M bitter works. Works of Gorky: complete list. Maxim Gorky: early romantic works

The great Russian writer Maxim Gorky (Peshkov Alexey Maksimovich) was born on March 16, 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod- died on June 18, 1936 in Gorki. At an early age he “became popular,” in his own words. He lived hard, spent the night in the slums among all sorts of rabble, wandered, subsisting on an occasional piece of bread. He covered vast territories, visited the Don, Ukraine, the Volga region, Southern Bessarabia, the Caucasus and Crimea.

Start

He was actively involved in social and political activities, for which he was arrested more than once. In 1906 he went abroad, where he began to successfully write his works. By 1910, Gorky had gained fame, his work aroused great interest. Earlier, in 1904, they began to publish critical articles, and then the book “About Gorky”. Gorky's works attracted the interest of politicians and public figures. Some of them believed that the writer interpreted events taking place in the country too freely. Everything that Maxim Gorky wrote, works for the theater or journalistic essays, short stories or multi-page stories, caused a resonance and was often accompanied by anti-government protests. During the First World War, the writer took an openly anti-militarist position. greeted him enthusiastically, and turned his apartment in Petrograd into a meeting place for political figures. Often Maxim Gorky, whose works became more and more topical, gave reviews of his own work in order to avoid misinterpretation.

Abroad

In 1921, the writer went abroad to undergo treatment. For three years, Maxim Gorky lived in Helsinki, Prague and Berlin, then moved to Italy and settled in the city of Sorrento. There he began publishing his memoirs about Lenin. In 1925 he wrote the novel “The Artamonov Case”. All of Gorky's works of that time were politicized.

Return to Russia

The year 1928 became a turning point for Gorky. At the invitation of Stalin, he returns to Russia and for a month moves from city to city, meets people, gets acquainted with achievements in industry, and observes how socialist construction develops. Then Maxim Gorky leaves for Italy. However, the next year (1929) the writer came to Russia again and this time visited the Solovetsky special-purpose camps. The reviews are the most positive. Alexander Solzhenitsyn mentioned this trip of Gorky in his novel

The writer's final return to Soviet Union happened in October 1932. Since that time, Gorky has lived in his former dacha in Spiridonovka in Gorki, and goes to Crimea on vacation.

First Writers' Congress

After some time, the writer receives a political order from Stalin, who entrusts him with preparing the 1st Congress Soviet writers. In light of this order, Maxim Gorky creates several new newspapers and magazines, publishes book series on the history of Soviet plants and factories, civil war and some other events of the Soviet era. At the same time he wrote plays: “Egor Bulychev and others”, “Dostigaev and others”. Some of Gorky's works, written earlier, were also used by him in preparing the first congress of writers, which took place in August 1934. At the congress it was mainly decided organizational issues, the leadership of the future Union of Writers of the USSR was elected, writing sections were created by genre. Gorky's works were also ignored at the 1st Congress of Writers, but he was elected chairman of the board. Overall, the event was considered successful, and Stalin personally thanked Maxim Gorky for his fruitful work.

Popularity

M. Gorky, whose works for many years caused fierce debate among the intelligentsia, tried to take part in the discussion of his books and especially theatrical plays. From time to time, the writer visited theaters, where he could see with his own eyes that people were not indifferent to his work. And indeed, for many, the writer M. Gorky, whose works were understandable to the common man, became a guide to a new life. Theater audiences went to the performance several times, read and re-read books.

Gorky's early romantic works

The writer's work can be divided into several categories. Gorky's early works are romantic and even sentimental. They do not yet feel the harshness of political sentiments that permeate the writer’s later stories and tales.

The writer's first story "Makar Chudra" is about gypsy fleeting love. Not because it was fleeting, because “love came and went,” but because it lasted only one night, without a single touch. Love lived in the soul without touching the body. And then the death of the girl at the hands of her beloved, the proud gypsy Rada passed away, and behind her Loiko Zobar himself - they floated across the sky together, hand in hand.

