided to return with the children to parental home. On the way, her youngest child died.
They settled in her father's house in Nizhny Novgorod. Now there is a museum - Kashirin's house. The furnishings and furniture of those years have been preserved, even the rods with which grandfather flogged Alyosha. He was a tough, quick-tempered character and could whip anyone in anger, even a small grandson.
Maxim Gorky was educated at home. His mother taught him to read, and his grandfather taught him church reading and writing. Despite his temper, grandfather was a very pious man. He often attended church and took his grandson there, usually against his will, by force. So in little Alyosha was born negative attitude to religion, as well as the spirit of opposition, which then develops into a revolutionary direction in his works.
One day, the boy took revenge on his grandfather by cutting his favorite “Lives of the Saints” with scissors. For which, of course, he received, as it should.
For a short time, Maxim attended the parish school. But due to illness, he was forced to stop studying there. Maxim Gorky also studied at the Sloboda school for two years. Here, perhaps, and all his education. All his life he wrote with errors, which were later corrected by his wife, a proofreader by profession.
Alyosha's mother got married a second time and moved in with her husband, taking her son with her. But his relationship with his stepfather did not work out. One day Alyosha saw him beating his mother. The boy attacked his stepfather and beat him. After that, I had to run away to my grandfather, which, of course, was not the best option.
For a long time, the school of life for Alyosha was the street where he got the nickname "Bashlyk". For some time he stole firewood to heat the house, food, and looked for rags in the landfill. After his classmates complained to the teacher that it was impossible to sit next to him because of the bad smell emanating from him, Maxim Gorky was offended and did not come to the school anymore. He never received his secondary education.
Youth years
Soon, Alexei's mother fell ill with scabies and died. Left an orphan, Alyosha was forced to earn his living. Grandfather by that time was completely ruined. Gorky himself writes well about this time: “... my grandfather told me:
- Well, Lexey, you are not a medal, on my neck there is no place for you, but go to the people ...
And I went to the people. Thus ends the story "Childhood". The adult, independent period of the biography of Maxim Gorky begins. And he was then only eleven years old!
Alex worked for different places: in the shop as an assistant, as a cook, on a steamer as a crockery, in an icon-painting workshop as an apprentice.
When he was sixteen years old, he decided to try to enter Kazan University. But, to his great regret, he was refused. Firstly, the poor were not accepted there, and secondly, he did not even have a certificate.
Then Alexei went to work at the pier. There he met revolutionary-minded youth, began to visit their circles, and read Marxist literature.
When the young man worked in a bakery, he met the populist Derenkov. He sent income from the sale of products to support the popular movement.
In 1987 Alexei's grandmother and grandfather died. He was very fond of his grandmother, who often protected him from his grandfather's outbursts of anger, told him fairy tales. On her grave in Nizhny Novgorod there is a monument depicting her telling a fairy tale to her beloved grandson Alyosha.
The young man was very worried about her death. He developed depression, in a fit of which he attempted suicide. Alexei shot himself in the chest with a gun. But the watchman managed to call medical care. The unfortunate man was taken to the hospital, where he was urgently operated on. He survived, but the consequences of this injury will cause him a lifelong lung disease.
Later, in the hospital, Alexei made another suicide attempt. He drank poison from a medical vessel. They managed to pump it out again by washing the stomach. Here the psychiatrists had to examine the young man. Many were found mental disorders which were later rejected. For suicide attempts, Alexei was excommunicated from church fellowship for four years.
In the 88th year, Alexei, along with other revolutionaries, leaves for Krasnovidovo to conduct revolutionary propaganda. He joins Fedoseev's circle, for which he is arrested. From that moment on, the police began to follow him. At that time he was a laborer, worked as a watchman at the station, then moved to the Caspian Sea, where he began to work among other fishermen.
In the 89th year, he wrote a petition in verse with the aim of transferring him to Borisoglebsk. Then he worked at the Krutaya station. Here Alexei fell in love for the first time with the daughter of the head of the station. His feeling was so strong that he decided on a marriage proposal. He, of course, was denied. But he remembered the girl all his life.
