Maxim Gorky (real name Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov) was born on March 16 (28), 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod.
His father was a cabinet-maker. In the last years of his life he worked as a manager of a steamship office, died of cholera. Mother came from a bourgeois family. Her father used to be a barge haulers, 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 orphaned boy was taken away by his grandfather. He taught him to read and write from church books, and his grandmother instilled love for folk tales and songs. From the age of 11, the grandfather gave Alexei "to the people" so that he earned a living himself. He worked as a baker, as a “boy” in a shop, as an apprentice in an icon painting workshop, as a dishware in a buffet on a ship. Life was very hard and, in the end, Gorky could not stand it and fled "into the street." He wandered around Russia a lot, saw the blatant truth of life. But in an amazing way he retained 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 Alexei tried in every possible way to develop it.
In 1884 he tried to enter Kazan University, but found out that with his financial situation it was impossible.
A romantic philosophy is ripening in Gorky's head, according to which the ideal man and the real man do not coincide. He first gets acquainted with Marxist literature, begins to engage in the 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 Kavkaz newspaper under the first printed story “Makar Chudra”.
For his active propaganda activities, Aleksey Maksimovich was under the vigilant supervision of the police. In Nizhny Novgorod he was published in the newspapers "Volzhsky Vestnik", "Nizhegorodsky Leaf" 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, "The 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 next 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 was active in revolutionary propaganda, he personally met Lenin. At this time, his first plays appeared: "Bourgeois" and "At the bottom". 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 extraordinarily.
During these years, Gorky also showed himself as a talented organizer. In 1901 he became the head of the Znaniye publishing house, which began publishing the best writers of that time. The Moscow Art Theater staged Gorky's play At the Bottom, 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 he continued to support the ideas of the revolution, not only spiritually, but also materially.
Between two revolutions
The First World War made an extremely painful impression on Gorky. His boundless faith in the progressiveness of the human mind was trampled underfoot. The writer saw with his own eyes that a person, as a person, does not mean anything at all in a war.
After the defeat of the 1905-1907 revolution and in connection with exacerbated tuberculosis, Gorky left for Italy for treatment, where he settled on the island of Capri. Here he lives for seven years, doing literary work. At this time, his satirical pamphlets about the culture of France and the United States, the novel "Mother", and a number of stories were written. The "Tales of Italy" and the collection "On Russia" were also created here. The greatest interest and disagreement was aroused by the story "Confession", which contains themes of god-building, which the Bolsheviks categorically did not accept. In Italy, Gorky edits the first newspapers of the Bolsheviks - Pravda and Zvezda, heads the department for fiction of the journal 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 transformations and their spontaneous strength can take down all the best that is 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, Aleksey Maksimovich was active in social and political activities, came out with 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", 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. On the basis of such statements, the newspaper was closed in 1918, and Gorky was attacked. After the attempt on Lenin's life in August of the same year, the writer again returned "under the wing" of the Bolsheviks. He recognizes his previous conclusions as erroneous, arguing that the progressive role of the new government is much more important than its mistakes.
Years of the second emigration
In connection with another exacerbation of the disease and at the urgent request of Lenin, Gorky again went to Italy, stopping this time in Sorrento. Until 1928, the writer remains in exile. At this time, he continues to write, but already in accordance with the new realities of Russian literature of the twenties. During his last residence in Italy, the novel "The Artamonovs Case", a large cycle of stories, "Notes from the Diary" was created. The fundamental work of Gorky, the novel The Life of Klim Samgin, was begun. 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 he is in no hurry to return.
Homecoming
Stalin considers it wrong that the writer who supported the Bolsheviks during the years of the revolution lives abroad. Alexei Maksimovich was officially invited 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 front side of the life of the 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 for good. Here he plunges headlong into work on the novel The Life of Klim Samgin, which he never has time to finish before his death.
At the same time, he was engaged in a huge public work: he created the Academia publishing house, the Literaturnaya Ucheba magazine, the USSR Writers' Union, book series about the history of factories and plants, and the history of the Civil War. On the initiative of Gorky, the first literary institute was opened.
