Maxim Gorky (born March 28, 1868) is an honored Russian writer, prose writer and playwright. For those who don’t know, Maxim Gorky’s real name is Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov. Author of many works with revolutionary themes.
His life deserves special attention, as it is a worthy example for young people. Despite many difficulties and hardships, he was able to glorify his name and gain recognition not only in Russia, but also abroad.
Chronological table of the biography of Maxim Gorky
Briefly about childhood
This outstanding man was born in Nizhny Novgorod, in an ordinary working-class family. His father was a cabinetmaker. At a young age, he was left an orphan and raised by his grandfather, who had a harsh and despotic disposition. Since childhood, he felt the need and was forced to quit his studies and earn his own living. But this did not stop him from developing and learning independently.
The only outlet for him was his grandmother’s soulful poems. It was she who contributed to the literary talent of her grandson. In his notes, the writer very rarely mentions his grandmother, but these words are filled with warmth and tenderness.
At the age of 11, he decided to leave his grandfather’s house and go free. Wherever he worked, trying to somehow feed himself. He worked as an errand boy in a shoe store, as a helper for a draftsman, and as a cook on a steamship. When he turned 15, he took the risk of entering Kazan University. This attempt was unsuccessful, because young man there was no financial support.
Kazan did not greet him very friendly. There he experienced life in its lowest manifestations. He ate whatever he could, lived in slums, and interacted with the lower strata of society. Because of this, he decided to commit suicide.
His next destination was Tsaritsyn. He worked there for some time on railway. Then he contracted as a scribe for the attorney at law M. A. Lapin. This man did not play last role in his destiny.
Maxim’s restless disposition did not allow him to sit in one place and he decided to go on a trip to the south of Russia. Having tried many different professions, he added to his knowledge base. In his wanderings on foot, he never ceased to propagate revolutionary ideas. This is what led to his arrest in 1888.
The beginning of literary creativity
The first story of M. Gorky"Makar Chudra" was published in 1892. Returning to his hometown, he met the writer V.G. Korolenko, who made a significant contribution to the fate of the writer.
Fame came to him in 1898, after the publication of the work “Essays and Stories.” His creations began to enjoy popularity not only in Russia, but also abroad. The list of Gorky's novels includes the following:
- "Mother",
- "The Artamonov Case"
- "Foma Gordeev"
- "Three" and others.
The most famous were the story “Old Woman Izergil”, the plays “At the Lower Depths”, “Bourgeois”, “Enemies” and others.
Since 1901 M. Gorky was constantly at gunpoint police because he was conducting propaganda revolutionary movement. In 1906 he was forced to leave his homeland and went to Europe and the USA. The main thing is that even there he did not stop defending the revolution, expressing this in his work. He lived on the island of Capri for about seven years, where he did not stop writing. The following works appeared there:
- "Confession";
- “The life of an unnecessary person”;
- "Tales of Italy."
At the same time, he underwent treatment. During the same period of time, the novel “Mother” appeared.
After the October riot in 1917, Maxim Gorky became the first chairman of the Union of Writers of the USSR. Under his protection were everyone who was persecuted by the new government.
Recent years
In 1921, the writer health has deteriorated sharply, tuberculosis worsened. He had to go abroad for treatment. There is information that Lenin strongly insisted on this departure. Perhaps this was due to the growing ideological contradictions in the writer’s opposition. At first he lived in Germany, from there he moved to the Czech Republic and Italy.
In 1928, Stalin himself invited M. Gorky to celebrate his 60th birthday. A grand reception was held in honor of this event. It was transported to many regions Soviet Union, demonstrating achievements Soviet people. In 1932, the writer returned to Russia for good.
Despite a serious and debilitating illness, Alexey Maksimovich tirelessly continues to work in newspapers and magazines. At the same time, he was intensely busy with the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin,” which he never completed.
There was also no stability in the personal life of Maxim Gorky. He was married several times. The first marriage took place with Ekaterina Pavlovna Volzhina. They had a daughter who died in infancy. The second child was a son, Maxim Peshkov. Was a free artist. He died shortly before the death of his father. This was a surprise to everyone, which gave rise to many rumors about the possibility violent death.
For the second time, Gorky married the actress and associate of the revolutionary movement, Maria Andreeva. The last woman in his life was Maria Ignatievna Burdberg. This person had a dubious reputation among the people because of his turbulent life.
Interesting fact it is believed that after the writer's death, they decided to study his brain in more detail. Scientists from the Moscow Brain Institute took up this task.