Amazing story incredible strength narration. The story "Makar Chudra" became for many years business card Maxim Gorky, firmly taking first place in the list " early works Gorky".

The writer worked a lot and fruitfully in his youth. Early romantic works Gorky is a cycle of stories whose heroes are Danko, Sokol, Chelkash and others.

A short story about spiritual excellence makes you think. "Chelkash" - a story about common man, carrying high aesthetic feelings. Fleeing from home, vagrancy, meeting of two - one is doing his usual thing, the other is brought by chance. Gavrila's envy, mistrust, readiness for submissive servility, fear and servility are contrasted with Chelkash's courage, self-confidence, and love of freedom. However, Chelkash is not needed by society, unlike Gavrila. Romantic pathos is intertwined with tragic. The description of nature in the story is also shrouded in a flair of romance.

In the stories "Makar Chudra", "Old Woman Izergil" and, finally, in "Song of the Falcon" the motivation for the "madness of the brave" can be traced. The writer places the characters in difficult conditions and then, beyond any logic, leads them to the finale. What makes the work of the great writer interesting is that the narrative is unpredictable.

Gorky's work "Old Woman Izergil" consists of several parts. The character of her first story, the son of an eagle and a woman, the sharp-eyed Larra, is presented as an egoist incapable of high feelings. When he heard the maxim that one inevitably has to pay for what one takes, he expressed disbelief, declaring that “I would like to remain unharmed.” People rejected him, condemning him to loneliness. Larra's pride turned out to be destructive for himself.

Danko is no less proud, but he treats people with love. Therefore, he obtains the freedom necessary for his fellow tribesmen who trusted him. Despite the threats of those who doubt that he is capable of leading the tribe out, the young leader continues on his way, taking people along with him. And when everyone’s strength was running out, and the forest still did not end, Danko tore open his chest, took out his burning heart and with its flame illuminated the path that led them to the clearing. The ungrateful tribesmen, having broken free, did not even look in Danko’s direction when he fell and died. People ran away, trampled on the flaming heart as they ran, and it scattered into blue sparks.

Gorky's romantic works leave an indelible mark on the soul. Readers empathize with the characters, the unpredictability of the plot keeps them in suspense, and the ending is often unexpected. In addition, Gorky’s romantic works are distinguished by deep morality, which is unobtrusive, but makes you think.

The theme of individual freedom dominates early work writer. The heroes of Gorky's works are freedom-loving and are ready to even give their lives for the right to choose their own destiny.

The poem "The Girl and Death" is a vivid example of self-sacrifice in the name of love. Young, full of life A girl makes a deal with death for one night of love. She is ready to die in the morning without regret, just to meet her beloved again.

The king, who considers himself omnipotent, dooms the girl to death only because, returning from the war, he was in a bad mood and did not like her happy laughter. Death spared Love, the girl remained alive and the “bony one with a scythe” no longer had power over her.

Romance is also present in “Song of the Storm Petrel”. The proud bird is free, it is like black lightning, rushing between the gray plain of the sea and the clouds hanging over the waves. Let the storm blow stronger, the brave bird is ready to fight. But it is important for the penguin to hide his fat body in the rocks; he has a different attitude towards the storm - no matter how he soaks his feathers.

Man in Gorky's works

The special, sophisticated psychologism of Maxim Gorky is present in all his stories, while the individual is always given main role. Even the homeless tramps, the characters of the shelter, are presented by the writer as respected citizens, despite their plight. In Gorky's works, man is placed at the forefront, everything else is secondary - the events described, the political situation, even the actions of government bodies are in the background.

Gorky's story "Childhood"

The writer tells the life story of the boy Alyosha Peshkov, as if on his own behalf. The story is sad, it begins with the death of the father and ends with the death of the mother. Left an orphan, the boy heard from his grandfather, the day after his mother’s funeral: “You are not a medal, you shouldn’t hang on my neck... Go join the people...”. And he kicked me out.