Alexei was fascinated by the ideas of Leo Tolstoy. He even went to see him in Yasnaya Polyana. But the writer's wife ordered the walker to be driven away.
The beginning of a creative career
In 1989, Maxim Gorky met the writer Korolenko and ventured to show him his work. The beginning of the creative biography was very unsuccessful. The writer criticized his Song of the Old Oak. But the young man did not despair and continued to write.
This year, Peshkov goes to prison for participating in the revolutionary youth movement. Coming out of prison, he decides to go on a trip to Mother Rus'. He visited the Volga region, Crimea, the Caucasus, Ukraine (where he ended up in the hospital). I traveled, what is now called "hitchhiking" - on passing carts, walked a lot on foot, climbed into empty freight cars. To a young romantic liked this free life. The opportunity to see the world and feel the happiness of liberty - all this is easily the basis of the works of a novice writer.
Then the manuscript "Makara Chudra" was born. In Georgia, Peshkov met the revolutionary Kalyuzhny. He published this work in the newspaper. Then a pseudonym was born - Maxim Gorky. Maxim - in honor of his father, and Gorky - because bitterness was constantly present in his biography.
His works began to be published willingly in newspapers and magazines. Soon everyone was talking about a new talent. By that time, he had already settled down and got married.
Resurgence in fame
In 1998, two volumes of the writer's works were published. They brought him not only great fame, but also trouble. Gorky was arrested for his revolutionary views and imprisoned in a castle in the capital of Georgia.
After his release, the writer settled in St. Petersburg. There they were created the best works: "Song of the petrel", "At the bottom", "Petty bourgeois", "Three" and others. In 1902 he was elected an honorary academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. The emperor himself highly appreciated the writer's work, despite his struggle with the autocracy. His sharp, direct language, courage, liberty, genius of thought, present in his works, could not leave anyone indifferent. The talent was clear.
During that period, Gorky continued to take part in the revolutionary movement, attending circles, and distributing Marxist literature. It was as if the lessons of past arrests hadn't had any effect on him. Such courage simply pissed off the police.
Now famous writer already freely communicated with the idol of youth Leo Tolstoy. They talked for a long time Yasnaya Polyana. He also met other writers: Kuprin, Bunin and others.
In 1902, Gorky, together with his family, which already had two children, moved to Nizhny Novgorod. He rents a spacious house in the city center. Now there is a museum there. This apartment was home to creative people that time. It gathered and talked for a long time, exchanging new works, such famous people as: Chekhov, Tolstoy, Stanislavsky, Andreev, Bunin, Repin and, of course, his friend Fedor Chaliapin. He played the piano and sang musical pieces.
Here he finished "At the Bottom", wrote "Mother", "Man", "Summer Residents". He did well not only in prose, but also in poetry. But some of them, for example, "The Song of the Petrel", are written, as you know, in blank verse. A revolutionary, proud spirit, a call to struggle are present in almost all of his works.
Last years
In 1904, Gorky joined the RSDLP, and the following year he met Lenin. The writer is again arrested and imprisoned in Peter and Paul Fortress. But soon, under pressure from the public, he was released. In 1906, Gorky was forced to leave the country and became a political emigrant.
He lived first in the USA. Then, due to a serious illness that tormented him for a long time (tuberculosis), he settled in Italy. Everywhere he conducted revolutionary propaganda. Concerned authorities recommended that he settle on the island of Capri, where he lived for about seven years.
On the roof of the building of the editorial office of the newspaper "Izvestia"
Here he was visited by many Russian writers and revolutionaries. Once a week, a seminar for novice writers was even held in his villa.
Here Gorky wrote his Tales of Italy. In the 12th year, he traveled to Paris, where he spoke with Lenin.
