Essay “The writer's fate of Gorky. Early creativity and success

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 don’t read, but because not everyone knows and remembers that this is for everyone famous writer Maxim Gorky. And if you decide to complicate the task even more, then ask about the works of Alexey Peshkov. Only a few here will remember what it is real name Alexei Gorky. He was not just a writer, but also an active one. As you already understand, we will talk about a truly national writer - Maxim Gorky.

Childhood and adolescence

Years of life of Gorky (Peshkov) Alexei Maksimovich - 1868-1936. They came at an important time historical era. The biography of Alexei Gorky is rich in events, starting from his childhood. The writer's hometown is Nizhny Novgorod. His father, a manager of a shipping company, died when the boy was only 3 years old. After the death of her husband, Alyosha's mother remarried. She died when he was 11 years old. Further education Little Alexei's grandfather took care of him.

As an 11 year old boy, future writer already “went public” - he earned his own bread. He worked in all sorts of jobs: he was a baker, he worked as a delivery boy in a store, and as a dishwasher in a cafeteria. 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 attempted suicide, which he associated with difficult experiences caused by the news of his grandmother’s death. Fortunately, he survived - the bullet did not hit his heart, but damaged his lungs, which caused problems with the functioning of the respiratory system.

The life of the future writer was not easy, and he, unable to bear it, ran away from home. The boy wandered around the country a lot, saw the whole truth of life, but miraculously 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 tried to enter Kazan University, but because of his financial situation finds out that this is impossible. During this period, the future writer begins to gravitate toward romantic philosophy, according to which, ideal man doesn't look like a real person. Then he became acquainted with Marxist theory and became a supporter of new ideas.

The appearance of a pseudonym

In 1888, the writer was arrested for a short period of time for connections with the Marxist circle of N. Fedoseev. In 1891, he decided to start traveling around Russia and was eventually able to reach the Caucasus. Alexey Maksimovich was constantly engaged in self-education, saving and expanding his knowledge in different areas. He agreed to any job and carefully preserved all his impressions; they later appeared in his very first stories. He subsequently called this period “My Universities.”

In 1892, Gorky returned to his native place 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", which published his story "Makar Chudra".

The pseudonym was not chosen by chance: it hinted at the “bitter” Russian life and that the writer would write only the truth, no matter how bitter it may be. Maxim Gorky saw life common people and with his character, he could not help but notice the injustice that was on the part of the rich classes.

Early creativity and success

Alexei Gorky was actively involved in propaganda, for which he was under constant police control. With the help of V. Korolenko, in 1895 his story “Chelkash” was published in the largest Russian magazine. Next, “Old Woman Izergil” and “Song of the Falcon” were published. They were not special from a literary point of view, but they successfully coincided with 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 the 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 “The Bourgeois”, “At the Depths”, “Children of the Sun”, “Summer Residents” were written. His most early works did not have any social orientation, but the characters had their own types and a special attitude to life, which the readers really liked.

Revolutionary activities

The writer Alexei Gorky was an ardent supporter of Marxist social democracy and in 1901 wrote “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, and in the same year he was elected a member of the Imperial Academy in the category belles lettres was cancelled.

The writer was also an excellent organizer: from 1901 he was the head of the Znanie publishing house, which published best writers that period. He supported the revolutionary movement not only spiritually, but also financially. The writer's apartment was used as a headquarters for revolutionaries before important events. Lenin even performed at his apartment in St. Petersburg. Afterwards, in 1905, Maxim Gorky, due to fears 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 collected funds for the Bolshevik struggle. At the very beginning, he was greeted there friendly: the writer made acquaintance with Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain. It is published in America famous novel"Mother". However, later Americans began to resent his political actions.

Between 1906 and 1907, Gorky lived on the island of Capri, from where he continued to support the Bolsheviks. At the same time he creates special theory"god-building". The point was that moral and cultural values much more important than political ones. This theory formed the basis of the novel "Confession". Although Lenin rejected these beliefs, the writer continued to adhere to them.

Return to Russia

In 1913, Alexey 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 deteriorated, 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 then in 1918 he recognized his beliefs as erroneous and returned to the Bolsheviks. In 1921, despite a personal meeting with Lenin, he failed to save his friend, the poet Nikolai Gumilyov, from execution. After this he leaves Bolshevik Russia.

