Gorky Maxim
Autobiography
A.M.Gorky
Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov, pseudonym Maxim Gorky
Born on March 14, 1869 in Nizhny Novgorod. The father is the son of a soldier, the mother is a bourgeois. My paternal grandfather was an officer, demoted by Nicholas the First for cruel treatment of lower ranks. He was such a cool man that my father ran from him five times from the age of ten to seventeen. The last time my father managed to escape from his family forever - he came on foot from Tobolsk to Nizhny and here he became an apprentice to a draper. Obviously, he had abilities and was literate, because for twenty-two years the Kolchin Shipping Company (now Karpova) appointed him as manager of its office in Astrakhan, where in 1873 he died of cholera, which he contracted from me. According to my grandmother, my father was a smart, kind and very cheerful person.
My grandfather on my mother’s side began his career as a barge hauler on the Volga, three years later he was already a clerk on the caravan of the Balakhna merchant Zaev, then he started dyeing yarn, got rich and opened a dyeing establishment in Nizhny on a broad basis. Soon he had several houses and three workshops in the city for printing and dyeing fabric, was elected to the guild foreman, served in this position for three three years, after which he refused, offended by the fact that he was not elected to the craft head. He was very religious, cruelly despotic and painfully stingy. He lived for ninety-two years and went crazy a year before his death, in 1888.
The father and mother got married with a “roll-your-own” cigarette, because the grandfather could not, of course, marry off his beloved daughter to a rootless man with a dubious future. My mother had no influence on my life, because, considering me the cause of my father’s death, she did not love me and, having soon married a second time, she completely handed me over to my grandfather, who began my upbringing with the psalter and book of hours. Then, at the age of seven, I was sent to school, where I studied for five months. I studied poorly, hated school rules, and my comrades too, because I always loved solitude. Having contracted smallpox at school, I ended my studies and never resumed it. At this time, my mother died of transient consumption, and my grandfather went bankrupt. In his family, which was very large, since two sons lived with him, married and had children, no one loved me except my grandmother, an amazingly kind and selfless old woman, whom I will remember all my life with a feeling of love and respect for her. My uncles loved to live generously, that is, to drink and eat a lot and well. When they got drunk, they usually fought among themselves or with guests, of whom we always had a lot, or beat their wives. One uncle nailed two wives into the coffin, another - one. Sometimes they beat me too. In such a situation, there can be no talk of any mental influences, especially since all my relatives are semi-literate people.
At the age of eight I was sent as a “boy” to a shoe store, but two months later I cooked my hands with boiling cabbage soup and was sent by the owner back to my grandfather. Upon recovery, I was apprenticed to a draftsman, a distant relative, but a year later, due to very difficult living conditions, I ran away from him and became an apprentice to a cook on a ship. This was a retired non-commissioned officer of the Guard, Mikhail Antonov Smury, a man of fabulous physical strength, rude, very well read; he aroused my interest in reading books. Until that time, I hated books and all kinds of printed paper, but with beatings and caresses my teacher made me convinced of the great significance of the book and made me love it. The first book I really liked was “The Legend of How a Soldier Saved Peter the Great.” Smury had a whole chest filled mostly with small volumes bound in leather, and it was the strangest library in the world. Eckarthausen lay next to Nekrasov, Anna Radcliffe - with a volume of Sovremennik, there was also Iskra for 1864, The Stone of Faith and books in the Little Russian language.
