Alexey Peshkov did not receive a real education; he only graduated from a vocational school.
In 1884, the young man came to Kazan with the intention of studying at the university, but did not enter.
In Kazan, Peshkov became acquainted with Marxist literature and propaganda work.
In 1902, the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of fine literature. However, the election was annulled by the government because the newly elected academician “was under police surveillance.”
In 1901, Maxim Gorky became the head of the publishing house of the Znanie partnership and soon began publishing collections in which Ivan Bunin, Leonid Andreev, Alexander Kuprin, Vikenty Veresaev, Alexander Serafimovich and others were published.
The top of it early creativity The play "At the Bottom" is considered. In 1902 it was staged in the Moscow art theater Konstantin Stanislavsky. Stanislavsky, Vasily Kachalov, Ivan Moskvin, Olga Knipper-Chekhova performed in the performances. In 1903, at the Berlin Kleines Theater, the performance "At the Bottom" with Richard Wallentin in the role of Satin took place. Gorky also created the plays "The Bourgeois" (1901), "Summer Residents" (1904), "Children of the Sun", "Barbarians" (both 1905), "Enemies" (1906).
In 1905, he joined the ranks of the RSDLP (Russian Social Democratic Party, Bolshevik wing) and met Vladimir Lenin. Gorky provided financial support revolutions of 1905-1907.
The writer took an active part in the revolutionary events of 1905, was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and was released under pressure from the world community.
At the beginning of 1906, Maxim Gorky arrived in America, fleeing persecution Russian authorities, where he stayed until the fall. The pamphlets “My Interviews” and the essays “In America” were written here.
Upon returning to Russia in 1906, Gorky wrote the novel "Mother". In the same year, Gorky left Italy for the island of Capri, where he stayed until 1913.
Returning to St. Petersburg, he collaborated with the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda. During this period, the autobiographical stories “Childhood” (1913-1914) and “In People” (1916) were published.
After October revolution In 1917, Gorky was actively involved in social activities and participated in the creation of the World Literature publishing house. In 1921 he went abroad again. The writer lived in Helsingfors (Helsinki), Berlin and Prague, and from 1924 in Sorrento (Italy). In exile, Gorky more than once spoke out against the policies pursued by the Soviet authorities.
The writer was officially married to Ekaterina Peshkova, née Volzhina (1876-1965). The couple had two children - son Maxim (1897-1934) and daughter Katya, who died in childhood.
Later, Gorky tied himself into a civil marriage with actress Maria Andreeva (1868-1953), and then Maria Brudberg (1892-1974).
The writer's granddaughter Daria Peshkova is an actress at the Vakhtangov Theater.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Real name and surname – Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov.
Russian writer, publicist, public figure. Maxim Gorky was born March 16 (28), 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod in a bourgeois family. He lost his parents early and was raised in his grandfather’s family. He graduated from two classes of the Sloboda Primary School in Kunavin (now Kanavino), a suburb Nizhny Novgorod, I was unable to continue my education due to poverty (my grandfather’s dyeing business went bankrupt). M. Gorky was forced to work from the age of ten. Possessing a unique memory, Gorky spent his whole life intensely engaged in self-education. In 1884 went to Kazan, where he participated in the work of underground populist circles; connection with the revolutionary movement largely determined his life and creative aspirations. In 1888-1889 and 1891-1892. wandered around the south of Russia; impressions from these “walks around Rus'” subsequently became the most important source of plots and images for his work (primarily his early work).
The first publication was the story “Makar Chudra”, published in the Tiflis newspaper “Caucasus” September 12, 1892. In 1893-1896. Gorky actively collaborated with Volga newspapers, where he published many feuilletons and stories. The name of Gorky gained all-Russian and all-European fame soon after the release of his first collection “Essays and Stories” (vol. 1-2, 1898 ), in which the sharpness and brightness in conveying the realities of life was combined with neo-romantic pathos, with a passionate call for the transformation of man and the world (“Old Woman Izergil”, “Konovalov”, “Chelkash”, “Malva”, “On Rafts”, “Song of Sokol”, etc.). A symbol of growing revolutionary movement in Russia became “Song of the Petrel” ( 1901 ).