Maxim Gorky short biography
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Years of life: from 03/28/1868 to 06/18/1936
Russian writer, playwright, public figure. One of the most popular authors turn of the XIX century and XX centuries.
Maxim Gorky (real name - Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov) was born (16) March 28, 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod. Father, Maxim Savvatievich Peshkov (1840-71) - the son of a soldier, demoted from the officers, a cabinetmaker. IN recent years worked as a manager of a shipping office, died of cholera. Mother, Varvara Vasilievna Kashirina (1842-79) - from a bourgeois family; Having become a widow at an early age, she remarried and died of consumption. The writer spent his childhood in the house of his grandfather Vasily Vasilyevich Kashirin, who in his youth was a barracks worker, then became rich, became the owner of a dyeing establishment, and went bankrupt in his old age. The grandfather taught the boy from church books, grandmother Akulina Ivanovna introduced her grandson to folk songs and fairy tales, but most importantly, she replaced the mother, “saturating,” in Gorky’s own words, “with strong strength for a difficult life.”
Gorky did not receive a real education, graduating only from a vocational school. His thirst for knowledge was quenched independently; he grew up “self-taught.” Hard work (a boatman on a ship, a “boy” in a store, a student in an icon-painting workshop, a foreman at fair buildings, etc.) and early hardships taught him a good knowledge of life and inspired dreams of reorganizing the world. Participated in illegal populist circles. After his arrest in 1889, he was under police surveillance.
in the world great literature turned out to be with the help of V.G. Korolenko. In 1892, Maxim Gorky published his first story, “Makar Chudra,” and in 1899-1900 he met L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov, became close to the Moscow Art Theater, which staged his plays “The Bourgeois” and “At the Lower Depths”.
The next period of Gorky's life is associated with revolutionary activity. He joined the Bolshevik Party, later, however, disagreeing with it on the issue of the timeliness of the socialist revolution in Russia. He took part in the organization of the first Bolshevik legal newspaper " New life" During the December armed uprising of 1905 in Moscow, he supplied workers' squads with weapons and money.
In 1906, on behalf of the party, Maxim Gorky illegally traveled to America, where he campaigned in support of the revolution in Russia. Among the Americans who ensured Gorky's reception in the United States was Mark Twain.
Upon returning to Russia, he wrote the play "Enemies" and the novel "Mother" (1906). In the same year, Gorky travels to Italy, to Capri, where he lives until 1913, giving all his strength literary creativity. During these years, the plays “The Last” (1908), “Vassa Zheleznova” (1910), the stories “Summer”, “Okurov Town” (1909), and the novel “The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin” (1910 - 11) were written.
Taking advantage of the amnesty, he returned to St. Petersburg in 1913 and collaborated with the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda. In 1915 he founded the magazine "Letopis", headed the literary department of the magazine, uniting around him such writers as Shishkov, Prishvin, Trenev, Gladkov and others.
Gorky greeted the February Revolution of 1917 with enthusiasm. He was a member of the “Special Meeting on Arts” and was the chairman of the Commission on Arts under the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council of the RSD. After the revolution, Gorky participated in the publication of the newspaper Novaya Zhizn, which was the organ of the Social Democrats, where he published articles under common name "Untimely thoughts".
In the fall of 1921, due to an exacerbation of the tuberculosis process, he went abroad for treatment. At first he lived in resorts in Germany and Czechoslovakia, then moved to Italy in Sorrento. He continues to work a lot: he completes the trilogy - "My Universities" ("Childhood" and "In People" were published in 1913 - 16), writes the novel "The Artamonov Case" (1925). Begins work on the book “The Life of Klim Samgin,” which he continued to write until the end of his life. In 1931 Gorky returned to his homeland. In the 1930s he again turned to drama: “Egor Bulychev and others” (1932), “Dostigaev and others” (1933).
Summing up his acquaintance and communication with the great people of his time, Gorky writes literary portraits L. Tolstoy, A. Chekhov, V. Korolenko, essay "V.I. Lenin". In 1934, through the efforts of M. Gorky, the 1st All-Union Congress Soviet writers.
On May 11, 1934, Gorky’s son, Maxim Peshkov, unexpectedly dies. The writer himself died on June 18, 1936 in the town of Gorki, near Moscow, having outlived his son by a little more than two years. After his death, he was cremated and his ashes were placed in an urn in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow. Before cremation, A. M. Gorky's brain was removed and taken to the Moscow Brain Institute for further study. There is still a lot of uncertainty around his death, like the death of his son Maxim.