Repeated emigration

Due to the intensification of attacks of tuberculosis and according to Lenin, Alexey Maksimovich leaves Russia for Italy, to the city of Sorrento. There he completes his autobiographical trilogy. The author was in exile until 1928, but continued to maintain contacts with the Soviet Union.

He does not give up writing, but writes in accordance with new literary trends. Far from his homeland, he wrote the novel “The Artamonov Case” and short stories. An extensive work, “The Life of Klim Samgin,” was begun, which the writer did not have time to finish. In connection with Lenin's death, Gorky writes a book of memoirs about the leader.

Return to homeland and last years of life

Alexei Gorky came to the Soviet Union several times, but did not stay there. In 1928, during a trip around the country, he was shown the “ceremonial” 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 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 died, and on June 18, 1936, under circumstances that were not fully understood, Maxim Gorky died. IN last path The people's writer was seen off by the entire leadership of the country. 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 description ordinary people. After all, no one before him had described in 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 people's love.

His faith in man can be traced in his early works; he believed that man 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, his characters memorable, and made Gorky himself a writer of workers.

Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov (better known as literary pseudonym Maxim Gorky, March 16 (28), 1868 – June 18, 1936) - Russian and Soviet writer, public figure, founder of the style of socialist realism.

Childhood and youth of Maxim Gorky

Gorky was born in Nizhny Novgorod. His father, Maxim Peshkov, died in 1871, in recent years During his life he worked as a manager of the Astrakhan shipping office of Kolchin. When Alexei was 11 years old, his mother also died. The boy was then brought up in the house of his maternal grandfather, Kashirin, a bankrupt owner of a dyeing workshop. The stingy grandfather early forced young Alyosha to “go among the people,” that is, to earn money on his own. He had to work as a store delivery boy, a baker, and wash dishes in a cafeteria. These early years Gorky later described his life in “Childhood,” the first part of his autobiographical trilogy. In 1884, Alexey unsuccessfully tried to enter Kazan University.

Gorky's grandmother, unlike his grandfather, was a kind and religious woman and an excellent storyteller. Alexey Maksimovich himself associated his suicide attempt in December 1887 with difficult feelings about his grandmother’s death. Gorky shot himself, but remained alive: the bullet missed his heart. She, however, seriously damaged her lung, and the writer suffered from respiratory weakness all his life.

In 1888 Gorky was on short time arrested for connections with the Marxist circle of N. Fedoseev. In the spring of 1891 he set off to wander around Russia and reached the Caucasus. Expanding his knowledge through self-education, getting temporary work either as a loader or a night watchman, Gorky accumulated impressions, which he later used to write his first stories. He called this period of his life “My Universities.”

In 1892, 24-year-old Gorky returned to his native place and began to collaborate as a journalist in several provincial publications. Alexey Maksimovich initially wrote under the pseudonym Yehudiel Chlamys (which, translated from Hebrew and Greek, gives some associations with “cloak and dagger”), but soon came up with another one - Maxim Gorky, hinting at “bitter” Russian life, and the desire to write only the “bitter truth.” He first used the name “Gorky” in correspondence for the Tiflis newspaper “Caucasus”.

Maxim Gorky. Video

Gorky's literary debut and his first steps in politics

In 1892, Maxim Gorky’s first story “Makar Chudra” appeared. It was followed by “Chelkash”, “Old Woman Izergil” (see summary and full text), “Song of the Falcon” (1895), “ Former people"(1897), etc. All of them were not distinguished not so much by great artistic merit as by exaggerated pompous pathos, but they successfully coincided with new Russian political trends. Until the mid-1890s, the left-wing Russian intelligentsia worshiped the Narodniks, who idealized the peasantry. But from the second half of this decade, Marxism began to gain increasing popularity in radical circles. Marxists proclaimed that the dawn of a bright future would be ignited by the proletariat and the poor. Lumpen tramps were the main characters of Maxim Gorky's stories. Society began to vigorously applaud them as a new fictional fashion.