In 1913, Gorky returned to Russia. He settled in St. Petersburg for five years. Relatives and acquaintances found refuge in his spacious house. Once a woman named Maria Budberg brought him papers to sign and fainted from hunger. Gorky fed her and left her in his house. She would later become his mistress.
With writer Romain Rolland
Gorky, who led an active revolutionary activity, oddly enough, reacted negatively to the October coup in the country. He was struck by the cruelty of the revolution, interceded for the arrested whites. After the assassination attempt on Lenin, Gorky sent him a sympathetic telegram.
In the 21st year, Gorky again leaves his homeland. According to one version, the reason for this was the deterioration of health, according to another, disagreement with the policy in the country.
In 1928, the writer was invited to the USSR. For five weeks he traveled around the country, then returned back to Italy. And in the 33rd year he came to his homeland, where he lived until his death.
IN last years life, he created the book "The Life of Klim Samgin", striking in its philosophy of life.
In 1934, Gorky held the First Congress of the Writers' Union of the USSR.
The last years he lived in the Crimea. In 1936, Gorky visited his sick grandchildren in Moscow. Apparently, he got infected from them or caught a cold along the way. But his health deteriorated sharply. The writer fell ill, it was clear that he would not recover.
The dying Gorky was visited by Stalin. The writer died on June 18. At autopsy, it turned out that his lungs were in a terrible state.
The coffin of the writer was carried by Molotov and Stalin. Both wives of Gorky followed the coffin. The city of Nizhny Novgorod, where the writer was born, bore his name from 1932 until 1990.
Personal life
Gorky always possessed an enviable masculine strength, according to surviving information, despite his chronic illness.
The first unofficial marriage of the writer was with the midwife Olga Kamenskaya. Her mother, also a midwife, delivered Peshkov's mother. It seemed interesting to him that his mother-in-law helped him to be born. But with Olga they did not live long. Gorky left her after she fell asleep while the author was reading The Old Woman Izergil.
In 1996, Alexey got married to Ekaterina Volzhina. She was the only one official wife writer. They had two children: Ekaterina and Maxim. Katya soon died. The son died two years before Gorky.
In 1903, he became friends with the actress Maria Andreeva, who left her husband and two children for him. He lived with her until her death. Moreover, there was no divorce from Gorky's first wife.
Maxim Gorky, Alexey Maksimovich Gorky. Real name Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov. Born March 16 (28), 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod, died June 18, 1936 in Gorki, Moscow Region. Russian Soviet writer literary critic and publicist, ancestor Soviet literature, an active participant in the revolutionary movement, public figure. One of the most popular authors turn of XIX and XX centuries.
Nickname Aleksey Maksimovich invented himself. Subsequently, he said: "Do not write to me in literature - Peshkov ...".
This alias- frenonym *. The pseudonym of Alexei Maksimovich characterizes not only his fate, but also the direction of his work. So, the life of young Alyosha Peshkov "in people" was bitter, and he wrote about the bitter fate of the destitute.
With his literary name, Alexei made the name of his father, whom he loved very much and lost early. By the same name he named his son, whom he also lost very early. There is a version that the name Maxim was borrowed from the criminal who killed Gorky's great-grandfather, Maxim Bashlyk, about whom Alyosha liked to talk about in childhood. It is also worth noting that the stepfather of A. Peshkov had the surname Maksimov. Therefore, be that as it may, with the name Maxim, Gorky had a lot in his life and the choice of such a pseudonym is not accidental.
This deeply symbolic signature first appeared under the story "Makar Chudra" in the Tiflis newspaper "Kavkaz" on September 12, 1892. The 24-year-old author then served as a clerk in railway workshops. It was literary debut Alexey Peshkov. Subsequently, he used a number of pseudonyms, but world fame brought the first one.
M. Gorky under the notes in Samarskaya Gazeta and Nizhny Novgorod Leaflet (1896) he put Pacatus (peaceful), and in the collection Red Panorama (1928) he signed Unicus (the only one). In Samarskaya Gazeta, the feuilletons Samara in All Relationships, with the subtitle Letters from a Knight-Errant, were signed by Don Quixote (1896). Bitter in captions to feuilletons, he often used the incogniton name N. Kh., which should have read: “Someone X”.