With the beginning of Gorky's work in 1900 His long-term literary and organizational activity began at the Znanie publishing house. He expanded the publishing program, organized since 1904 the release of the famous collections “Knowledge” rallied around the publishing house the largest writers close to the realistic direction (I. Bunin, L. Andreev, A. Kuprin, etc.), and actually led this direction in its opposition to modernism.
At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. M. Gorky’s first novels “Foma Gordeev” were published (1899) and "Three" ( 1900) . In 1902 His first plays were staged at the Moscow Art Theater - “Philistines” and “At the Lower Depths”. Together with the plays "Summer Residents" ( 1904 ), "Children of the Sun" ( 1905 ), "Barbarians" ( 1906 ) they defined a unique Gorky type of Russian realistic theater of the early 20th century, based on acute social conflict and clearly expressed ideological character. The play “At the Lower Depths” is still preserved in the repertoire of many theaters around the world.
Involved in active political activity at the beginning of the first Russian revolution, Gorky was forced in January 1906 emigrate (returned at the end of 1913). The peak of the writer’s conscious political engagement (social-democratic overtones) occurred in 1906-1907 years when the plays “Enemies” were published ( 1906 ), novel "Mother" ( 1906-1907 ), journalistic collections “My Interviews” and “In America” (both 1906 ).
New turn in Gorky’s worldview and stylistic manner was revealed in the stories “Town of Okurov” ( 1909-1910 ) and “The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin” ( 1910-1911 ), as well as in autobiographical prose 1910s.: stories “Master” ( 1913 ), "Childhood" ( 1913-1914 ), "In people" ( 1916 ), collection of stories “Across Rus'” ( 1912-1917 ) and others: Gorky addressed the problem of Russian national character. The same trends were reflected in the so-called. second dramaturgical cycle: plays “Eccentrics” ( 1910 ), “Vassa Zheleznova” (1st ed. – 1910 ), "Old Man" (created in 1915, published in 1918 ) and etc.
During the period of revolutions 1917 Gorky sought to fight the anti-humanistic and anti-cultural tyranny that the Bolsheviks relied on (series of articles “ Untimely thoughts"in the newspaper" New life»). After October 1917 on the one hand, he became involved in the cultural and social work of new institutions, and on the other hand, he criticized the Bolshevik terror and tried to save representatives of the creative intelligentsia from arrests and executions (in some cases, successfully). Increasing disagreements with the policies of V. Lenin led Gorky to October 1921 to emigration (formally it was presented as going abroad for treatment), which actually (with interruptions) continued before 1933.
First half of the 1920s marked by Gorky's search for new principles of artistic worldview. The book “Notes from a Diary” was written in an experimental memoir-fragmentary form. Memories" ( 1924 ), at the center of which is the theme of the Russian national character and its contradictory complexity. Collection "Stories of 1922-1924" ( 1925 ) marked by an interest in secrets human soul, a psychologically complicated type of hero, gravitating towards conventionally fantastic vision angles that were unusual for the former Gorky. In the 1920s Gorky’s work began on broad artistic canvases highlighting Russia’s recent past: “My Universities” ( 1923 ), novel “The Artamonov Case” ( 1925 ), epic novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” (parts 1-3, 1927-1931 ; unfinished 4 hours, 1937 ). Later, this panorama was supplemented by a cycle of plays: “Yegor Bulychov and others” ( 1932 ), "Dostigaev and others" ( 1933 ), "Vassa Zheleznova" (2nd edition, 1936 ).
Finally returning to the USSR in May 1933, Gorky took an active part in cultural construction, led the preparation of the 1st All-Union Congress Soviet writers, participated in the creation of a number of institutes, publishing houses and magazines. His speeches and organizational efforts played significant role in affirming aesthetics socialist realism. Journalism of these years characterizes Gorky as one of the ideologists of the Soviet system, indirectly and directly advocating the Stalinist regime. At the same time, he repeatedly appealed to Stalin with petitions on behalf of repressed figures of science, literature and art.