In 1898, Gorky's first collection, Essays and Stories, was published. He was a resounding (albeit completely inexplicable in terms of literary talent) success. Public and creative career Gorky took off sharply. He depicted the life of beggars from the very bottom of society (“tramps”), depicting their difficulties and humiliations with strong exaggeration, intensely introducing feigned pathos of “humanity” into his stories. Maxim Gorky gained a reputation as the only literary exponent of the interests of the working class, a defender of the idea of ​​a radical social, political and cultural transformation of Russia. His work was praised by intellectuals and “conscious” workers. Gorky struck up close acquaintances with Chekhov and Tolstoy, although their attitude towards him was not always clear.

Gorky acted as a staunch supporter of Marxist social democracy, openly hostile to “tsarism.” In 1901, he wrote “Song of the Petrel,” an open call for revolution. For drawing up a proclamation calling for “the fight against autocracy,” he was arrested and expelled from Nizhny Novgorod that same year. Maxim Gorky became a close friend of many revolutionaries, including Lenin, whom he first met in 1902. He became even more famous when he exposed him as the author of the "Protocols" Elders of Zion» security officer Matvey Golovinsky. Golovinsky then had to leave Russia. When Gorky's election (1902) to a member of the Imperial Academy in the category of belles-lettres was annulled by the government, academicians A.P. Chekhov and V.G. Korolenko also resigned as a sign of solidarity.

Maxim Gorky

In 1900-1905 Gorky's work became more and more optimistic. Of his works from this period of his life, several plays that are closely related to public issues. The most famous of them is “At the Bottom” (see its full text and summary). Staged not without censorship difficulties in Moscow (1902), it had great success, and was then given throughout Europe and the United States. Maxim Gorky became increasingly close to the political opposition. During the revolution of 1905, he was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg for his play “Children of the Sun,” which was formally dedicated to the cholera epidemic of 1862, but clearly hinted at current events. Gorky’s “official” companion in 1904-1921 was the former actress Maria Andreeva - a long-time Bolshevik, who became the director of theaters after the October Revolution.

Having become rich thanks to his writing, Maxim Gorky provided financial support to the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party ( RSDLP), while supporting liberal calls for civic and social reform. The death of many people during the demonstration on January 9, 1905 (“Bloody Sunday”) apparently gave impetus to Gorky’s even greater radicalization. Without openly aligning himself with the Bolsheviks and Lenin, he agreed with them on most issues. During the December armed rebellion in Moscow in 1905, the headquarters of the rebels was located in the apartment of Maxim Gorky, not far from Moscow University. At the end of the uprising, the writer left for St. Petersburg. A meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, chaired by Lenin, took place at his apartment in this city, which decided to stop the armed struggle for now. A.I. Solzhenitsyn writes (“March of the Seventeenth,” ch. 171) that Gorky “in 1905, in his Moscow apartment during the days of the uprising, kept thirteen Georgian vigilantes, and he made bombs.”

Fearing arrest, Alexey Maksimovich fled to Finland, from where he left for Western Europe. From Europe he traveled to the United States to raise funds in support of the Bolshevik Party. It was during this trip that Gorky began to write his famous novel"Mother", which was first released on English in London, and then in Russian (1907). The theme of this very tendentious work is the joining of the revolution by a simple working woman after the arrest of her son. In America, Gorky was initially greeted with open arms. He met Theodore Roosevelt And Mark Twain. However, then the American press began to be outraged by the high-profile political actions of Maxim Gorky: he sent a telegram of support to the union leaders Haywood and Moyer, who was accused of murdering the governor of Idaho. The newspapers also did not like the fact that the writer was accompanied on the trip not by his wife Ekaterina Peshkova, but by his mistress, Maria Andreeva. Strongly wounded by all this, Gorky began to condemn the “bourgeois spirit” in his work even more vehemently.