With his articles and books, Gorky, in fact, paints the high moral and political image of Stalin, showing only the achievements of the Soviet system and hushing up the repression of the country's leadership in relation to its own people.
On June 18, 1936, having outlived his son for two years, Gorky dies under unclear circumstances. Perhaps his truthful nature prevailed, and he dared to express some claims to the party leadership. This was not forgiven to anyone in those days.
The entire leadership of the country saw off the writer on his last journey; 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 being cremated, the writer's brain was removed from the body and transferred to the Moscow Brain Institute for study.
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. Lost his parents early, was brought up in the family of his grandfather. He graduated from two classes of the suburban primary school in Kunavino (now Kanavino), a suburb of Nizhny Novgorod, he could not continue his education due to poverty (grandfather's dyeing establishment was ruined). M. Gorky was forced to work from the age of ten. Possessing a unique memory, Gorky spent all his life intensely engaged in self-education. In 1884 went to Kazan, where he took part in the work of underground populist circles; his connection with the revolutionary movement largely determined his life and creative aspirations. In 1888-1889 and 1891-1892 wandered around the south of Russia; the impressions of these "walks in Russia" subsequently became the most important source of plots and images for his work (especially early).
The first publication is the story "Makar Chudra", published in the Tiflis newspaper "Kavkaz" September 12, 1892. In 1893-1896... Gorky actively collaborated with the Volga newspapers, where he published many feuilletons and stories. Gorky's name gained all-Russian and European fame shortly after the publication of his first collection, Essays and Stories (vols. 1-2, 1898 ), in which the sharpness and brightness in the transmission of 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 the Rafts", "Song of Sokol "and others). The symbol of the growing revolutionary movement in Russia was the "Song of the Petrel" ( 1901 ).
With the beginning of Gorky's work in 1900 in the publishing house "Knowledge" began his many years of literary and organizational activity. He expanded the publishing program, organized from 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 and 20th centuries. the first novels of M. Gorky "Foma Gordeev" were published (1899) and "Three" ( 1900) . In 1902 at the Moscow Art Theater were staged his first plays - "Bourgeois" and "At the bottom". Together with the plays "Summer Residents" ( 1904 ), "Children of the Sun" ( 1905 ), "Barbarians" ( 1906 ) they defined a kind of Gorky type of Russian realistic theater of the early 20th century, based on acute social conflict and a clearly expressed ideological character. The play "At the Bottom" 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 to in January 1906 emigrate (returned late 1913). The peak of the writer's conscious political engagement (social democratic coloration) fell on 1906-1907 years when the plays "Enemies" ( 1906 ), the novel "Mother" ( 1906-1907 ), publicist collections "My Interviews" and "In America" (both 1906 ).
A new turn in the outlook and style of Gorky was found in the stories "Okurov Town" ( 1909-1910 ) and "The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin" ( 1910-1911 ), as well as in autobiographical prose 1910s.: novellas "Master" ( 1913 ), "Childhood" ( 1913-1914 ), "In people" ( 1916 ), a collection of stories "Across Russia" ( 1912-1917 ) and others: Gorky turned to the problem of the Russian national character. The same trends were reflected in the so-called. the second dramatic cycle: the plays "Freaks" ( 1910 ), "Vassa Zheleznova" (1st ed. - 1910 ), "Old Man" (created in 1915, published in 1918 ) and etc.
During the revolution 1917 year Gorky strove to fight the anti-humanist and anti-cultural arbitrariness, which the Bolsheviks relied on (a series of articles "Untimely Thoughts" in the newspaper "Novaya Zhizn"). After October 1917 On the one hand, he became involved in the cultural and social work of the new institutions, and on the other, he criticized the Bolshevik terror, tried to save representatives of the creative intelligentsia from arrests and executions (in some cases - successfully). The growing disagreements with the policy 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 perception of the world. In an experimental memoir-fragmentary form, the book “Notes from the Diary. Memories" ( 1924 ), in the center of which is the theme of the Russian national character and its contradictory complexity. Collection "Stories of 1922-1924" ( 1925 ) is marked by an interest in the secrets of the human soul, a psychologically complicated type of hero, a gravitation towards conventionally-fantastic perspectives of vision, unusual for the former Gorky. In the 1920s Gorky's work began on broad canvases covering the recent past of Russia: "My Universities" ( 1923 ), the novel "The Artamonovs Case" ( 1925 ), the 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: "Egor 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 of Soviet Writers, participated in the creation of a number of institutes, publishing houses and magazines. His speeches and organizational efforts played a significant role in establishing the aesthetics of socialist realism. The journalism of these years characterizes Gorky as one of the ideologists of the Soviet system, indirectly and directly speaking out with apologetics for the Stalinist regime. At the same time, he repeatedly turned to Stalin with petitions for the repressed figures of science, literature and art.