A number of notes by Alexei Maksimovich in the Samarskaya Gazeta (1895-1896), as well as the story "The Nightingale" were signed by Dvaga, i.e. two "G" - Gorky and Gusev (a journalist who gave materials for notes).
It happened that Bitter acted under the name of his character own work. Once he used as an alias the name of a self-created literary hero. One of his feuilletons in "The Eccentric" (1928) was signed by Samokritik Slovotekov. This surname was borne by the character of Gorky's satirical play "Hard worker Slovotekov", written by him in 1920 for the Theater folk comedy. About this alias Bitter told the editors of Eccentric the following: “I can hardly find the time to personally contribute to your journal, but allow me to recommend to you my friend, Self-criticist Kirillovich Slovotekov. Self-critic - real name his, given by parents at birth. He is quite an old man, but a “beginner”. Non-partisan. Attitude towards alcohol is moderate.
To make readers laugh Bitter came up with comic pseudonyms, choosing old names that had long been out of use, combined with an intricate surname. In his youth, in the Samara and Saratov newspapers of the late 90s, Yehudiel Khlamida was signed. Under one of the letters to his 15-year-old son is: Your father Polikarp Unesibozhenozhkin. On the pages of his home hand-written journal Sorrento Pravda (1924), he signed Metranpage Goryachkin, Disabled Muses, Osip Tikhovoyev, Aristid Balyk.
IN literary biography Gorky there were also cases of plagiarism, or rather plagiarism "for the good", i.e. desire already popular writer help your novice colleague, without any selfish motives whatsoever. In 1918, a signed name was published in Novaya Zhizn. M. Gorky story "Lanpochka". But it would be in vain to look for this story in Gorky's collected works. In 1933, he told the editors of Siberian Lights: “The story “Lanpochka”, about which you ask, was not written by me, but by my son Maxim, who was in Siberia in 1918 and saw this light bulb in action.”
However, A. Peshkov was not the first Russian writer who invented for himself pseudonym Gorky: according to the testimony of the Russian writer and poet N.D. Teleshov, the same was one of the early pseudonyms of the poet I.A. Belousov.
Later derivatives of the pseudonym began to appear. Maxim Leonov, father Soviet writer Leonida Leonova, poet and journalist, a man of difficult fate, signed Maxim Goremyka. In honor of Gorky The outstanding Belarusian poet Maxim Tank (autonym Yevgeny Skurko) also named himself.
It's interesting that when pseudonym Maxim Gorky was supposed to be used with a patronymic, then they used the real name and patronymic - Alexei Maksimovich.
Short biography:
Orphaned early, Bitter 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.
At the age of 16, he tried to enter Kazan University. He got acquainted with Marxist literature and propaganda work. For connection with the circle of N. E. Fedoseev in 1888 he was arrested. M. Gorky was under constant police surveillance. Worked for railway. In the spring of 1891 he set off to wander around the country and reached the Caucasus. For five and a half years of travel he described social problems in society. At this time, the stories “Chelkash”, “Old Woman Izergil”, “ former people"," Spouses Orlova "and others.
In 1898, the book "Essays and Stories" was published in St. Petersburg, which had a sensational success. In 1899 a poem appeared in prose "Twenty-six and one" and the first big story"Foma Gordeev". Glory A.M. Gorky grew with incredible speed and soon caught up with the popularity of A.P. Chekhov and L.N. Tolstoy.
public position Gorky was radical. He worked closely with revolutionary organizations. In 1905 he joined the ranks of the RSDLP and met V. I. Lenin. Gorky provided serious financial support for the revolution of 1905-1907. After the revolution due to tuberculosis Bitter settled in Italy on the island of Capri, where he lived for 7 years. There Bitter writes "Confession" (1908), where his philosophical differences with Lenin were clearly identified.
