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 for sure that this is the real name of 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 epoch. 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 in an amazing way he 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 tries to enter Kazan University, but because of his financial situation, he learns that this is impossible. During this period, the future writer begins to gravitate toward the romantic philosophy, according to which the ideal Man does not look like a real Man. 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 the life of the common people and, with his temperament, could not help but 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 bourgeois", "At the Bottom", "Children of the Sun", "Summer Residents" were written. His earliest works did not have any social orientation, but the characters had their own types and a special attitude to life, which readers really liked.

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 the 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 the 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

Alexey Gorky went to Finland and from there - to Western Europe and the USA, 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. In America, his famous novel "Mother" is published. 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 ​​are much 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 does not leave his 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 the Soviet Union several times, 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. The entire leadership of the country saw off the national writer on his last journey. 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 of 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.

Biography

Maksim Gorky 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.

Real name - Peshkov Alexey Maksimovich

At the age of eleven, having become an orphan, he began to work, replacing many "owners": a messenger at a shoe store, a cookware on steamboats, 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 - to study at the university, but very soon realized the whole unreality of such a plan. Started to work. Later Bitter writes: "I did not expect outside help and did not hope for a lucky break ... I realized very early that a person creates his resistance to the 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 the workers and peasants (with the populist M. Romas in the village of Krasnovidovo). Wanderings began in 1888 Gorky in Russia in order to get to know it better and get to know the life of the people better.

Passed Bitter through the Don steppes, across Ukraine, to the Danube, from there - through the Crimea and the North Caucasus - to Tiflis, where he spent a year working as a hammerman, then as a clerk in railway workshops, communicating with revolutionary leaders and participating in illegal circles. At this time, he wrote his first story - "Makar Chudra", published in the Tiflis newspaper, and the poem "The Girl and Death" (published in 1917).

Since 1892, having returned to Nizhny Novgorod, he took up literary work, publishing in the Volga newspapers. From 1895 stories Gorky appeared in the capital's magazines, in the "Samarskaya Gazeta" he became known as a feuilletonist, speaking under the pseudonym Yehudiel Khlamida. In 1898, Essays and Stories were published. Gorky which made him widely known in Russia. He works hard, quickly growing into a great artist, an innovator, able to lead. His romantic stories called for struggle, brought up heroic optimism ("Old Woman Izergil", "Song of the Falcon", "Song of the Petrel").

In 1899, the novel Foma Gordeev was published, which put forward Gorky into a number of world-class writers. In the autumn of this year, he arrived in St. Petersburg, where he met Mikhailovsky and Veresaev, with Repin; later in Moscow - S.L. Tolstoy, L. Andreev, A. Chekhov, I. Bunin, A. Kuprin and other writers. He agrees with 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 a student demonstration.

In 1901 - 1902 he wrote his first plays "Petty Bourgeois" and "At the Bottom", staged at the Moscow Art Theater. In 1904 - the plays "Summer Residents", "Children of the Sun", "Barbarians".

In the revolutionary events of 1905 Bitter took an active part, 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 threatened with reprisal 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 autumn. Pamphlets "My Interviews" and essays "In America" ​​were written here.

Upon his return to Russia, he created the play "Enemies" and the novel "Mother" (1906). This year Bitter went to Italy, to Capri, where he lived until 1913, giving all his strength to literary creativity. During these years, the plays "The Last" (1908), "Vassa Zheleznova" (1910), the novels "Summer", "The Town of Okurov" (1909), the novel "The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin" (1910 - 11) were written.

Using the amnesty, in 1913 the writer returned to St. Petersburg, collaborated in the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda. In 1915 he founded the journal Letopis, directed the literary department of the journal, uniting around him such writers as Shishkov, Prishvin, Trenev, Gladkoe, and others.

After the February Revolution, Maxim Gorky participated in the publication of the New Life newspaper, which was the organ of the Social Democrats, where he published articles under the general title Untimely Thoughts. He expressed fears 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 on the great work of spiritual healing of the people."

Soon Bitter became actively involved in the construction of a new culture: he helped organize the First Workers 'and Peasants' University, the Bolshoi Drama Theater in St. Petersburg, created the publishing house World Literature. During the years of the civil war, famine and devastation, he took care of the Russian intelligentsia, and many scientists, writers and artists were saved by him from starvation.

In 1921 Bitter at the insistence of Lenin, he went abroad for treatment (tuberculosis resumed). First he lived in the resorts of Germany and Czechoslovakia, then moved to Italy in Sorrento. He continues to work hard: he finished the trilogy - "My Universities" ("Childhood" and "In People" came out 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 dramaturgy: Yegor Bulychev and Others (1932), Dostigaev and Others (1933).