From that moment in my life I began to read everything that came to hand; At the age of ten I began to keep a diary, where I recorded impressions from life and books. My subsequent life was very varied and complex: from a cook I returned to being a draftsman, then I sold icons, served as a watchman on the Gryaz-Tsaritsyn railway, was a pretzel maker, a baker, I happened to live in slums, and went on foot to travel around Russia several times. In 1888, while living in Kazan, he first met students and participated in self-education circles; in 1890 I felt out of place among the intelligentsia and went to travel. He walked from Nizhny to Tsaritsyn, Don region, Ukraine, entered Bessarabia, from there along the southern coast of Crimea to Kuban, to the Black Sea region. In October 1892 he lived in Tiflis, where he published his first essay “Makar Chudra” in the newspaper “Kavkaz”. I was praised a lot for it, and after moving to Nizhny, I tried to write short stories for the Kazan newspaper Volzhsky Vestnik. They were readily accepted and published. I sent the essay “Emelyan Pilyai” to Russkie Vedomosti, which was also accepted and published. I should perhaps note here that the ease with which provincial newspapers publish the works of "beginners" is truly amazing, and I believe that it must testify either to the extreme kindness of the editors or to their complete lack of literary sense.
In 1895, my story “Chelkash” was published in “Russian Wealth” (book 6) - “Russian Thought” spoke about it - I don’t remember in which book. In the same year, my essay “Error” was published in “Russian Thought” - there were no reviews, it seems. In 1896, in the New Word, the essay “Melancholy” was a review in the September book “Educations”. In March of this year, the “New Dictionary” published an essay on “Konovalov.”
Until now, I have not yet written a single thing that would satisfy me, and therefore I do not save my works - ergo*: I cannot send them. It seems that there were no remarkable events in my life, but however, I have a unclear idea of what exactly should be meant by these words.
---------* Therefore (lat.)
NOTES
The autobiography was first published in the book "Russian Literature of the 20th Century", vol. 1, ed. "Mir", M. 1914.
The autobiography was written in 1897, as evidenced by the author’s note in the manuscript: “Crimea, Alupka, village of Hadji Mustafa.” M. Gorky lived in Alupka in January - May 1897.
The autobiography was written by M. Gorky at the request of the literary critic and bibliographer S.A. Vengerov.
Apparently, at the same time or somewhat later, M. Gorky wrote an autobiography, published in extracts in 1899 in the article by D. Gorodetsky “Two Portraits” (magazine “Family”, 1899, number 36, September 5):
“Born on March 14, 1868 or 9 in Nizhny, in the family of the dyer Vasily Vasilyevich Kashirin, from his daughter Varvara and the Perm tradesman Maxim Savvatiev Peshkov, by trade as a draper or upholsterer. Since then, with honor and unblemished I have carried the title of a workshop paint shop. .. My father died in Astrakhan when I was 5 years old, my mother in Kanavino-Sloboda. After my mother’s death, my grandfather sent me to a shoe store; at that time I was 9 years old and my grandfather taught me to read and write in the psalter and book of hours. From the "boys" he ran away and became an apprentice to a draftsman, - he ran away and entered an icon-painting workshop, then on a ship, as a cook, then as a gardener's assistant. He lived in these occupations until he was 15 years old, all the time diligently reading classical works of unknown authors, something like: “Guac, or irresistible loyalty”, “Andrei Fearless”, “Yapancha”, “Yashka Smertensky”, etc.
1868 - Alexey Peshkov was born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a carpenter - Maxim Savvatyevich Peshkov.
1884 – tried to enter Kazan University. Gets acquainted with Marxist literature and propaganda work.
1888 – arrested for connections with N.E. Fedoseev’s circle. Is under constant police surveillance. In October he became a watchman at the Dobrinka station of the Gryaze-Tsaritsyn Railway. Impressions from his stay in Dobrinka will serve as the basis for the autobiographical story “The Watchman” and the story “Boredom for the Sake.”
1889 , January - at personal request (complaint in verse), transferred to Borisoglebsk station, then as a weighmaster to Krutaya station.
1891 , spring - went to wander around the country and reached the Caucasus.
1892 – 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.
1897 – “Former People”, “The Orlov Spouses”, “Malva”, “Konovalov”.
1897, October - mid-January 1898 - lives in the village of Kamenka (now the city of Kuvshinovo, Tver region) in the apartment of his friend N.Z. Vasiliev, who worked at the Kamensk paper factory and led an illegal workers' Marxist circle. Life impressions of this period served as material for the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin.”