After returning to Russia in 1913 Bitter writes autobiographical novels "Childhood", "In People", a cycle of stories "In Rus'" (1912-17). He edits the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda, the art department of the Bolshevik magazine Enlightenment, publishes the first collection of proletarian writers.
Bitter was enthusiastic about February Revolution 1917, but he had an ambiguous attitude towards Oktyabrskaya. In 1917-1919 M. Gorky conducts a great social and political work, criticizes the "methods" of the Bolsheviks, condemns their attitude towards the old intelligentsia, saves many of its representatives from the repressions of the Bolsheviks and hunger.
Autumn 1921 Bitter again went abroad, in 1922 he wrote the story "My Universities", which became the last part of his autobiographical trilogy. In 1925, he published the novel "The Artamonov Case", which essentially became the history of the development of capitalism in Russia.
In 1928, at the invitation of the Soviet government and personally I. Stalin, makes a trip around the country, during which Gorky show the achievements of the USSR, which are reflected in the series of essays "On the Soviet Union".
In 1932 Bitter returns to the USSR, where he immediately becomes the "head" of Soviet literature. M. Gorky creates new magazines, a series of books - "Life wonderful people", "Story civil war"," History of factories and factories "," Library of the poet ". is the initiator of the creation and the first chairman of the board of the Writers' Union of the USSR. Member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.
M. Gorky died June 18, 1936. There is an unconfirmed version that he was poisoned on the orders of Trotsky when Stalin was preparing the Moscow show trials, in which many of Gorky's old friends were to be accused. After his death, he was cremated and his ashes were placed in an urn in Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow. Before cremation brain M. Gorky was removed and taken to the Moscow Brain Institute for further study.
Name Maxim Gorky named settlements, streets, lanes and embankments, squares and parks, railway and metro stations, many theaters and libraries, film studios, universities and institutes. Planes and ships, plants and factories bore his name. Almost every city Gorky a monument was erected (there are four of them in Nizhny Novgorod alone). City Bitter- the name of Nizhny Novgorod from 1932 to 1990. Name Gorky given to the reservoir on the Volga River.
Born on March 16 (28), 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod in a poor carpenter's family. The real name of Maxim Gorky is Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov. His parents died early, and little Alexei stayed with his grandfather. His grandmother became a mentor in literature, who led her grandson into the world. folk poetry. He wrote about her briefly, but with great tenderness: “In those years, I was filled with grandmother's poems, like a beehive with honey; I think I was thinking in the forms of her poems.
Gorky's childhood passed in harsh, difficult conditions. WITH early years future writer I was forced to do part-time work, earning a living with whatever I had to.
Education and the beginning of literary activity
In Gorky's life, only two years were devoted to studying at the Nizhny Novgorod School. Then, due to poverty, he went to work, but was constantly self-taught. 1887 was one of the most difficult years in Gorky's biography. Because of the troubles that had piled up, he tried to commit suicide, however, he survived.
Traveling around the country, Gorky promoted the revolution, for which he was taken under police surveillance, and then arrested for the first time in 1888.
Gorky's first printed story, Makar Chudra, was published in 1892. Then, published in 1898, the essays in two volumes "Essays and Stories" brought fame to the writer.
In 1900-1901 he wrote the novel "Three", met Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy.
In 1902 he was awarded the title of member Imperial Academy Sciences, however, by order of Nicholas II, it was soon declared invalid.
TO famous works Gorky include: the story "Old Woman Izergil" (1895), the plays "Petty Bourgeois" (1901) and "At the Bottom" (1902), the stories "Childhood" (1913-1914) and "In People" (1915-1916), the novel " The life of Klim Samgin (1925-1936), which the author never finished, as well as many cycles of stories.
Gorky also wrote fairy tales for children. Among them: "The Tale of Ivanushka the Fool", "Sparrow", "Samovar", "Tales of Italy" and others. Remembering your difficult childhood, Gorky paid special attention to children, organized holidays for children from poor families, published a children's magazine.