The pinnacle of M. Gorky’s creativity includes a series of memoir portraits of his contemporaries (L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, L.N. Andreev, etc.), created by him in different time.
June 18, 1936 Maxim Gorky died in Moscow and was buried on Red Square (the urn with his ashes was buried in the Kremlin wall).
Maxim Gorky (real name Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov) was born on March 16 (28), 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod.
His father was a cabinetmaker. IN last years Life worked as a manager of a shipping office, died of cholera. Mother came from a family of philistines. Her father once worked as a barge hauler, but managed to get rich and acquired a dyeing establishment. After the death of her husband, Gorky's mother soon arranged her fate again. But she did not live long, dying of consumption.
The boy who was left an orphan was taken by his grandfather. He taught him to read and write from church books, and his grandmother instilled a love for folk tales and songs. From the age of 11, his grandfather gave Alexey “to the people” so that he could earn his own living. He worked as a baker, a “boy” in a store, a student in an icon-painting workshop, and a crockery maker in a canteen on a ship. Life was very difficult and, ultimately, Gorky could not stand it and ran away “out into the street.” He wandered a lot around Rus' and saw the undisguised truth of life. But in an amazing way he retained his faith in Man and the possibilities hidden in him. The cook from the ship managed to instill in the future writer a passion for reading, and now Alexey tried in every possible way to develop it.
In 1884 he tried to enter Kazan University, but learned that given his financial situation this was impossible.
A romantic philosophy is brewing in Gorky’s head, according to which the ideal and the real Man do not coincide. He becomes acquainted with Marxist literature for the first time and begins to engage in propaganda of new ideas.
Creativity of the early period
Gorky began his writing career as a provincial writer. The pseudonym M. Gorky first appeared in 1892 in Tiflis, in the newspaper “Caucasus” under the first printed story “Makar Chudra”.
For his active propaganda activities, Alexey Maksimovich was under the vigilant supervision of police authorities. In Nizhny Novgorod he was published in the newspapers “Volzhsky Vestnik”, “Nizhny Novgorod Listok” and others. Thanks to the assistance of V. Korolenko, in 1895 he published the story “Chelkash” in the popular magazine “Russian Wealth”. In the same year, “Old Woman Izergil” and “Song of the Falcon” were written. In 1898, “Essays and Stories” were published in St. Petersburg, which received universal recognition. The following year, the prose poem “Twenty Six and One” and the novel “Foma Gordeev” were published. Gorky's fame is growing incredibly; he is read no less than Tolstoy or Chekhov.
In the period before the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907, Gorky conducted active revolutionary propaganda activities and personally met Lenin. At this time, his first plays appeared: “The Bourgeois” and “At the Lower Depths”. In 1904-1905, “Children of the Sun” and “Summer Residents” were written.
Gorky's early works did not have a particular social orientation, but the heroes in them were well recognizable by their type and at the same time had their own “philosophy” of life, which attracted readers unusually.
During these years, Gorky also showed himself as a talented organizer. Since 1901, he became the head of the publishing house "Knowledge", which began to publish best writers that time. Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” was staged at the Moscow Art Theater; in 1903 it was performed on the stage of the Berlin Kleines Theater.
For his extremely revolutionary views, the writer was arrested more than once, but continued to support the ideas of the revolution not only spiritually, but also financially.
Between two revolutions
First World War made an extremely painful impression on Gorky. His boundless faith in the progressiveness of the human mind was trampled upon. The writer saw with his own eyes that a person, as an individual, does not mean anything at all in war.
After the defeat of the revolution of 1905-1907 and due to worsening tuberculosis, Gorky left for treatment in Italy, where he settled on the island of Capri. He lived here for seven years, engaged in literary creativity. At this time, his satirical pamphlets about the culture of France and the USA, the novel “Mother”, and a number of stories were written. “Tales of Italy” and the collection “Across Rus'” were also created here. The greatest interest and controversy was caused by the story “Confession,” which contains themes of god-building, which the Bolsheviks categorically did not accept. In Italy, Gorky edited the first Bolshevik newspapers, Pravda and Zvezda, and headed the department for fiction magazine "Prosveshchenie", and also helps to publish the first collection of proletarian writers.