The heights of M. Gorky's creativity include a cycle of memoir portraits of his contemporaries (L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, L.N. Andreev, etc.), created by him at different times.
June 18, 1936 Maxim Gorky died in Moscow, is buried in Red Square (the urn with the ashes is buried in the Kremlin wall).
Alexey Peshkov, better known by his pseudonym Maxim Gorky, is one of the most influential and famous writers of the USSR.
Childhood and adolescence
Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov was born on March 16, 1868 at. His father's name was Maxim Peshkov. He worked as a simple carpenter, and later was the head of a shipping company.
Maksim Gorky The writer's mother, Varvara Vasilievna, died quite early of consumption. In this regard, his grandmother, Akulina Ivanovna, took up the upbringing of little Alyosha.
The life of Alexei Peshkov was not easy, so at the age of 11 he had to go to work. He was a bellboy at a grocery store, then a barman on a ship, and then an assistant to a baker and icon painter.
In such works of Gorky as Childhood, My Universities and In People, you can find a lot of details of his biography.
From childhood, Maxim Gorky was drawn to knowledge and dreamed of getting a good education.
However, attempts to enter Kazan University were unsuccessful.
Soon, due to the fact that Gorky was in a Marxist circle, he was arrested, but then still released.
In October 1888, Aleksey Maksimovich begins to work as a watchman on the railway. When the future writer turns 23, he decides to drop everything and go on a journey across.
He managed to walk all the way to the Caucasus. During his travels, Gorky received a lot of impressions that in the future will be reflected in his biography in general, and in his work in particular.
Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov
The real name of Maxim Gorky is Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov. The pseudonym “Maxim Gorky”, by which most readers know him, first appeared on September 12, 1892 in the Tiflis newspaper “Kavkaz” in the signature to the story “Makar Chudra”.
An interesting fact is that Gorky had another pseudonym with which he sometimes signed his works: Yehudiel Chlamida.
Special signs of Maxim Gorky Abroad
Having received a certain fame, Gorky went to America, and after that - to Italy. His moves have nothing to do with politics, but are dictated exclusively by family circumstances.
In fairness, it must be said that Gorky's entire biography is permeated with constant trips abroad.
Only at the end of his life did he stop being in continuous travel.
Traveling, Gorky actively writes books of a revolutionary nature. In 1913 he returned to the Russian Empire and settled in St. Petersburg, working for various publishing houses.
It is interesting that although the writer himself had Marxist views, he was rather skeptical about the Great October Revolution.
After the end of the civil war, Peshkov again went abroad due to disagreements with the new government. Only in 1932 did he finally and irrevocably return to his homeland.
Creation
In 1892 Maxim Gorky published his famous story "Makar Chudra". However, the two-volume collection "Essays and Stories" brought him true fame.
It is curious that the circulation of his works was three times higher than the circulation of other writers. From under his pen, one after another came out the stories "The Old Woman Izergil", "Twenty-six and One", "Former People", as well as the poems "Song of the Petrel" and "Song of the Falcon".
In addition to serious stories, Maxim Gorky also wrote works for children. He owns many fairy tales. The most famous among them are "Samovar", "Tales of Italy", "Vorobishko" and many others.
Gorky and Tolstoy, 1900 As a result, Maria lived with him for 16 years, although their marriage was not officially registered. The busy schedule of the in-demand actress forced Gorky to leave for Italy and the United States of America several times.
Interestingly, before meeting with Gorky, Andreeva already had children: a son and a daughter. Their upbringing, as a rule, was the responsibility of the writer.