Gorky in Capri

Having returned from America, Maxim Gorky decided not to return to Russia yet, because he could be arrested there for his connection with the Moscow uprising. From 1906 to 1913 he lived on the Italian island of Capri. From there, Alexey Maksimovich continued to support the Russian left, especially the Bolsheviks; he wrote novels and essays. Together with Bolshevik emigrants Alexander Bogdanov and A. V. Lunacharsky Gorky created an intricate philosophical system called " god-building" It claimed to develop from revolutionary myths a “socialist spirituality”, with the help of which enriched with strong passions and new moral values humanity will be able to get rid of evil, suffering and even death. Although these philosophical quests were rejected by Lenin, Maxim Gorky continued to believe that “culture,” that is, moral and spiritual values, was more important to the success of the revolution than political and economic measures. This theme lies at the heart of his novel Confession (1908).

Return of Gorky to Russia (1913-1921)

Taking advantage of the amnesty given for the 300th anniversary Romanov dynasty, Gorky returned to Russia in 1913 and continued his active social and literary activity. During this period of his life, he guided young writers from the people and wrote the first two parts of his autobiographical trilogy - “Childhood” (1914) and “In People” (1915-1916).

In 1915 Gorky, together with a number of other prominent Russian writers participated in the publication of the journalistic collection “Shield”, the purpose of which was to protect Jewry allegedly oppressed in Russia. Speaking at the Progressive Circle at the end of 1916, Gorky, “dedicated his two-hour speech to all sorts of spitting on the entire Russian people and exorbitant praise of Jewry,” says progressive Duma member Mansyrev, one of the founders of the Circle.” (See A. Solzhenitsyn. Two hundred years together. Chapter 11.)

During First World War his St. Petersburg apartment again served as a meeting place for the Bolsheviks, but in the revolutionary year of 1917 his relations with them worsened. Two weeks after the October Revolution of 1917, Maxim Gorky wrote:

However, as the Bolshevik regime strengthened, Maxim Gorky became more and more depressed and increasingly refrained from criticism. On August 31, 1918, having learned about the assassination attempt on Lenin, Gorky and Maria Andreeva sent a joint telegram to him: “We are terribly upset, we are worried. We sincerely wish you a speedy recovery, be of good spirits.” Alexey Maksimovich achieved a personal meeting with Lenin, which he described as follows: “I realized that I was mistaken, went to Ilyich and openly admitted my mistake.” Together with a number of other writers who joined the Bolsheviks, Gorky created the World Literature publishing house under the People's Commissariat of Education. It planned to publish the best classical works, however, in an environment of terrible devastation, almost nothing could be done. Gorky, however, started love affair with one of the employees of the new publishing house - Maria Benkendorf. It continued for many years.

Gorky's second stay in Italy (1921-1932)

In August 1921, Gorky, despite a personal appeal to Lenin, could not save his friend, the poet Nikolai Gumilyov, from execution by the security officers. In October of the same year, the writer left Bolshevik Russia and lived in German resorts, completing there the third part of his autobiography, “My Universities” (1923). He then returned to Italy "for treatment of tuberculosis." While living in Sorrento (1924), Gorky maintained contacts with his homeland. After 1928, Alexey Maksimovich came to the Soviet Union several times until he accepted Stalin’s offer to finally return to his homeland (October 1932). According to some literary scholars, the reason for the return was the writer’s political convictions, his long-standing sympathies for the Bolsheviks, however, there is a more reasonable opinion that main role Gorky’s desire to get rid of debts incurred while living abroad played a role here.

The last years of Gorky's life (1932-1936)

Even while visiting the USSR in 1929, Maxim Gorky made a trip to the Solovetsky special purpose camp and wrote a laudatory article about Soviet punitive system, although I received detailed information from camp inmates on Solovki about the terrible cruelties that were happening there. This case is in “The Gulag Archipelago” by A. I. Solzhenitsyn. In the West, Gorky's article about the Solovetsky camp aroused stormy criticism, and he began to bashfully explain that he was under pressure from Soviet censors. The writer's departure from fascist Italy and return to the USSR was widely used by communist propaganda. Shortly before arriving in Moscow, Gorky published (March 1932) in Soviet newspapers article “Who are you with, masters of culture?” Designed in the style of Lenin-Stalin propaganda, it called on writers, artists and performers to put their creativity at the service of the communist movement.