Emigration, return home
In 1906, in the biography of Maxim Gorky, he moved to the USA, then to Italy, where he lived until 1913. Even there, Gorky's work defended the revolution. Returning to Russia, he stops in St. Petersburg. Here Gorky works in publishing houses, deals with social activities. In 1921, due to an aggravated illness, at the insistence of Vladimir Lenin, and disagreements with the authorities, he again went abroad. The writer finally returned to the USSR in October 1932.
Final years and death
At home, he continues to actively engage in writing, publishes newspapers and magazines.
Maxim Gorky died on June 18, 1936 in the village of Gorki (Moscow Region) mysterious circumstances. There were rumors that the cause of his death was poisoning, and many blamed Stalin for this. However, this version has not been confirmed.
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If you ask: "What do you think about the work of Alexei Gorky?", then few people will be able to answer this question. And not because these people do not read, but because not everyone knows and remembers that this is the well-known writer Maxim Gorky. And if you decide to complicate the task even more, then ask about the works of Alexei Peshkov. Here, only a few will remember exactly what it is real name Alexei Gorky. It was not just a writer, but also an active one. As you already understood, we will talk about a truly popular writer - Maxim Gorky.
Childhood and youth
The years of life of Gorky (Peshkov) Alexei Maksimovich - 1868-1936. They fell on an important historical era. The biography of Alexei Gorky is rich in events, starting from his very childhood. The native city of the writer is Nizhny Novgorod. His father, who worked as a manager of a steamship company, died when the boy was only 3 years old. After the death of her husband, Alyosha's mother remarried. She passed away when he was 11 years old. The grandfather was engaged in the further education of little Alexei.
Being an 11-year-old boy, the future writer already "went among people" - he earned his own bread. Whoever he worked: he was a baker, worked as a delivery boy in a store, a dishwasher in a buffet. Unlike the stern grandfather, the grandmother was a kind and believing woman and an excellent storyteller. It was she who instilled in Maxim Gorky a love of reading.
In 1887, the writer will attempt to commit suicide, which he will associate with the difficult feelings caused by the news of his grandmother's death. Fortunately, he survived - the bullet did not hit the heart, but damaged the lungs, which caused problems with the respiratory system.
The life of the future writer was not easy, and he, unable to stand it, ran away from home. The boy wandered a lot around the country, saw the whole truth of life, but miraculously was able to maintain faith in the ideal Man. He will describe his childhood years, life in his grandfather's house in "Childhood" - the first part of his autobiographical trilogy.
In 1884, Alexei Gorky tried to enter Kazan University, but because of his financial position finds out it's impossible. During this period, the future writer begins to gravitate towards romantic philosophy, according to which, an ideal person doesn't look like a real person. Then he became acquainted with Marxist theory and became a supporter of new ideas.
The emergence of a pseudonym
In 1888, the writer was arrested for a short period of time for his connection with the Marxist circle of N. Fedoseev. In 1891, he decided to start traveling around Russia and eventually managed to reach the Caucasus. Alexei Maksimovich was constantly engaged in self-education, saving up and expanding his knowledge in various fields. He agreed to any job and carefully kept all his impressions, they later appeared in his very first stories. Subsequently, he called this period "My Universities".
In 1892, Gorky returned to his native places and took his first steps in the literary field as a writer in several provincial publications. For the first time his pseudonym "Gorky" appeared in the same year in the newspaper "Tiflis", in which his story "Makar Chudra" was published.
The pseudonym was not chosen by chance: he hinted at the "bitter" Russian life and that the writer would write only the truth, no matter how bitter it was. Maxim Gorky saw life common people and could not, with his temperament, fail to notice the injustice that was on the part of the rich estates.
Early creativity and success
Alexey Gorky was actively engaged in propaganda, for which he was under the constant control of the police. With the help of V. Korolenko in 1895, his story "Chelkash" was published in the largest Russian magazine. Following were printed "Old Woman Izergil", "The Song of the Falcon", They were not special from a literary point of view, but they successfully coincided with the new political views.