Immediately after the revolution, Maria Andreeva was seriously carried away by party activities. Because of this, she practically stopped paying attention to her husband and children.
As a result, in 1919, the relationship between them suffered a crushing fiasco.
Gorky openly told Andreeva that he was leaving for his secretary, Maria Budberg, with whom he would live for 13 years, and also in a "civil marriage."
Friends and relatives of the writer were aware that this secretary had a stormy romance on the side. In principle, this is understandable, because she was 24 years younger than her husband.
So, one of her lovers was the famous English writer -. After the death of Gorky, Andreeva immediately moved to Wells.
There is an opinion that Maria Budberg, who had a reputation as an adventurer and collaborated with the NKVD, could well have been a double agent (as), working for both Soviet and British intelligence.
Death of Gorky
The last years of his life, Maxim Gorky worked in various publishing houses. Everyone considered it an honor to publish such a famous and popular writer, whose authority was indisputable.
In 1934, Gorky holds the I All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, and speaks at it with the main report. His biography and literary activities are considered the benchmark for young talents.
In the same year, Gorky acts as a co-editor of the book "The Stalin White Sea-Baltic Canal". This work (see) described as "the first book in Russian literature, praising slave labor."
When Gorky's beloved son died unexpectedly, the writer's health deteriorated sharply. At the next visit to the grave of the deceased, he caught a serious cold.
For 3 weeks he was tormented by a fever, due to which he died on June 18, 1936. It was decided to cremate the body of the great proletarian writer, and place the ashes in the Kremlin wall on. An interesting fact is that before cremation, Gorky's brain was removed for scientific research.
Death Riddle
In later years, the question of the fact that Gorky was deliberately poisoned began to be raised more and more often. Among the suspects was People's Commissar Genrikh Yagoda, who was in love and had a relationship with Gorky's wife.
They were also suspected. During the period of repression and the sensational "Doctors' case", three doctors were accused of Gorky's death.
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Born March 16, 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 Alexei stayed with his grandfather. His grandmother became a mentor in literature, who led her grandson into the world of 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; I think I was thinking in the form of her poems. "
Gorky's childhood passed in harsh, difficult conditions. From an early age, the future writer was forced to do part-time jobs, earning a living with whatever he had to.
Education and the beginning of literary activity
In the life of Gorky, 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-study. 1887 was one of the most difficult years in Gorky's biography. Because of the troubles that had piled on him, he tried to commit suicide, nevertheless, he survived.
Traveling around the country, Gorky propagandized the revolution, for which he was taken under police surveillance, and then first arrested in 1888.
Gorky's first published story "Makar Chudra" was published in 1892. Then, the works published in 1898 in two volumes "Essays and Stories" brought the writer fame.
In 1900-1901 he wrote the novel "Three", met Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy.
In 1902, he was awarded the title of a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, but by order of Nicholas II, he was soon invalidated.
Famous works of Gorky include: the story “The Old Woman Izergil”, the plays “Bourgeois” and “At the Bottom”, the stories “Childhood” and “In People”, the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin”, which the author never finished, as well as many cycles stories.
Gorky also wrote fairy tales for children. Among them: "The Tale of Ivanushka the Fool", "Sparrow", "Samovar", "Tales of Italy" and others. Remembering his difficult childhood, Gorky paid special attention to children, organized holidays for children from poor families, and published a children's magazine.
Emigration, homecoming
In 1906, in the biography of Maxim Gorky, he moved to the United States, 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, is engaged in 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.
Last years
At home, he continues to be actively involved in writing, publishes newspapers and magazines.
Maxim Gorky died on June 18, 1936 in the village of Gorki under mysterious circumstances. It was rumored that the cause of his death was poisoning, and many blamed Stalin for this. However, this version was never confirmed.
Gorky Maxim, Russian writer, publicist, public figure
V.G. Korolenko. In 1892, Gorky first appeared in print with the story "Makar Chudra". From that moment on, he began to systematically engage in literary work. The collection "Essays and Stories" had a great resonance. In the novel "Mother" he sympathetically showed the growth of the revolutionary movement in Russia. In the play "At the Bottom" he raised the question of freedom and the purpose of man.