Upon returning to the USSR, Alexei Maksimovich received the Order of Lenin (1933) and was elected head of the Union of Soviet Writers (1934). The government provided him with a luxurious mansion in Moscow, which belonged to millionaire Nikolai Ryabushinsky before the revolution (now the Gorky Museum), as well as a fashionable dacha in the Moscow region. During demonstrations, Gorky climbed to the podium of the mausoleum along with Stalin. One of the main Moscow streets, Tverskaya, was renamed in honor of the writer, as well as his hometown, Nizhny Novgorod (which again found its historical name only in 1991, during the collapse Soviet Union). The largest aircraft in the world, the ANT-20, which was built by Tupolev's bureau in the mid-1930s, was named "Maxim Gorky". There are numerous photographs of the writer with members of the Soviet government. All these honors came at a price. Gorky put his creativity at the service of Stalinist propaganda. In 1934, he co-edited a book that celebrated the slave labor built White Sea-Baltic Canal and convinced that in the Soviet “correctional” camps a successful “reforging” of the former “enemies of the proletariat” was taking place.

Maxim Gorky on the podium of the mausoleum. Nearby are Kaganovich, Voroshilov and Stalin

There is, however, information that all this lie cost Gorky considerable mental anguish. The higher-ups knew about the writer’s hesitations. After the murder Kirov in December 1934 and the gradual deployment by Stalin " Great Terror"Gorky actually found himself under house arrest in his luxurious mansion. In May 1934, his 36-year-old son Maxim Peshkov unexpectedly died, and on June 18, 1936, Gorky himself died of pneumonia. Stalin, who carried the writer’s coffin with Molotov during his funeral, said that Gorky was poisoned by “enemies of the people.” Charges of poisoning were brought against prominent participants in the Moscow trials of 1936-1938. and were considered proven there. Former head OGPU And NKVD, Genrikh Yagoda, admitted that he organized the murder of Maxim Gorky on the orders of Trotsky.

Joseph Stalin and Writers. Maxim Gorky

Gorky's cremated ashes were buried near the Kremlin wall. The writer’s brain had previously been removed from his body and sent “for study” to a Moscow research institute.

Evaluation of Gorky's work

IN Soviet times, before and after the death of Maxim Gorky, government propaganda carefully obscured his ideological and creative throwing, ambiguous relations with the leaders of Bolshevism in different periods life. The Kremlin presented him as the largest Russian writer of his time, a native of the people, true friend Communist Party and father " socialist realism" Statues and portraits of Gorky were distributed throughout the country. Russian dissidents saw Gorky's work as the embodiment of a slippery compromise. In the West, they emphasized the constant fluctuations in his views on the Soviet system, recalling Gorky’s repeated criticism of the Bolshevik regime.

Gorky saw literature not so much as a way of artistic and aesthetic self-expression, but as a moral and political activity with the goal of changing the world. Being the author of novels, short stories, autobiographical essays and plays, Alexey Maksimovich also wrote many treatises and reflections: articles, essays, memoirs about politicians (for example, Lenin), about people of art (Tolstoy, Chekhov, etc.).

Gorky himself argued that the center of his work was a deep belief in the value of the human person, glorification human dignity and inflexibility in the midst of life's hardships. The writer saw in himself a “restless soul” that strives to find a way out of the contradictions of hope and skepticism, love of life and disgust at the petty vulgarity of others. However, both the style of Maxim Gorky’s books and the details of his social biography convince: these claims were mostly feigned.

Gorky's life and work reflected the tragedy and confusion of his extremely ambiguous time, when the promises of a complete revolutionary transformation of the world only masked the selfish thirst for power and bestial cruelty. It has long been recognized that from a purely literary point of view, most of Gorky’s works are rather weak. Best quality His autobiographical stories are different, where realistic and scenic painting Russian life late XIX century.

Preview:

Subject. M. Gorky. Life, creativity, personality.

Target: Introduce students to the main stages of biography and creative path M. Gorky.

Progress of the lesson.

I. Introductory word.

The name of M. Gorky (present Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov (1868 - 1936)) is known to everyone. Gorky is the founder of the literature of socialist realism, literary critic and publicist, initiator of the creation and first chairman of the Union of Writers of the USSR. We know about his childhood and youth from the autobiographical stories “Childhood”, “In People”, “My Universities”.

II. Compiling a table with biographical data.

In the family of a cabinetmaker.