At this time, Gorky was already opposing the revolutionary reorganization of society. He is trying to persuade the Bolsheviks not to carry out an armed uprising, because... the people are not yet ready for radical changes and their spontaneous force can demolish all the best that exists in tsarist Russia.
After October
The events of the October Revolution confirmed that Gorky was right. Many representatives of the old tsarist intelligentsia died during the repressions or were forced to flee abroad.
Gorky, on the one hand, condemns the actions of the Bolsheviks led by Lenin, but on the other hand, he calls the common people barbaric, which, in fact, justifies the brutal actions of the Bolsheviks.
In 1818-1819, Alexey Maksimovich was active in social and political activities, writing articles condemning the power of the Soviets. Many of his undertakings are conceived precisely in order to save the intelligentsia of old Russia. He organizes the opening of the publishing house “World Literature” and heads the newspaper “New Life”. In the newspaper, he writes about the most important component of power - its unity with humanism and morality, which he categorically does not see in the Bolsheviks. Based on such statements, the newspaper was closed in 1918, and Gorky was attacked. After the assassination attempt on Lenin in August of the same year, the writer again returned “under the wing” of the Bolsheviks. He admits his previous conclusions are erroneous, arguing that the progressive role of the new government is much more important than its mistakes.
Years of second emigration
Due to another exacerbation of the disease and at the urgent request of Lenin, Gorky again travels to Italy, stopping this time in Sorrento. Until 1928, the writer remained in exile. At this time, he continues to write, but in accordance with the new realities of Russian literature of the twenties. During his last stay in Italy, the novel “The Artamonov Case”, a large cycle of stories, and “Notes from the Diary” were created. Gorky's fundamental work was begun - the novel "The Life of Klim Samgin". In memory of Lenin, Gorky published a book of memoirs about the leader.
Living abroad, Gorky follows with interest the development of literature in the USSR and maintains contacts with many young writers, but is in no hurry to return.
Homecoming
Stalin considers it wrong that a writer who supported the Bolsheviks during the revolution lives abroad. Alexey Maksimovich was given an official invitation to return to his homeland. In 1928, he came to the USSR on a short visit. A trip around the country was organized for him, during which the writer was shown the ceremonial side of life. Soviet people. Impressed by the solemn meeting and the achievements he saw, Gorky decided to return to his homeland. After this trip, he wrote a series of essays “Around the Soviet Union.”
In 1931, Gorky returned to the USSR forever. Here he plunges headlong into work on the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin,” which he never manages to finish before his death.
At the same time, he was engaged in enormous social work: he created the publishing house “Academia”, the magazine “ Literary studies", Union of Writers of the USSR, book series about the history of factories and factories, and history civil war. On Gorky's initiative, the first literary institute was opened.
With his articles and books, Gorky, in fact, paints a high moral and political image of Stalin, showing only the achievements of the Soviet system and hushing up the repressions of the country's leadership against its own people.
On June 18, 1936, having outlived his son by two years, Gorky dies under circumstances that are not completely clear. Perhaps his truthful nature prevailed, and he dared to voice some complaints to the party leadership. In those days, no one was forgiven for this.
IN last way The writer was seen off by the entire leadership of the country; the urn with the ashes was buried in the Kremlin wall.
Interesting Facts:
On June 9, 1936, the almost deceased Gorky was revived by the arrival of Stalin, who came to say goodbye to the deceased.
Before cremation, the writer's brain was removed from his body and transferred to the Moscow Brain Institute for study.
Real name Peshkov Alexey Maksimovich (1868), prose writer, playwright, publicist.
Born in Nizhny Novgorod into 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 to work. 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).