1898 – the publishing house of Dorovatsky and A.P. Charushnikov releases the first volume of Gorky’s works “Essays and Stories” in a circulation of 3,000 copies.
1899 - novel "Foma Gordeev".
1900–1901 – novel “Three”, personal acquaintance with Chekhov, Tolstoy.
1900–1913 – participates in the work of the publishing house "Znanie".
1901
, March - “Song of the Petrel” was created 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.
Turns to dramaturgy. Creates the play "The Bourgeois".
1902 - play "At the Bottom". Elected an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. But before Gorky could exercise his new rights, his election was annulled by the government, since the writer “was under police surveillance.”
1904–1905
- plays "Summer Residents", "Children of the Sun", "Barbarians". Meeting Lenin. He was arrested for a revolutionary proclamation in connection with the execution on January 9, but then released under public pressure. Participant in the revolution 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”).
The play "Enemies", the novel "Mother". Due to tuberculosis, Gorky settled in Italy on the island of Capri, where he lived for 7 years.
1907
- Delegate to the V Congress of the RSDLP.
1908 – play “The Last”, story “The Life of an Useless Person”.
1909 – stories “Town of Okurov”, “Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin”.
1913 - edits the Bolshevik newspapers "Zvezda" and "Pravda", the art department of the Bolshevik magazine "Prosveshchenie", publishes the first collection of proletarian writers. Writes "Tales of Italy".
1912–1916 - creates a series of stories and essays that make up the collection “Across Rus'”, autobiographical stories “Childhood”, “In People”. The last part of the trilogy “My Universities” was written in 1923.
1917–1919 – carries out extensive social and political work.
1921 – M. Gorky’s departure abroad.
1921–1923 – lives in Helsingfors, Berlin, Prague.
1924 – lives in Italy, in Sorrento. Published memoirs about Lenin.
1925 - the novel “The Artamonov Case”, begins to write the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin”, which was never finished.
1928 - at the invitation of the Soviet government, makes a trip around the country, during which Gorky is shown the achievements of the USSR, depicted by the writer in the series of essays “Around the Soviet Union”.
1931 – visits the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp.
1932
- returns to the Soviet Union. Under the leadership of Gorky, many newspapers and magazines were created: the book series “History of Factories and Factories”, “History of the Civil War”, “Library of the Poet”, “History of a Young Man of the 19th Century”, and the magazine “Literary Studies”.
The play "Egor Bulychev and others."
1933 - play "Dostigaev and others".
1934 – Gorky holds the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers and makes the main report at it.
(estimates: 6
, average: 3,17
out of 5)
Name: Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov
Nicknames: Maxim Gorky, Yehudiel Chlamida
Birthday: March 16, 1868
Place of Birth: Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire
Date of death: June 18, 1936
A place of death: Gorki, Moscow region, RSFSR, USSR
Biography of Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky was born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1868. In fact, the writer’s name was Alexey, but his father was Maxim, and the writer’s last name was Peshkov. The father worked as a simple carpenter, so the family could not be called wealthy. At the age of 7 he went to school, but after a couple of months he had to quit his studies due to smallpox. As a result, the boy received a home education, and he also studied all subjects independently.
Gorky had a rather difficult childhood. His parents died too early, and the boy lived with his grandfather 
, who had a very difficult character. Already at the age of 11, the future writer set out to earn his living, working part-time in a bread store or in a canteen on a ship.
In 1884, Gorky found himself in Kazan and tried to get an education, but this attempt failed, and he had to work hard again to earn money to feed himself. At the age of 19, Gorky even tries to commit suicide due to poverty and fatigue.
Here he becomes interested in Marxism and tries to agitate. In 1888 he was arrested for the first time. He gets a job at an iron job where the authorities keep a close eye on him.
In 1889, Gorky returned to Nizhny Novgorod and got a job as a clerk for lawyer Lanin. It was during this period that he wrote “The Song of the Old Oak” and turned to Korolenko to evaluate the work.