1871 The Peshkovs move to Astrakhan, where his father dies.

1873 – 1878 Alexey and his mother live with his grandfather, who teaches him to read and write. He studies at the Nizhny Novgorod Sloboda Kunavinsky Primary School while working part-time.

1879 Mother died.

1879 – 1884 Grandfather sends Alyosha “to the people”: he worked as a delivery boy in a store, as a servant, as a cook on ships, and as a student at an icon-painting workshop. Very

I read a lot, and later discovered the world of Russian literary classics.

1884 Leaves for Kazan. Tries unsuccessfully to enter university. Works on the piers. Attends meetings of revolutionary youth.

1887 December 12 As a result of the discord between dream and reality, Peshkov tries to commit suicide. (Later, experiences over these years gave rise to an autobiographical

Prose.)

1. gg. Meet V.G. Korolenko.

Traveled around the Volga region, Don, Ukraine, Crimea,

Caucasus. Came to Tiflis. On the advice of Narodnaya Volya member A.M. Kalyuzhina begins to write.

The story "Makar Chudra" under a pseudonym

M. Gorky.

1895 The Samara Gazeta, with which Gorky collaborated, published the story “Old Woman Izergil.” In the magazine " Russian wealth"The story "Chelkash" is published. The first conversations about Gorky begin in criticism.

1898 The book “Essays and Stories” is published. He sends it to A.P. Chekhov, with whom a correspondence begins.

1899 The magazine “Life” publishes the story “Foma Gordeev”.

1900 Meet L. Tolstoy in Moscow.

1901 Participates in a demonstration in St. Petersburg on the square near the Kazan Cathedral. Arrested and prosecuted for revolutionary activity. L. Tolstoy is trying to get Gorky released for health reasons. Released after a monthunder house arrest.

1902 In Moscow art theater– the first performance of “At the Depths”.

1905 Actively participates in revolutionary movement. Speaks at a rally in St. Petersburg, calling for a fight against autocracy. Arrested and imprisoned Peter and Paul Fortress. Released on bail. Meet Lenin.

1906 Working on the novel "Mother". Writes a number of revolutionary notes. Goes to America on a party assignment. He leaves for Capri and remains there until 1913. He works and lectures on Russian literature.

1913-1914 Working on the play “Counterfeit Coin” and autobiographical story"Childhood".

Lives in Finland, St. Petersburg, Moscow. Working on the story “In People”.

1917 In the newspaper Novaya Zhizn, Gorky negatively assesses the victory of the October Revolution.

1921 Lenin insists on Gorky's departure abroad. Leaves for Helsingfors.

1925 – 1927 Lives in Sorrento, Naples. Completes the “Artamonov Case”. He is working on the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin.” Printed.

1933 Returns to the USSR.

1934 Working on 4 volume "Samgin". Opens I All-Union Congress writers. Gorky as chairman.

III. Characteristic early stage writer's creativity.

Gorky's early stories are romantic in nature.

– Let’s remember what romanticism is. Name the romantic features of the stories you read.

Romanticism – a special type of creativity, characteristic feature which is the display and reproduction of life outside the real concrete connections of a person with surrounding reality, a depiction of an exceptional personality, often lonely and not satisfied with the present, striving for a distant ideal and therefore in sharp conflict with society, with people.

At the center of Gorky's narrative is usually a romantic hero - a proud, strong, freedom-loving, lonely man. The action takes place in an unusual, often exotic setting: gypsy camp, in communication with the elements and the natural world - sea, mountains, coastal rocks. Often the action is transferred to legendary times.

- Let's remember romantic works Pushkin and Lermontov. (“Gypsies” by Pushkin, “Mtsyri”, “Demon” by Lermontov)

Distinctive Features romantic images Gorky - proud defiance of fate and daring love of freedom, integrity of nature and heroic character. Without freedom there is no happiness for the hero; it is more valuable than life itself. IN romantic stories embodied the writer's observations of contradictions human soul and a dream of beauty. Makar Chudra says: “They are funny, those people of yours. They are huddled together and crushing each other, and there is so much space on earth...” Old woman Izergil almost echoes him: “And I see that people are not living, but everyone is trying on.”