This is how Gorky's work "Childhood" ends. And in the middle there were several years of living in the house of my grandfather, a lean little old man who used to flog everyone who was weaker than him on Saturdays. And the only people inferior to his grandfather in strength were his grandchildren living in the house, and he beat them backhand, placing them on the bench.

Alexey grew up, supported by his mother, and a thick fog of enmity between everyone and everyone hung in the house. The uncles fought among themselves, threatened the grandfather that they would kill him too, the cousins drank, and their wives did not have time to give birth. Alyosha tried to make friends with the neighboring boys, but their parents and other relatives were in such complicated relationships with his grandfather, grandmother and mother that the children could only communicate through a hole in the fence.

"At the Bottom"

In 1902, Gorky turned to a philosophical topic. He created a play about people who, by the will of fate, sank to the very bottom Russian society. The writer depicted several characters, the inhabitants of the shelter, with frightening authenticity. At the center of the story are homeless people on the verge of despair. Some are thinking about suicide, others are hoping for the best. The work of M. Gorky "At the Lower Depths" is bright picture social and everyday disorder in society, often turning into tragedy.

The owner of the shelter, Mikhail Ivanovich Kostylev, lives and does not know that his life is constantly under threat. His wife Vasilisa persuades one of the guests, Vaska Pepel, to kill her husband. This is how it ends: the thief Vaska kills Kostylev and goes to prison. The remaining inhabitants of the shelter continue to live in an atmosphere of drunken revelry and bloody fights.

After some time, a certain Luka appears, a projector and a blabbermouth. He “fills up” for no reason, conducts lengthy conversations, promises everyone indiscriminately a happy future and complete prosperity. Then Luke disappears, and the unfortunate people whom he encouraged are at a loss. There was severe disappointment. A forty-year-old homeless man, nicknamed Actor, commits suicide. The rest are not far from this either.

Nochlezhka as a symbol of the dead end of Russian society late XIX century, an undisguised ulcer of the social structure.

The works of Maxim Gorky

"Makar Chudra" - 1892. A story of love and tragedy.
"Grandfather Arkhip and Lenka" - 1893. A poor, sick old man and with him his grandson Lenka, a teenager. First, the grandfather cannot withstand adversity and dies, then the grandson dies. Good people The unfortunates were buried along the road.
"Old Woman Izergil" - 1895. Some stories from an old woman about selfishness and selflessness.
"Chelkash" - 1895. A story about "an inveterate drunkard and a clever, brave thief."
"The Orlov Spouses" - 1897. A story about a childless couple who decided to help sick people.
"Konovalov" - 1898. The story of how Alexander Ivanovich Konovalov, arrested for vagrancy, hanged himself in a prison cell.
"Foma Gordeev" - 1899. A story about the events of the late 19th century that took place in the Volga city. About a boy named Thomas, who considered his father to be a fabulous robber.
"Bourgeois" - 1901. A story about bourgeois roots and the new spirit of the times.
"At the Bottom" - 1902. A poignant, topical play about homeless people who have lost all hope.
"Mother" - 1906. A novel on the theme of revolutionary sentiments in society, about events taking place within a manufacturing factory, with the participation of members of the same family.
"Vassa Zheleznova" - 1910. The play is about a youthful 42-year-old woman, the owner of a shipping company, strong and powerful.
"Childhood" - 1913. A story about a simple boy and his far from simple life.
"Tales of Italy" - 1913. Cycle short stories on the topic of life in Italian cities.
"Passion-face" - 1913. A short story about a deeply unhappy family.
"In People" - 1914. A story about an errand boy in a fashionable shoe store.
"My Universities" - 1923. The story of Kazan University and students.
"Blue Life" - 1924. A story about dreams and fantasies.
"The Artamonov Case" - 1925. A story about the events taking place at a woven fabric factory.
"The Life of Klim Samgin" - 1936. Events of the beginning of the 20th century - St. Petersburg, Moscow, barricades.