Summing up the acquaintance and communication with the great people of his time. Bitter created literary portraits of L. Tolstoy, A. Chekhov, V. Korolenko, essay "V. I. Lenin" (new edition 1930). In 1934, through the efforts of M. Gorky, the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers was prepared and held. On June 18, 1936, M. Gorky died in Gorki and was buried in Red Square.

Novels

Tale

Stories, essays

Plays

Maxim Gorky is a writer, playwright, prose writer. He stood at the origins of the creation of the Writers' Union of the USSR and was its first chairman.

When asked about the work of Alexei Peshkov, he confuses many. Not everyone knows that this is the real name of the writer Maxim Gorky. He was not just a writer, but also distinguished by active social activities. Initially skeptical of the revolution, he later became its singer. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize, his works were published during his lifetime in large editions. Gorky was put on a par with Pushkin and Tolstoy, his works were written in an accessible language, understandable to everyone.

Childhood and youth

Alexey Peshkov was born on March 28, 1868 in the small town of Kanavino, Nizhny Novgorod province. The boy's father, Maxim Peshkov, worked as a carpenter, then held the position of manager in a shipping office. He died of cholera, which he contracted from his son. Alexei was 4 when he fell ill, his father nursed him, fell ill himself and soon died. Alyosha almost did not remember his dad, but according to the stories of his relatives, he knew a lot about him and honored his memory. When he took a pseudonym for himself, he called himself Maxim in honor of his father.

Alyosha's mother's name was Varvara Kashirina, she was from the middle class. After the death of her husband, she remarried, but soon burned out from consumption. The paternal grandfather, Savvaty Peshkov, had the rank of an officer, but for his cruel treatment of soldiers he was demoted and sent to Siberia. He was such a tough person that even his son Maxim ran away from home five times, and at 17 he left his native walls forever.

After the death of his parents, Alyosha was left an orphan, and his childhood was spent with his maternal grandfather and grandmother. From the age of 11, he already comprehended his vital universities. His career began as a messenger at a store, then he got a job as a barmaid on a steamship, then served as an assistant to a baker and an icon painter. He then colorfully described these years in the works "Childhood", "In People", "My Universities".

Alexey Peshkov tried to enter Kazan University, but nothing came of this venture. Then he was arrested for participating in a Marxist circle. For a short time, Peshkov worked on the railroad as a watchman. When he was 23, he went on a hiking trip through Russia, and he managed to reach the Caucasus. Throughout the journey, the future writer tries to write down everything that he sees around, as well as his thoughts and feelings, which will then be reflected in his work. He begins to write little by little and his stories are published.

Emigration

When the name of Maxim Gorky was already quite famous in the country, he emigrated to the United States, and then from there to Italy. This decision was not caused by a problem with the current government, as one can often read in historical treatises, but only because of changes in personal life. He continues to work abroad and many of his revolutionary books are published there. In 1913, Maxim Gorky returned to his homeland. He stopped in St. Petersburg and continued to work, and collaborated with various publishing houses.

Peshkov always adhered to Marxist views, but when the October Revolution broke out, he did not immediately accept it. After the end of the Civil War, Gorky again leaves for the border, but in 1932 he returns to his homeland, this time for good.

Writer

1892 was the beginning of the writer's creative biography. It was at this time that he published his story "Makar Chudra". However, fame came to him a little later, with the release of the two-volume Essays and Stories. This book was published in a large circulation, which was three times higher than other publications of that time. The most significant stories at that time were "Former People", "Old Woman Izergil", "Chelkash" and the poem "Song of the Falcon". The next poem by Maxim Gorky was included in all anthologies. Gorky did not stay away from children's literature either. He writes fairy tales - "Samovar", "Vorobishko", "Tales of Italy", publishes the first magazine for children in the USSR and organizes holidays for the children of the poor.

An important milestone in Gorky's work was his plays "Petty Bourgeois", "At the Bottom", "Yegor Bulychov and Others", in which he reveals himself as a talented playwright and demonstrates his vision of the reality around him. A separate place in Russian classical literature is occupied by his stories "In People" and "Childhood", the novels "The Artamonov Case" and "Mother". The last creation of the great writer was the novel "The Life of Klim Samgin", which is sometimes called the second name - "Forty Years". It took eleven years of Gorky's life to write it, but, unfortunately, this work remained unfinished.

Personal life

The first and only official wife of Maxim Gorky was Ekaterina Volzhina. The writer married already quite old - at 28. The acquaintance of the future spouses took place at the publishing house of the Samarskaya Gazeta newspaper, where Katya worked as a proofreader. They got married and a year later became the parents of a son, Maxim, and then a daughter, Catherine, who was named after her mother. Gorky also raised his godson Zinovy ​​Sverdlov, who later changed his last name to Peshkov.