The hero's ideal world is opposed to the real, contradictory and far from the romantic ideal. These are the heroes of the early romantic stories Gorky. Makar Chudra appears in a romantic landscape.

– Give examples to prove this

(The hero is surrounded by “cold waves of wind”, “the darkness of the autumn night”, “boundless steppe”, “endless sea”).

Let us pay attention to the animation of the landscape, to its breadth, which symbolizes the boundlessness of the hero’s freedom, his reluctance to exchange it for anything.

In a romantic landscape appears and main character story “Old Woman Izergil”: “The wind flowed in a wide, even wave...”

In the story "Chelkash" seascape described several times: in the light of the bright sun, in the dark at night. It is in such a landscape – seaside, night, mysterious and beautiful – that Gorky’s heroes can realize themselves. It is said about Chelkash: “At sea, a wide, warm feeling always rose in him - embracing his entire soul, it cleansed him a little from everyday filth. He appreciated this and loved to see himself as the best here, among the water and air, where thoughts about life and life itself always lose - the first - their sharpness, the second - their value. But at night the soft sound of his sleepy breath floats over the sea, this immense sound infuses calm into a person’s soul and, gently taming its evil impulses, gives birth to powerful dreams in it...”

– What are the main character traits? romantic heroes Gorky?

(Makar Chudra carries in his character the only principle that he considers most valuable: the maximalist desire for freedom. The same principle is in the character of Chelkash. Distinctive feature Izergil is her confidence that her whole life was subordinated to love for people, but freedom was above all for her.

The heroes of the legends told by M. Chudra and S. Izergil also embody the desire for freedom. Freedom and freedom are more valuable to them than anything in the world. Radda is the highest, exceptional manifestation of pride, which even love for Loiko Zobar cannot break. The insoluble contradiction between love and pride is considered by Makar Chudra as completely natural, and it can only be resolved by death.)

IV. Summing up. Homework.

Alexey Peshkov, better known as the writer Maxim Gorky, for Russian and Soviet literature iconic figure. He was nominated five times Nobel Prize, was the most published Soviet author throughout the existence of the USSR and was considered on a par with Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin and the main creator of Russian literary art.

Alexey Peshkov - future Maxim Gorky | Pandia

He was born in the town of Kanavino, which at that time was located in the Nizhny Novgorod province, and is now one of the districts of Nizhny Novgorod. His father Maxim Peshkov was a carpenter, and in the last years of his life he ran a shipping company. Vasilievna’s mother died of consumption, so Alyosha Peshkova’s parents were replaced by her grandmother Akulina Ivanovna. From the age of 11, the boy was forced to start working: Maxim Gorky was a messenger at a store, a barman on a ship, an assistant to a baker and an icon painter. The biography of Maxim Gorky is reflected by him personally in the stories “Childhood”, “In People” and “My Universities”.

Photo of Gorky in his youth | Poetic portal

After an unsuccessful attempt to become a student at Kazan University and arrest due to connections with a Marxist circle, the future writer became a guard at railway. And at the age of 23, the young man set off to wander around the country and managed to reach the Caucasus on foot. It was during this journey that Maxim Gorky briefly wrote down his thoughts, which would later become the basis for his future works. By the way, the first stories of Maxim Gorky also began to be published around that time.

Alexey Peshkov, who took the pseudonym Gorky | Nostalgia

Having already become a famous writer, Alexey Peshkov leaves for the United States, then moves to Italy. This did not happen at all because of problems with the authorities, as some sources sometimes present, but because of changes in family life. Although abroad, Gorky continues to write revolutionary books. He returned to Russia in 1913, settled in St. Petersburg and began working for various publishing houses.

It's interesting that with everyone Marxist views October Revolution Peshkov was quite skeptical. After the Civil War, Maxim Gorky, who had some disagreements with the new government, again went abroad, but in 1932 he finally returned home.