Gorky began as a provincial newspaperman (published under the name Yehudiel Chlamida). Pseudonym M. Gorky (signed letters and documents real name- A. Peshkov) appeared in 1892 in the Tiflis newspaper “Caucasus”, where the first story “Makar Chudra” was published.
The circumstances of the death of Gorky and his son are considered “suspicious” by many. There were rumors about poisoning, which, however, were not confirmed. According to the interrogations of Genrikh Yagoda (one of the main leaders of the state security agencies), Maxim Gorky was killed on Trotsky's orders, and the murder of Gorky's son, Maxim Peshkov, was his personal initiative. Some publications blame Stalin for Gorky's death.
Bibliography
Stories
1908 - “The Life of an Useless Man.”
1908 - “Confession”
1909 - "", "".
1913-1914- " "
1915-1916- " "
1923 - ""
Stories, essays
1892 - “Makar Chudra”
1895 - “Chelkash”, “Old Woman Izergil”.
1897 - " Former people", "The Orlov Spouses", "Malva", "Konovalov".
1898 - “Essays and Stories” (collection)
1899 - “Song of the Falcon” (prose poem), “Twenty-six and one”
1901 - “Song of the Petrel” (prose poem)
1903 - “Man” (prose poem)
1913 - “Egor Bulychov and others (1953)
Egor Bulychov and others (1971)
Life of the Baron (1917) - based on the play "At the Lower Depths"
The Life of Klim Samgin (TV series, 1986)
The Life of Klim Samgin (film, 1986)
The Well (2003) - based on the story by A.M. Gorky "Gubin"
Summer People (1995) - based on the play "Summer Residents"
Mallow (1956) - based on the stories
Mother (1926)
Mother (1955)
Mother (1990)
Bourgeois (1971)
My Universities (1939)
At the Bottom (1952)
At the Bottom (1957)
At the Bottom (1972)
Washed in Blood (1917) - based on M. Gorky’s story “Konovalov”
Premature Man (1971) - based on the play “Yakov Bogomolov” by Maxim Gorky
Across Rus' (1968) - based on early stories
For the sake of boredom (1967)
Tabor goes to heaven (1975)
Three (1918)
Foma Gordeev (1959)
Real name Peshkov Alexey Maksimovich (1868), prose writer, playwright, publicist.
Born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a cabinetmaker, after the death of his father he lived in the family of his grandfather V. Kashirin, the owner of a dyeing establishment.
At the age of eleven, having become an orphan, he began to work, having replaced many “owners”: a messenger at a shoe store, a cook on ships, a draftsman, etc. Only reading books saved him from the despair of a hopeless life.
In 1884 he came to Kazan to fulfill his dream of studying at the university, but very soon he realized the unreality of such a plan. Started working. Gorky would later write: “I did not expect outside help and did not hope for a happy occasion... I realized very early that a person is created by his resistance environment". At the age of 16, he already knew a lot about life, but the four years spent in Kazan shaped his personality and determined his path. He began to conduct propaganda work among workers and peasants (with the populist M. Romas in the village of Krasnovidovo). Since 1888 Gorky's wanderings around Russia began in order to get to know it better and become more familiar with the life of the people.
Gorky walked through the Don steppes, across Ukraine, to the Danube, from there through the Crimea and North Caucasus to Tiflis, where he spent a year working as a hammer hammer, then as a clerk in railway workshops, communicating with revolutionary figures and participating in illegal circles. At this time, he wrote his first story, “Makar Chudra,” published in a Tiflis newspaper, and the poem “The Girl and Death” (published in 1917).
From 1892, returning to Nizhny Novgorod, got busy literary work, published in Volga newspapers. Since 1895, Gorky's stories have appeared in metropolitan magazines; in Samara Gazeta he became known as a feuilletonist, speaking under the pseudonym Yegudiel Khlamida. In 1898, Gorky's "Essays and Stories" were published, making him widely known in Russia. Works hard and grows quickly great artist, an innovator who can lead. His romantic stories called to fight, fostered heroic optimism (“Old Woman Izergil”, “Song of the Falcon”, “Song of the Petrel”).
In 1899, the novel Foma Gordeev was published, which promoted Gorky to the ranks of world-class writers. In the fall of this year he came to St. Petersburg, where he met Mikhailovsky and Veresaev, Repin; later in Moscow S.L. Tolstoy, L. Andreev, A. Chekhov, I. Bunin, A. Kuprin and other writers. He became close to revolutionary circles and was exiled to Arzamas for writing a proclamation calling for the overthrow of the tsarist government in connection with the dispersal of student demonstrations.