In 1898, his collection Essays and Stories was published, which was an extraordinary success, and Maxim Gorky received all-Russian recognition. Although his stories were not highly artistic, they depicted the life of the common people, starting from their very bottom, which brought Alexei Peshkov recognition as the only writer who writes about the lower class. At that time, he was no less popular than L. N. Tolstoy and A. P. Chekhov.
In the period from 1904 to 1907, the plays "Petty Bourgeoises", "At the Bottom", "Children of the Sun", "Summer Residents" were written. His most early works did not have any social orientation, but the characters had their own types and special treatment to life, which readers liked very much.
revolutionary activity
The writer Alexei Gorky was an ardent supporter of Marxist social democracy and in 1901 wrote "The Song of the Petrel", which called for revolution. For open propaganda of revolutionary actions, he was arrested and expelled from Nizhny Novgorod. In 1902, Gorky met Lenin, in the same year his election as a member of the Imperial Academy in the category of fine literature was canceled.
The writer was also an excellent organizer: from 1901 he was the head of the Znanie publishing house, which published best writers of that period. He supported the revolutionary movement not only spiritually, but also materially. The writer's apartment was used as a headquarters for revolutionaries before important events. Lenin even spoke at his apartment in St. Petersburg. After that, in 1905, Maxim Gorky, for fear of arrest, decided to leave Russia for a while.
Life abroad
Alexei Gorky went to Finland and from there - to Western Europe and the United States, where he raised funds for the struggle of the Bolsheviks. At the very beginning, he was met there friendly: the writer made acquaintance with Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain. Published in America famous novel"Mother". However, later the Americans began to resent his political actions.
In the period from 1906 to 1907, Gorky lived on the island of Capri, from where he continued to support the Bolsheviks. At the same time, he creates a special theory of "god-building". The point was that moral and cultural values far more important than political ones. This theory formed the basis of the novel "Confessions". Although Lenin rejected these beliefs, the writer continued to adhere to them.
Return to Russia
In 1913, Alexei Maksimovich returned to his homeland. During the First World War, he lost faith in the power of Man. In 1917, his relations with the revolutionaries worsened, he became disillusioned with the leaders of the revolution.
Gorky understands that all his attempts to save the intelligentsia do not meet with a response from the Bolsheviks. But later, in 1918, he recognizes his beliefs as erroneous and returns to the Bolsheviks. In 1921, despite a personal meeting with Lenin, he failed to save his friend, the poet Nikolai Gumilyov, from execution. After that, he leaves Bolshevik Russia.
Repeated emigration
In connection with the intensification of bouts of tuberculosis and according to Lenin, Alexei Maksimovich leaves Russia for Italy, in the city of Sorrento. There he completes his autobiographical trilogy. The author was in exile until 1928, but continues to maintain contacts with the Soviet Union.
He doesn't leave writing activity, but writes already in accordance with new literary trends. Far from the Motherland, he wrote the novel "The Artamonov Case", stories. An extensive work "The Life of Klim Samgin" was begun, which the writer did not have time to finish. In connection with the death of Lenin, Gorky writes a book of memoirs about the leader.
Return to the Motherland and the last years of life
Alexei Gorky visited several times Soviet Union but did not stay there. In 1928, during a trip around the country, he was shown the "front" side of life. The delighted writer wrote essays about the Soviet Union.
In 1931, at the personal invitation of Stalin, he returned to the USSR forever. Alexey Maksimovich continues to write, but in his works he praises the image of Stalin and the entire leadership, without mentioning the numerous repressions. Of course, this state of affairs did not suit the writer, but at that time statements that contradicted the authorities were not tolerated.
In 1934, Gorky's son dies, and on June 18, 1936, Maxim Gorky dies under unclear circumstances. IN last way folk writer accompanied by the entire leadership of the country. The urn with his ashes was buried in the Kremlin wall.