Writer

The first published story by Maxim Gorky was the famous “Makar Chudra,” which was published in 1892. And the two-volume “Essays and Stories” brought fame to the writer. Interestingly, the circulation of these volumes was almost three times higher than what was usually accepted in those years. Of the most popular works From that period it is worth noting the stories “Old Woman Izergil”, “Former People”, “Chelkash”, “Twenty Six and One”, as well as the poem “Song of the Falcon”. Another poem, “Song of the Petrel,” has become a textbook. Maxim Gorky devoted a lot of time to children's literature. He wrote a number of fairy tales, for example, “Sparrow”, “Samovar”, “Tales of Italy”, published the first special children's magazine and organized holidays for children from poor families.

Legendary Soviet writer | Kyiv Jewish community

Very important for understanding the writer’s work are Maxim Gorky’s plays “At the Lower Depths,” “The Bourgeois” and “Yegor Bulychov and Others,” in which he reveals the playwright’s talent and shows how he sees the life around him. Big cultural significance for Russian literature they have the stories “Childhood” and “In People”, social novels“Mother” and “The Artamonov Case”. Last job Gorky’s epic novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” is considered, which has a second title “Forty Years”. The writer worked on this manuscript for 11 years, but never managed to finish it.

Personal life

The personal life of Maxim Gorky was quite stormy. For the first time and officially the only time he got married at 28. The young man met his wife Ekaterina Volzhina at the Samara Newspaper publishing house, where the girl worked as a proofreader. A year after the wedding, a son, Maxim, appeared in the family, and soon a daughter, Ekaterina, named after her mother. The writer was also raised by his godson Zinovy ​​Sverdlov, who later took the surname Peshkov.

With his first wife Ekaterina Volzhina | LiveJournal

But Gorky's love quickly disappeared. He began to feel burdened family life and their marriage to Ekaterina Volzhina turned into a parental union: they lived together solely because of the children. When little daughter Katya died unexpectedly, this tragic event became the impetus for the severance of family ties. However, Maxim Gorky and his wife remained friends until the end of their lives and maintained correspondence.

With his second wife, actress Maria Andreeva | LiveJournal

After separating from his wife, Maxim Gorky, with the help of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, met the Moscow Art Theater actress Maria Andreeva, who became his de facto wife for the next 16 years. It was because of her work that the writer left for America and Italy. From her previous relationship, the actress had a daughter, Ekaterina, and a son, Andrei, who were raised by Maxim Peshkov-Gorky. But after the revolution, Andreeva became interested in party work and began to pay less attention to her family, so in 1919 this relationship came to an end.

With third wife Maria Budberg and writer H.G. Wells | LiveJournal

Gorky himself put an end to it, declaring that he was leaving for Maria Budberg, a former baroness and part-time his secretary. The writer lived with this woman for 13 years. The marriage, like the previous one, was unregistered. Last wife Maxima Gorky was 24 years younger than him, and all his acquaintances were aware that she was “having affairs” on the side. One of Gorky's wife's lovers was an English science fiction writer H.G. Wells, to whom she left immediately after the death of her actual spouse. There is a huge possibility that Maria Budberg, who had a reputation as an adventurer and clearly collaborated with the NKVD, could be a double agent and also work for British intelligence.

Death

After his final return to his homeland in 1932, Maxim Gorky worked in newspaper and magazine publishing houses, created a series of books “History of Factories and Plants”, “Poet’s Library”, “History civil war", organizes and conducts the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers. After unexpected death the writer wilted from his son's pneumonia. During his next visit to Maxim’s grave, he caught a severe cold. Gorky had a fever for three weeks, which led to his death on June 18, 1936. Body Soviet writer was cremated, and the ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall on Red Square. But first, Maxim Gorky’s brain was extracted and transferred to the Research Institute for further study.

In the last years of life | Electronic library

Later, the question was raised several times that legendary writer and his son could have been poisoned. By this case passed people's commissar Genrikh Yagoda, who was the lover of Maxim Peshkov's wife. They also suspected involvement and even. During the repressions and the consideration of the famous “Doctors’ Case,” three doctors were accused, including the death of Maxim Gorky.

Books by Maxim Gorky

• 1899 - Foma Gordeev
• 1902 - At the bottom
• 1906 - Mother
• 1908 - The life of an unnecessary person
• 1914 - Childhood
• 1916 - In People
• 1923 - My universities
• 1925 - Artamonov case
• 1931 - Egor Bulychov and others
• 1936 - Life of Klim Samgin