In 1891, Gorky went to travel around the country. His story “Makar Chudra” was published for the first time in Tiflis.
In 1892, Gorky again travels to Nizhny Novgorod and returns to the service of lawyer Lanin. Here he is already published in many publications in Samara and Kazan. In 1895 he moved to Samara. At this time he actively wrote and his works were constantly published. The two-volume “Essays and Stories,” published in 1898, is in great demand and is very actively discussed and criticized. In the period from 1900 to 1901 he met Tolstoy and Chekhov.
In 1901, Gorky created his first plays “The Bourgeois” and “At the Depths”. They were very popular, and “The Bourgeois” was even staged in Vienna and Berlin. The writer has already become famous internationally. From this moment on, his works are translated into different languages of the world, and he and his works become the object of close attention of foreign critics.
Gorky became a participant in the revolution in 1905, and since 1906 he has left his country due to political events. He has lived on the Italian island of Capri for a long time. Here he writes the novel “Mother”. This work influenced the emergence of a new direction in literature, like socialist realism.
In 1913, Maxim Gorky was finally able to return to his homeland. During this period, he actively worked on his autobiography. He also works as an editor for two newspapers. At the same time, he gathered proletarian writers around him and published a collection of their works.
The period of the revolution in 1917 was controversial for Gorky. As a result, he joins the ranks of the Bolsheviks, even despite doubts and torment. However, he does not support some of their views and actions. In particular, regarding the intelligentsia. Thanks to Gorky, most of the intelligentsia in those days avoided starvation and painful death. 
In 1921, Gorky left his country. There is a version that he does this because Lenin was too worried about the health of the great writer, whose tuberculosis had worsened. However, the reason could also be Gorky’s contradictions with the authorities. He lived in Prague, Berlin and Sorrento.
When Gorky turned 60, Stalin himself invited him to the USSR. The writer was given a warm welcome. He traveled around the country, where he spoke at meetings and rallies. They honor him in every possible way and take him to the Communist Academy.
In 1932, Gorky returned to the USSR for good. He is very active in literary activities, organizes the All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, and publishes a large number of newspapers.
In 1936, terrible news spread throughout the country: Maxim Gorky left this world. The writer caught a cold when he visited his son’s grave. However, there is an opinion that both the son and the father were poisoned because of their political views, but this has never been proven.
Documentary
We bring to your attention a documentary film, a biography of Maxim Gorky.
Bibliography of Maxim Gorky
Novels
1899
Foma Gordeev
1900-1901
Three
1906
Mother (second edition - 1907)
1925
Artamonov case
1925-1936
Life of Klim Samgin
Stories
1908
The life of an unnecessary person
1908
Confession
1909
Okurov town
Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin
1913-1914
Childhood
1915-1916
In people
1923
My universities
Stories, essays
1892
The Girl and Death
1892
Makar Chudra
1895
Chelkash
Old Isergil
1897
Former people
The Orlov couple
Mallow
Konovalov
1898
Essays and stories (collection)
1899
Song of the Falcon (prose poem)
Twenty six and one
1901
Song of the Petrel (prose poem)
1903
Man (prose poem)
1913
Tales of Italy
1912-1917
In Rus' (cycle of stories)
1924
Stories from 1922-1924
1924
Notes from a diary (series of stories)
Plays
1901
Bourgeois
1902
At the bottom
1904
Summer residents
1905
Children of the Sun
Barbarians
1906
Enemies
1910
Vassa Zheleznova (reworked in December 1935)
1915
Old man
1930-1931
Somov and others
1932
Egor Bulychov and others
1933
Dostigaev and others
Journalism
1906
My interviews
In America" (pamphlets)
1917-1918
series of articles “Untimely Thoughts” in the newspaper “New Life”
1922
About the Russian peasantry
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 play “At the Depths” is considered the pinnacle of his early work. In 1902, it was staged at the Moscow Art Theater by 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 to the revolution 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 by the 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 the October Revolution of 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 since 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
The real name of Maxim Gorky is Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov. The future writer was born and spent his childhood in Nizhny Novgorod. His father was a cabinetmaker, his mother was a tradeswoman. After the death of Gorky's father, his mother returned to her parents' home.