Since 1892, having returned to Nizhny Novgorod, he took up 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 “The Bourgeois” 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 strength 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 Novaya Zhizn, which was the organ of the Social Democrats, where he published articles under common name"Untimely Thoughts" He expressed concerns about the unpreparedness of the October Revolution, was afraid that “the dictatorship of the proletariat would lead to the death of politically educated Bolshevik workers...”, reflected on the role of the intelligentsia in saving the nation: “The Russian intelligentsia must again take 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". During the years of the civil war, famine and devastation, he showed concern for the Russian intelligentsia, and many scientists, writers and artists were saved by him from 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 my acquaintance and communication with the great people of my time. Gorky created literary portraits L. Tolstoy, A. Chekhov, V. Korolenko, essay “V.I. Lenin” (new edition 1930). In 1934, through the efforts of M. Gorky, the 1st All-Union Congress Soviet writers. On June 18, 1936, M. Gorky died in Gorki and was buried on Red Square.
Initially, Gorky was skeptical about the October Revolution. However, after several years cultural work V Soviet Russia(in Petrograd he headed the publishing house “World Literature”, interceded with the Bolsheviks on behalf of those arrested) and life abroad in the 1920s (Marienbad, Sorrento), returned to the USSR, where the last years of his life he was surrounded by official recognition as “the petrel of the revolution” and “ great proletarian writer”, founder of socialist realism.
Biography
Alexey Maksimovich came up with the pseudonym “Gorky” himself. Subsequently, he told Kalyuzhny: “I shouldn’t write Peshkov in literature...”. More information about his biography can be found in his autobiographical stories“Childhood”, “In People”, “My Universities”.
Childhood
Alexey Peshkov was born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a carpenter (according to another version, the manager of the Astrakhan office of the shipping company I. S. Kolchin) - Maxim Savvatyevich Peshkov (1839-1871). Mother - Varvara Vasilievna, nee Kashirina (1842-1879). Gorky’s grandfather Savvaty Peshkov rose to the rank of officer, but was demoted and exiled to Siberia “for cruel treatment of lower ranks,” after which he enrolled as a bourgeois. His son Maxim ran away from his father five times and at the age of 17 left home forever. Orphaned early, Gorky spent his childhood in the house of his grandfather Kashirin. From the age of 11 he was forced to go “into the people”: he worked as a “boy” in a store, as a buffet cook on a steamship, as a baker, studied in an icon-painting workshop, etc.
Youth
- In 1884 he tried to enter Kazan University. I became acquainted with Marxist literature and propaganda work.
- In 1888, he was arrested for connections with N. E. Fedoseev’s circle. He was under constant police surveillance. In October 1888 he became a watchman at the Dobrinka station in Gryaze-Tsaritsynskaya railway. Impressions from his stay in Dobrinka will serve as the basis for the autobiographical story “Watchman” and the story “Boredom for the Sake.”
- In January 1889, at a personal request (a complaint in verse), he was transferred to the Borisoglebsk station, then as a weighmaster to the Krutaya station.
- In the spring of 1891, he set out to wander around the country and reached the Caucasus.
Literary and social activities
- In 1892 he first appeared in print with the story “Makar Chudra”. Returning to Nizhny Novgorod, he publishes reviews and feuilletons in Volzhsky Vestnik, Samara Gazeta, Nizhny Novgorod Listok, etc.
- 1895 - “Chelkash”, “Old Woman Izergil”.
- 1896 - Gorky writes a response to the first cinematic session in Nizhny Novgorod:
- 1897 - " Former people", "The Orlov Spouses", "Malva", "Konovalov".
- From October 1897 to mid-January 1898, he lived in the village of Kamenka (now the city of Kuvshinovo, Tver Region) in the apartment of his friend Nikolai Zakharovich Vasiliev, who worked at the Kamensk paper factory and led an illegal workers' Marxist circle. Subsequently, the life impressions of this period served the writer as material for the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin.”