Every story, novel or novel you read leaves an impression of high literary skill. The characters carry a whole series unique features and characteristics. The analysis of Gorky's works involves comprehensive characteristics of the characters followed by a summary. The depth of the narrative is organically combined with complex but understandable literary devices. All works of the great Russian writer Maxim Gorky were included in the Golden Fund of Russian Culture.

Maxim Gorky

(Peshkov Alexey Maksimovich)

Stories and fairy tales

An excellent position - to be a man on earth

1868–1936

The story “Makar Chudra” appeared in the Tiflis newspaper “Caucasus” on September 12, 1892. The name of its author, M. Gorky, has not previously been encountered by the reader. And no wonder: a new writer appeared, who very soon made all of reading Russia talk about himself. And not only Russia.

The pseudonym was already unusual; it was not chosen by chance by the aspiring writer. He will later tell about how he lived the years preceding the appearance of his first work in the wonderful autobiographical trilogy “Childhood”, “In People”, “My Universities”. Fate was unusually unkind to its hero: early orphanhood, life in the house of a grandfather with a stern disposition who soon pushed his grandson “into the people,” unbearably hard work that allowed him to live only from hand to mouth, constant wanderings around Rus' in search of his daily bread, but also the impact not immediately a conscious desire to see the world, to meet new people. And here’s what’s amazing: talking about “ lead abominations"life, the writer is especially attentive to the bright and joyful things he has encountered.

About himself, who was taking his first steps in life, he will say this: “There were two people living in me: one, having learned too much abomination and dirt, became somewhat timid from this and, depressed by the knowledge of everyday terrible things, began to treat life, people with distrust, suspicion, with impotent pity for everyone, and also for himself.<…>The other, baptized by the holy spirit of honest and wise books... defended himself tensely, gritting his teeth, clenching his fists, always ready for any argument and battle.” It is noteworthy that the young hero of the trilogy turns to books - in them he finds support for the force of resistance that grows in him. And also - in cordial, kind, interesting people, with whom fate so often brought him together. And how bitter it was that life often treated them too cruelly.

The story “Makar Chudra” was introduced into literature by a writer who had something to tell people. And it is surprising that he, whom life was truly mercilessly tormented, began on such a high romantic note - a love story that turns out to be disastrous for the lovers. This story unfolds - or better yet, a legend - against an almost fabulously beautiful backdrop: the expanse of the steppe, the sound of a sea wave, the music floating across the steppe - it made “the blood ignite in the veins...”. Beautiful people live here strong people who value freedom above all else, despising those who live huddled together in stuffy cities.

At the center of Gorky’s story is the old shepherd Makar Chudra, who convinces his interlocutor that the best lot for a person is to be a vagabond on earth: “Go and see, you’ve seen enough, lie down and die - that’s all!” It is impossible to agree with this, but it is also difficult to object to someone who sees in a person only a slave (“as soon as he is born, a slave all his life, and that’s it!”). It is difficult because, in fact, the life of the people about whom Makar Chudra speaks with such contempt is devoid of meaning, their work is not inspired by a high goal: they are not able to see or feel the beauty of life and nature.

This reveals an essential motive in Gorky’s work - the conviction that life is beautiful is combined with an awareness of the slavish humiliation of a person, most often unaware of it. The old shepherd Makar Chudra is right in his own way, but this is only the truth of a man who rejected the life that most people live, and work, and without it, the author of the story is sure, human existence completely loses its meaning. The writer cannot, and does not want to, reconcile these two truths - he prefers poetry to logic. The legend of the beautiful Rudd and the daring Loika Zobar allows you not only to be amazed at the power of passion, unknown to the “huddled” people, but also to feel what a tragedy a person’s absolute inability to submit to anyone can turn into. Even in love! Who will undertake to condemn them? But there is no happiness for them on earth either: proud Radda loves freedom most of all, and this love turns into death for her.

But it was not for nothing that the old soldier Danilo remembered the name of Kossuth, the hero of the Hungarian revolution of 1848, with whom he fought together - a significant episode in the life of one of the representatives of the nomadic gypsy tribe. But Danilo is the father of the proud Radda, who adopted her love of freedom from him.