Features of the work of Maxim Gorky
His work is unique in that it was during the period of the collapse of capitalism that he was able to very clearly convey the state of society through the description ordinary people. After all, no one before him described with such detail the life of the lower strata of society. It was this undisguised truth of the life of the working class that won him the love of the people.
His faith in man can be traced in his early works, he believed that a person can make a revolution with the help of his spiritual life. Maxim Gorky managed to combine the bitter truth with faith in moral values. And it was this combination that made his works special, the characters memorable, and made Gorky himself a writer of workers.
Born in Nizhny Novgorod. The son of the manager of the shipping company Maxim Savvatievich Peshkov and Varvara Vasilievna, nee Kashirina. At the age of seven, he was left an orphan and lived with his grandfather, once a rich dyer, who had gone bankrupt by that time.
Alexei Peshkov had to earn his living from childhood, which prompted the writer to take on the pseudonym Gorky in the future. IN early childhood served as an errand in a shoe store, then as an apprentice draftsman. Unable to bear the humiliation, he ran away from home. He worked as a cook on the Volga steamer. At the age of 15, he came to Kazan with the intention of getting an education, but, having no material support, he could not fulfill his intention.
In Kazan, I learned about life in slums and rooming houses. Driven to despair, failed attempt suicide. From Kazan he moved to Tsaritsyn, worked as a watchman on the railway. Then he returned to Nizhny Novgorod, where he became a scribe at the barrister M.A. Lapin, who did a lot for the young Peshkov.
Unable to stay in one place, he went on foot to the south of Russia, where he tried himself in the Caspian fisheries, and in the construction of a pier, and other works.
In 1892, Gorky's story "Makar Chudra" was first published. The following year, he returned to Nizhny Novgorod, where he met with the writer V.G. Korolenko, who accepted great participation in the fate of an aspiring writer.
In 1898 A.M. Gorky was already famous writer. His books sold in thousands of copies, and fame spread beyond the borders of Russia. Gorky is the author of numerous stories, the novels "Foma Gordeev", "Mother", "The Artamonov Case", etc., the plays "Enemies", "Petty Bourgeois", "At the Bottom", "Summer Residents", "Vassa Zheleznova", the epic novel " Life of Klim Samgin.
Since 1901, the writer began to openly express sympathy revolutionary movement which provoked a backlash from the government. Since that time, Gorky has been repeatedly arrested and persecuted. In 1906 he went abroad to Europe and America.
After the completion of the October Revolution of 1917, Gorky became the initiator of the creation and the first chairman of the Writers' Union of the USSR. He organizes a publishing house world literature”, where many writers of that time got the opportunity to work, thereby escaping from hunger. He also has the merit of saving from arrest, the death of representatives of the intelligentsia. Often during these years Gorky was last hope persecuted by the new government.
In 1921, the writer's tuberculosis worsened, and he left for treatment in Germany and the Czech Republic. From 1924 he lived in Italy. In 1928, 1931, Gorky traveled around Russia, including visiting the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp. In 1932, Gorky was practically forced to return to Russia.
The last years of the life of a seriously ill writer were, on the one hand, full of boundless praise - even during the life of Gorky, his hometown Nizhny Novgorod was named after him - on the other hand, the writer lived in practical isolation under constant supervision.
Alexei Maksimovich was married many times. First time on Ekaterina Pavlovna Volzhina. From this marriage he had a daughter, Catherine, who died in infancy, and a son, Maxim Alekseevich Peshkov, an amateur artist. Gorky's son died unexpectedly in 1934, which gave rise to speculation about his violent death. The death of Gorky himself two years later also aroused similar suspicions.
The second time he was married in a civil marriage to the actress, revolutionary Maria Fedorovna Andreeva. In fact, the third wife in the last years of the writer's life was a woman with a stormy biography, Maria Ignatievna Budberg.
He died not far from Moscow in Gorki, in the same house where V.I. Lenin. The ashes are in the Kremlin wall on Red Square. The writer's brain was sent to the Moscow Brain Institute for study.