Many of the writer's works became a literary sensation: the autobiographical triptych "Childhood", "In People", "My Universities"; play "Yegor Bulychov and others", unfinished epic novel "The Life of Klim Samgin."
Abroad and after returning to Russia, Gorky exerted a great influence on the formation of the ideological and aesthetic principles of Soviet literature, including the theory of socialist realism.
Maxim Gorky is an outstanding Russian writer, thinker, playwright and prose writer. He was also considered the ancestor of Soviet literature. Born March 28, 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a carpenter. Quite early he was left without parents and was brought up by a despotic grandfather by nature. The boy's education lasted only two years, after which he had to quit school and go to work. Thanks to the ability for self-education and a brilliant memory, he still managed to acquire knowledge in various fields.
In 1884, the future writer tried unsuccessfully to enter Kazan University. Here he met a Marxist circle and became interested in propaganda literature. A few years later, he was arrested for communication with a circle, and then sent as a watchman to the railroad. About life during this period, he later wrote the autobiographical story "Watchman".
At the beginning of the XX century there was an acquaintance with Chekhov and Tolstoy, and also the novel "Three" was published. In the same period, Gorky became interested in drama. The plays "Bourgeois" and "At the Bottom" were published. In 1902 he was elected an honorary academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Along with literary activity until 1913 he worked in the publishing house "Knowledge". In 1906, Gorky went abroad, where he wrote satirical essays on the French and American bourgeoisie. On the Italian island of Capri, the writer spent 7 years to treat the developed tuberculosis. During this period he wrote "Confession", "Life of an Unnecessary Man", "Tales of Italy".
The second departure abroad took place in 1921. It was associated with the resumption of the disease and with the exacerbation of disagreements with the new government. For three years, Gorky lived in Germany, the Czech Republic and Finland. In 1924 he moved to Italy, where he published his memoirs about Lenin. In 1928, at the invitation of Stalin, the writer visits his homeland. In 1932 he finally returned to the USSR. During the same period, he was working on the novel The Life of Klim Samgin, which was never completed. In May 1934, the writer's son, Maxim Peshkov, unexpectedly died. Gorky himself survived his son by only two years. He died on June 18, 1936 in Gorki. The writer's ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall.
Sources: all-biography.ru, citaty.su, homeworkapple.ucoz.org, www.sdamna5.ru, vsesochineniya.ru
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Maxim Gorky, Alexey Maximovich Gorky. Real name Alexey 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, founder of Soviet literature, active participant in the revolutionary movement, public figure. One of the most popular authors at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Alias Alexei Maksimovich invented himself. Subsequently, he said: "Do not write to me in literature - Peshkov ...".
it pseudonym- phrenonym *. The pseudonym of Alexei Maksimovich characterizes not only his fate, but also the direction of his work. Thus, the life of the young Alyosha Peshkov “in people” was bitter, and he wrote about the bitter fate of the disadvantaged.
With his literary name, Alexei made the name of his father, whom he loved very much and lost early. By the same name he gave 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 loved to talk in childhood. It is also worth noting that the surname Maksimov was borne by the stepfather of A. Peshkov. Therefore, be that as it may, with the name Maxim, Gorky had a lot in 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 was then a clerk in railway workshops. This was the literary debut of Alexei Peshkov. Subsequently, he used a number of pseudonyms, but the very first of them brought world fame.
M. Gorky under the notes in "Samarskaya Gazeta" and "Nizhegorodsky leaf" (1896) he put Pacatus (peaceful), and in the collection "Red Panorama" (1928) signed Unicus (the only one). In "Samarskaya Gazeta" feuilletons "Samara in all respects" with the subtitle "Letters of a knight errant" were signed by Don Quixote (1896). bitter in the signatures to the feuilletons he often used the incognitonym N. Kh., which should have been read: "Someone X".
A number of notes by Alexei Maksimovich in the "Samarskaya Gazeta" (1895-1896), as well as the story "Nightingale" were signed by Dvaga, i.e. two "Gs" - Gorky and Gusev (journalist who provided materials for notes).