Alyosha was orphaned early - at the age of 10 he lost his mother. Her relatives were involved in her upbringing: grandmother Akulina Ivanovna and grandfather Vasily Vasilyevich Kashirin. My grandfather ran a dyeing shop. But soon he went bankrupt, and Alyosha had to go public.
From an early age, he was faced with the difficulties of life that could destroy everything human in the boy. While serving among people, he was often beaten for his passion for reading. After working in various non-honorary positions, in 1884 he went to Kazan, where he wanted to enter the university. But there was no money for study, so here I had to try different professions.
He walked all over Russia. Later, his wanderings will provide rich material for a cycle of tramp stories. While still in Kazan, Alexey met revolutionary-minded students and began to take part in the work of a Marxist circle. He soon became unreliable in the eyes of the authorities.
Early creativity
Gorky began his path in literature with the story “Makar Chudra,” published on September 12, 1892. Over the next three years, the stories “Chelkash”, “Old Woman Izergil”, and “Song of the Falcon” were written. Six years later, a book of essays and stories was published, bringing the author national fame. At the beginning of the 20th century, Alexey Maksimovich turned to drama. Over the course of 5 years, his plays “Bourgeois”, “Summer Residents”, “At the Lower Depths” and others appeared.
The writer was engaged in active social activities and contributed to the growing revolutionary movement. For this, he was repeatedly harassed by the police and arrested. But this did not prevent him from becoming an honorary academician of fine literature in 1902. However, by order of Nicholas II this election was annulled. As a sign of protest, Korolenko and Chekhov also renounced their titles.
First migration
After the events of 1905 and the harsh response from the authorities, Gorky migrated. He visited America and France, lived in Italy until 1913. But he did not stop writing during his travels. Gorky continued to support the Bolshevik Party. Alexei Maksimovich was able to return to his homeland only after the announcement of an amnesty dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Gorky tried to develop the self-awareness of the new Russia. But soon the writer realized that the revolution could not spiritually enrich or at least heal the country. Gorky condemned all terror and plunder of cultural property. This is precisely what a collection of his articles entitled “Untimely Thoughts” was written about.
Alexey Maksimovich, taking advantage of his acquaintance with Lenin, tried in every possible way to help cultural and scientific figures and support them financially. But it was not always possible to protect everyone. Alexander Blok died, Gumilev was shot.
Second migration
Outraged by the lawlessness occurring in his native land, on October 16, 1921, Gorky left the country for treatment of his lungs. In essence, it was emigration again. He was in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italy. But Gorky did not cease to be keenly interested in the events taking place in Russia, and spoke in the press condemning the “Red Terror.”
At the same time, the writer was engaged in a lot of literary work. He finished the trilogy “My Universities”, wrote the novel “The Artamonov Case”, began working on the book “The Life of Klim Samgin”, the writing of which continued until his death.
After some time, Alexey Maksimovich nevertheless decides to accept the invitation to return to his homeland. His return was supposed to serve to strengthen the international authority of the Soviet Union. In the year of his 60th birthday, Gorky makes a test trip. Along the entire route, the world-famous writer is given ceremonial receptions; crowds of people with flowers greet him.
Gorky was shown the most attractive part of Soviet reality. Being an emotional person, he was delighted by the warm welcome and the achievements that the country had achieved during his absence. The desire to return grew stronger within him. In 1933, Gorky finally returned to the country, taking the place of the head of all Soviet literature. He was able to organize and hold the first congress of Soviet writers and formulate the main principles of the new creative method of socialist realism.
Gorky's activities and position in the last period of his life are somewhat contradictory. The writer cared about the development of culture, but for some reason did not notice the ongoing repression. In 1936, Alexei Maksimovich passed away. He died from a lung disease that he could not cure.
- “Childhood”, a summary of the chapters of the story by Maxim Gorky