In 1901 1902 he wrote his first plays “Philistines” and “At the Lower Depths”, staged on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. In 1904 the plays "Summer Residents", "Children of the Sun", "Barbarians".
Gorky took an active part in the revolutionary events of 1905 and was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress for anti-tsarist proclamations. The protest of the Russian and world community forced the government to release the writer. For helping with money and weapons during the Moscow December armed uprising, Gorky was threatened with reprisals from the official authorities, so it was decided to send him abroad. At the beginning of 1906 he arrived in America, where he stayed until the fall. The pamphlets “My Interviews” and the essays “In America” were written here.
Upon returning to Russia, he created the play “Enemies” and the novel “Mother” (1906). In the same year, Gorky left for Italy, to Capri, where he lived until 1913, devoting all his energy to literary creativity. During these years, the plays “The Last” (1908), “Vassa Zheleznova” (1910), the stories “Summer”, “The Town of Okurov” (1909), and the novel “The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin” (1910 11) were written.
Taking advantage of the amnesty, in 1913 the writer returned to St. Petersburg and collaborated with the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda. In 1915 he founded the magazine "Letopis", headed the literary department of the magazine, uniting around him such writers as Shishkov, Prishvin, Trenev, Gladkoe and others.
After February Revolution Gorky participated in the publication of the newspaper “New Life,” which was the organ of the Social Democrats, where he published articles under the general title “Untimely Thoughts.” Expressed concerns about lack of preparedness October Revolution, was afraid that “the dictatorship of the proletariat would lead to the death of politically educated Bolshevik workers...”, reflected on the role of the intelligentsia in saving the nation: “The Russian intelligentsia must again take upon itself the great work of spiritual healing of the people.”
Soon Gorky began to actively participate in the construction new culture: helped organize the First Workers' and Peasants' University, Bolshoi drama theater in St. Petersburg, created the publishing house "World Literature". In the years civil war, hunger and devastation, he showed concern for the Russian intelligentsia, and many scientists, writers and artists were saved by him from death by starvation.
In 1921, at Lenin’s insistence, Gorky went abroad for treatment (tuberculosis had returned). At first he lived in resorts in Germany and Czechoslovakia, then moved to Italy in Sorrento. He continues to work a lot: he finished the trilogy “My Universities” (“Childhood” and “In People” were published in 1913 16), wrote the novel “The Artamonov Case” (1925). He began work on the book “The Life of Klim Samgin,” which he continued to write until the end of his life. In 1931 Gorky returned to his homeland. In the 1930s, he again turned to drama: “Egor Bulychev and others” (1932), “Dostigaev and others” (1933).
Summing up the acquaintance and communication with the great people of our time. Gorky created literary portraits of L. Tolstoy, A. Chekhov, V. Korolenko, and the essay “V. I. Lenin” (new edition 1930). In 1934, through the efforts of M. Gorky, the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers was prepared and held. On June 18, 1936, M. Gorky died in Gorki and was buried on Red Square.
Born on March 16 (28), 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod in a poor family of a carpenter. The real name of Maxim Gorky is Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov. His parents died early, and little Alexey remained to live 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 my grandmother’s poems, like a beehive with honey; It seems that I was thinking in the forms of her poems.”
Gorky's childhood was spent in harsh, difficult conditions. WITH early years the future writer was forced to do part-time work, earning a living whatever he could.
Training and 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 engaged in self-education. 1887 was one of the most difficult years in Gorky's biography. Due to the troubles that beset him, he tried to commit suicide, but nevertheless survived.
Traveling around the country, Gorky propagated the revolution, for which he was taken under police surveillance and then arrested for the first time in 1888.
Gorky's first published story, "Makar Chudra", was published in 1892. Then, his essays in two volumes, “Essays and Stories,” published in 1898, 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, but by order of Nicholas II it was soon declared invalid.
TO famous works Gorky includes: the story “The Old Woman Izergil” (1895), the plays “The Bourgeois” (1901) and “At the Lower Depths” (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. Recalling his difficult childhood, Gorky devoted special attention children, organized holidays for children from poor families, published a children's magazine.
Emigration, return to homeland
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 worsening 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.
Last years and death
At home, he continues to actively write and publishes newspapers and magazines.
Maxim Gorky died on June 18, 1936 in the village of Gorki (Moscow region) under mysterious circumstances. There were rumors that the cause of his death was poisoning and many blamed Stalin for this. However, this version was never confirmed.
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