It happened that bitter performed under the name of a character of his own work. Once he used the name of a literary hero he himself had created as a pseudonym. One of his feuilletons in "The Eccentric" (1928) was signed by the Self-critic Slovotekov. This surname was borne by the character of Gorky's satirical play "The Worker Slovotekov", written by him in 1920 for the Theater of the National Comedy. About this alias bitter told the editorial staff of "Chudak" the following: "I can hardly find time to personally collaborate in your magazine, but let me recommend you a friend of mine, Samokritik Kirillovich Slovotekov. Self-critic is his real name given by his parents at birth. He is a rather old man, but a "beginner". Non-partisan. The attitude to alcohol is moderate. "
To make readers laugh bitter he came up with comic pseudonyms, choosing old, long-obsolete names in combination with an intricate surname. In his youth, Yehudiel Chlamida signed in the Samara and Saratov newspapers of the late 90s. One of the letters to his 15-year-old son reads: Your father is Polycarp Unesibozhenozhkin. On the pages of the home handwritten magazine Sorrentyiskaya Pravda (1924), he signed Metranpage Goryachkin, Invalid muses, Osip Tikhovoev, Aristid Balyk.
In literary biography Gorky there have been cases of plagiarism, or rather plagiarism "for the good", i.e. the desire of an already popular writer to help his budding colleague, without any selfish motives. In 1918, in Novaya Zhizn, it was published signed with the name M. Gorky story "Lanpochka". But it would be in vain to look for this story in the collected works of Gorky. In 1933 he told the editorial board of Sibirskiye Ogni: "The story" Lanpochka "you are asking about was written not 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 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 of the Soviet writer Leonid Leonov, poet and journalist, a man of a difficult fate, signed by Maxim Goremyka. In honor of Gorky the outstanding Belarusian poet Maksim Tank (autonym - Evgeniy Skurko) also named himself.
I wonder what when pseudonym Maxim Gorky had 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 cupboard on a steamer, as a baker, studied in an icon-painting workshop, etc.
At the age of 16 he tried to enter Kazan University. I got acquainted with Marxist literature and propaganda work. In 1888 he was arrested for communication with N. Ye. Fedoseev's circle. M. Gorky was under constant police surveillance. He worked on the railroad. In the spring of 1891 he went 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", "The Orlov Spouses" and others appeared.
In 1898 in St. Petersburg the book "Essays and Stories" was published, which had a sensational success. In 1899, the prose poem Twenty-six and One and the first big story, Foma Gordeev, appeared. 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. Bitter provided serious financial support for the revolution of 1905-1907. After the revolution due to tuberculosis bitter settles 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 indicated.
After returning to Russia in 1913 bitter writes autobiographical stories "Childhood", "In People", a cycle of stories "Across Russia" (1912-17). Edits the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda, the art department of the Bolshevik magazine Prosveshchenie, publishes the first collection of proletarian writers.
bitter he reacted with enthusiasm to the February Revolution of 1917, but he had an ambiguous attitude to the October Revolution. In 1917-1919 M. Gorky conducts great public and political work, criticizes the "methods" of the Bolsheviks, condemns their attitude towards the old intelligentsia, saves many of its representatives from the repression of the Bolsheviks and starvation.
In the fall of 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 Artamonovs Case, which became, in fact, the history of the development of capitalism in Russia.
In 1928, at the invitation of the Soviet government and personally I. Stalin, he toured the country, during which Gorky show the achievements of the USSR, which are reflected in the cycle of essays "Around 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 of Remarkable People", "History of the Civil War", "History of Factories and Plants", "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 on 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, at which many of Gorky's old friends were supposed to be accused. After his death, he was cremated, the ashes were placed in an urn in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow. Before cremation, the brain M. Gorky was extracted and taken to the Moscow Brain Institute for further study.
In the name Maxim Gorky settlements, streets, lanes and embankments, squares and parks, railway and metro stations, many theaters and libraries, film studios, universities and institutes are named. Airplanes and ships, factories and factories bore his name. In almost every city Gorky a monument was erected (there are four of them in Nizhny Novgorod alone). Town bitter- the name of Nizhny Novgorod from 1932 to 1990. Name Gorky given to a reservoir on the Volga River.