However, the first love for his wife quickly passed, and family life began to weigh on the freedom-loving petrel of the revolution. The couple continued to live together, but only thanks to the children. When their little daughter died, this was the reason for the divorce. However, the spouses managed to stay on good terms, they were friends and corresponded until the death of the writer.

After leaving the family, the actress of the Moscow Art Theater Maria Andreeva appears in Gorky's life, whom he met thanks to the writer. They lived in a civil marriage for sixteen years. It was she who caused the emigration immediately to the States, then to Italy. Maria had two children of her own - Ekaterina and Andrei, with whom Gorky tried to replace his father. After the October Revolution, Maria plunged headlong into party work, her family faded into the background for her, and in 1919 the couple separated.

The initiator of the gap was Maxim Gorky, he announced to his wife that he had another woman. Her name was Maria Budberg, she was a former baroness and worked as a secretary for Maxim. Family life with Budberg lasted thirteen years. This marriage was also civil. The difference in the age of the spouses was 24 years, and it was no secret to anyone that she had a romantic relationship on the side. Among her lovers was the famous science fiction writer from England Herbert Wells. It was to him that Maria went shortly after the death of Maxim Gorky. With great probability, we can say that the adventurer Budberg was a secret employee of the NKVD, and could well have been recruited as a double agent, for example, by British intelligence.

Death

After Gorky finally returned home in 1932, he collaborated simultaneously with several newspapers and magazines, publishes the books The Poet's Library, The History of Factories and Plants, and The History of the Civil War. During these years, he acted as the organizer and ideological inspirer of the creation of the Writers' Union. During this period, his beloved son Maxim suddenly dies of pneumonia. This death greatly crippled Gorky, he seemed to have died out. The writer often visited his son's cemetery, and after one of these visits he felt a sharp malaise. For three weeks he was in a fever, until June 18, 1936, Gorky died. His body was cremated, and the urn with the ashes was placed in the Kremlin wall. But even before the cremation, the writer's brain was removed and studied in one of the research institutes.

Years later, the question of the cause of death of Gorky and his son began to be asked quite often. Too much was unusual in the abrupt development of the disease and death. There was an assumption that they were poisoned and that Henry Yagoda, the people's commissar and part-time lover of Maria Budberg, was directly related to this. It was suspected that even Stalin was involved in the death of the writer. When the high-profile "case of doctors" appeared in the USSR, three doctors were charged with the death of the writer Gorky.

Creation

Novels

• 1900-1901 - "Three"
• 1906 - "Mother"
• 1925 - "The Artamonov Case"
• 1925-1936 - "The Life of Klim Samgin"

Tale

• 1894 - "Wretched Pavel"
• 1899 - "Foma Gordeev"
• 1900 - “Man. Essays»
• 1908 - "The life of an unnecessary person."
• 1908 - "Confession"
• 1909 - "Summer"
• 1909 - "Okurov Town"
• 1913-1914 - "Childhood"
• 1915-1916 - "In people"
• 1923 - "My Universities"
• 1929 - "At the End of the Earth"

stories

• 1892 - "Makar Chudra"
• 1893 - "Emelyan Pilyai"
• 1894 - "My Companion"
• 1895 - "Chelkash"
• 1895 - "Old Woman Izergil"
• 1895 - "Mistake"
• 1895 - "Song of the Falcon"
• 1897 - "Former People"
• 1898 - "Varenka Olesova"
• 1898 - "Rogue"
• 1899 - "Twenty-six and one"
• 1906 - "Comrade!"
• 1908 - "Soldiers"
• 1911 - "Tales of Italy"

Plays

• 1901 - "Philistines"
• 1902 - "At the bottom"
• 1904 - Summer Residents
• 1905 - "Children of the Sun"
• 1905 - "Barbarians"
• 1906 - "Enemies"
• 1908 - "The Last"
• 1910 - "Eccentrics"
• 1913 - "Zykovs"
• 1913 - "Fake Coin"
• 1915 - "The Old Man"
• 1930 - "Somov and others"
• 1931 - "Egor Bulychov and others"
• 1932 - "Dostigaev and others"

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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 he served as an errand boy 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, he made an unsuccessful suicide attempt. 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 took a great part in the fate of the beginning writer.

In 1898 A.M. Gorky was already a 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 for the revolutionary movement, which caused a negative reaction 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 the 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 the last hope of those 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 native city of Nizhny Novgorod was named after him - on the other, the writer lived in practical isolation under constant control.

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.