- 1898 - The publishing house of Dorovatsky and A.P. Charushnikov published the first volume of Gorky’s works. In those years, the circulation of the young author's first book rarely exceeded 1000 copies. A. I. Bogdanovich advised to release the first two volumes of M. Gorky’s “Essays and Stories”, 1200 copies each. Publishers “took a chance” and released more. The first volume of the 1st edition of “Essays and Stories” was published in a circulation of 3,000 copies.
- 1899 - novel “Foma Gordeev”, prose poem “Song of the Falcon”.
- 1900-1901 - the novel “Three”, personal acquaintance with Chekhov and Tolstoy.
- 1900-1913 - participates in the work of the publishing house "Knowledge"
- March 1901 - “Song of the Petrel” was created by M. Gorky in Nizhny Novgorod. Participation in Marxist workers' circles in Nizhny Novgorod, Sormovo, St. Petersburg, wrote a proclamation calling for the fight against autocracy. Arrested and expelled from Nizhny Novgorod. According to contemporaries, Nikolai Gumilyov highly valued the last stanza of this poem.
- In 1901, M. Gorky turned to drama. Creates the plays “The Bourgeois” (1901), “At the Lower Depths” (1902). In 1902, he became the godfather and adoptive father of the Jew Zinovy Sverdlov, who took the surname Peshkov and converted to Orthodoxy. This was necessary in order for Zinovy to receive the right to live in Moscow.
- February 21 - election of M. Gorky to honorary academician Imperial Academy sciences in the category of fine literature.
- 1904-1905 - writes the plays “Summer Residents”, “Children of the Sun”, “Varvars”. Meets Lenin. He was arrested for the revolutionary proclamation and in connection with the execution on January 9, but then released under public pressure. Participant in the revolution of 1905-1907. In the fall of 1905 he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party.
- 1906 - travels abroad, creates satirical pamphlets about the “bourgeois” culture of France and the USA (“My Interviews”, “In America”). He writes the play “Enemies” and creates the novel “Mother”. Due to tuberculosis, he settled in Italy on the island of Capri, where he lived for 7 years (from 1906 to 1913). Checked into the prestigious Quisisana Hotel. From March 1909 to February 1911 he lived at the Villa Spinola (now Bering), stayed at the villas (they have commemorative plaques about his stay) Blesius (from 1906 to 1909) and Serfina (now Pierina) ). On Capri, Gorky wrote “Confession” (1908), where his philosophical differences with Lenin and rapprochement with Lunacharsky and Bogdanov were clearly outlined.
- 1907 - delegate to the V Congress of the RSDLP.
- 1908 - play “The Last”, story “The Life of an Useless Person”.
- 1909 - the stories “The Town of Okurov”, “The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin”.
- 1913 - Gorky edits the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda, the art department of the Bolshevik magazine Prosveshchenie, and publishes the first collection of proletarian writers. Writes "Tales of Italy".
- 1912-1916 - M. Gorky creates a series of stories and essays that made up the collection “Across Rus'”, autobiographical stories “Childhood”, “In People”. The last part of the trilogy, “My Universities,” was written in 1923.
- 1917-1919 - M. Gorky does a lot of social and political work, criticizes the “methods” of the Bolsheviks, condemns their attitude towards the old intelligentsia, saves many of its representatives from Bolshevik repression and famine.
Abroad
- 1921 - M. Gorky’s departure abroad. IN Soviet literature a myth has developed that the reason for his departure was the resumption of his illness and the need, at Lenin’s insistence, for treatment abroad. In fact, A. M. Gorky was forced to leave due to worsening ideological differences with the established government. In 1921-1923 lived in Helsingfors, Berlin, Prague.
- Since 1924 he lived in Italy, in Sorrento. Published memoirs about Lenin.
- 1925 - novel “The Artamonov Case”.
- 1928 - at the invitation of the Soviet government and Stalin personally, he tours the country, during which Gorky is shown the achievements of the USSR, which are reflected in the series of essays “Around the Soviet Union.”
- 1931 - Gorky visits the Solovetsky special purpose camp and writes a laudatory review of its regime. A fragment of A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s work “The Gulag Archipelago” is dedicated to this fact.
Return to the USSR
- 1932 - Gorky returns to Soviet Union. The government provided him with the former Ryabushinsky mansion on Spiridonovka, dachas in Gorki and Teselli (Crimea). Here he receives Stalin’s order - to prepare the ground for the 1st Congress of Soviet Writers, and to do this, to hold among them preparatory work. Gorky created many newspapers and magazines: the book series “History of Factories”, “History of the Civil War”, “Library of the Poet”, “History of the Young person XIX century", the magazine "Literary Studies", he writes the plays "Yegor Bulychev and others" (1932), "Dostigaev and others" (1933).
- 1934 - Gorky holds the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, giving the main report at it.
- 1934 - co-editor of the book “Stalin Canal”
- In 1925-1936 he wrote the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin”, which remained unfinished.
- On May 11, 1934, Gorky’s son, Maxim Peshkov, unexpectedly dies. M. Gorky died on June 18, 1936 in Gorki, having outlived his son by a little more than two years. After his death, he was cremated and his ashes were placed in an urn in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow. Before cremation, M. Gorky's brain was removed and taken to the Moscow Brain Institute for further study.
Death
The circumstances of the death of Maxim Gorky and his son are considered “suspicious” by many; there were rumors of poisoning, which, however, were not confirmed. At the funeral, among others, Molotov and Stalin carried Gorky’s coffin. It is interesting that among other accusations against Genrikh Yagoda at the Third Moscow Trial in 1938 was the accusation of poisoning Gorky’s son. According to Yagoda's interrogations, 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. An important precedent for the medical side of the accusations in the “Doctors' Case” was the Third Moscow Trial (1938), where among the defendants were three doctors (Kazakov, Levin and Pletnev), accused of the murders of Gorky and others.
Family and personal life
- Wife - Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova (nee Volozhina).
- Son - Maxim Alekseevich Peshkov (1897-1934) + Vvedenskaya, Nadezhda Alekseevna (“Timosha”)
- Peshkova, Marfa Maksimovna + Beria, Sergo Lavrentievich
- daughters Nina and Nadezhda, son Sergei (they bore the surname “Peshkov” because of the fate of Beria)
- Peshkova, Daria Maksimovna + Grave, Alexander Konstantinovich
- Maxim and Ekaterina (carried the surname Peshkov)
- Alexey Peshkov, son of Catherine
- Maxim and Ekaterina (carried the surname Peshkov)
- Peshkova, Marfa Maksimovna + Beria, Sergo Lavrentievich
- Daughter - Ekaterina Alekseevna Peshkova (died as a child)
- Peshkov, Zinovy Alekseevich, brother of Yakov Sverdlov, godson of Peshkov, who took his last name, and de facto adopted son + (1) Lydia Burago
- Son - Maxim Alekseevich Peshkov (1897-1934) + Vvedenskaya, Nadezhda Alekseevna (“Timosha”)
- Concubine 1906-1913 - Maria Fedorovna Andreeva (1872-1953)
- Ekaterina Andreevna Zhelyabuzhskaya (Andreeva’s daughter from her first marriage, Gorky’s stepdaughter) + Abram Garmant
- Zhelyabuzhsky, Yuri Andreevich (stepson)
- Evgeniy G. Kyakist, Andreeva’s nephew
- A. L. Zhelyabuzhsky, nephew of Andreeva’s first husband
- Long-term life partner - Budberg, Maria Ignatievna
Environment
- Shaikevich Varvara Vasilievna - wife of A. N. Tikhonov-Serebrova, Gorky’s lover, who allegedly had a child from him.
- Tikhonov-Serebrov Alexander Nikolaevich - assistant.
- Rakitsky, Ivan Nikolaevich - artist.
- Khodasevichi: Valentin, his wife Nina Berberova; niece Valentina Mikhailovna, her husband Andrey Diederichs.
- Yakov Izrailevich.
- Kryuchkov, Pyotr Petrovich - secretary, later, together with Yagoda,