The author of “Makar Chudra” does not accept slavish humiliation, but he also does not want to follow the advice of the hero of the story: the will that the old gypsy values so highly turns out to be illusory and leads a person to isolation from others. And yet people of this very breed - free, proud, homeless - find themselves in the center of attention of a young writer who is looking for - and does not find! - genuine heroes among, so to speak, normal ones, ordinary people. And without heroes, life is tiresomely dreary, like a stagnant swamp. And he carefully looks at those who “break out” of ordinary life, lose their inner balance: in them, in their appearance and behavior, one can clearly feel the general trouble, faults and cracks that are increasingly being discovered in reality itself.

Having walked hundreds of kilometers across Rus', Gorky, like perhaps no one else, knew the life of the lower social classes and kept in his memory an innumerable number of episodes, events, and human destinies. He needed to tell the reader about all this. But he did not become a writer of everyday life, meticulously reproducing details, details of life. And when he took on this, from his pen came, for example, “Fair in Goltva,” striking with the dazzling brightness of the colors, the amazingly rich expressiveness of the verbal drawing, and the ability to reproduce a truly playful atmosphere that cheerfully reigns at this marketplace. They don’t just buy and sell here - here each character has his own role, which he plays with visible pleasure, abundantly peppering his speech not with swearing, but with gentle humor, generously decorating the speech. The mixture of Russian and Ukrainian dialects does not interfere either with those who are furiously bargaining at the fair, or with the reader.

A motley, colorful stream flows, each of the characters: a sharp-bearded Yaroslavl with his simple haberdashery goods, a gypsy deftly selling a toothless horse to a confused naive villager, lively “women” selling “some kind of pink drink, cherries and ram” - appearing for a moment on the pages of the story, disappear, leaving a feeling of joyful action that is boiling and raging on the high bank of Pel. And around “the farm, framed by poplars and willows, everywhere you look... the fertile land of Ukraine is densely sown with people!”

But Gorky did not want to limit himself to such painting with words. The writer believed in the high destiny of man and it was for this reason that he took up his pen. It is clear why this desire so often led him to the fact that the writer often preferred the life that was generated by his imagination to the depiction of life that opens up to the reader’s gaze every day. On the pages of his first books he brought out bright people capable of bold and even heroic actions. This is his Chelkash in the story of the same name - a tramp, “an inveterate drunkard and a clever, brave thief.” One of his “operations” served as the plot basis for the story. But here’s what’s curious: the writer openly admires his hero - his resemblance “to a steppe hawk,” his agility, strength, even his love for the sea, his ability to never get fed up with “the contemplation of this dark latitude, boundless, free and powerful.” The element rages in the soul of a person who is capable of being both cruel and recklessly generous, smiling mockingly and laughing “with a fractional caustic laugh, baring his teeth angrily.”

“You are greedy!.. Not good... However, what?.. Peasant...” says Chelkash to the young peasant guy Gavrila, who went with him on an extremely risky “business” for the sake of money. Memories of the “joys of peasant life, in which he himself had long since become disillusioned,” he also once experienced arise when he meets Gavrila in the soul of “a thief, a reveler, cut off from everything dear to him.” These two characters are sharply contrasted: Gavrila, who is capable of kissing the boots of a successful thief for money, and Chelkash, who knows that he “will never be so greedy, low, and not remembering himself.” The breadth of his soul is revealed with particular force when he gives Gavrila, who almost killed him, almost all the money received for what was stolen during the night “feat”.

And there seems to be nothing to talk about here: Chelkash, who threw money to Gavrila, “felt almost like a hero,” and in response he uttered “joyful cries,” his face was distorted with “the delight of greed.” The assessments are very expressive, but are they completely fair? Of course, by the will of the author, the reader’s sympathies are given to Chelkash. Well, Gavrila, with his good-natured naivety, with his dream of his own farm, of a home and family, of becoming “completely free, on his own,” “sticking forever to the earth by the sweat of many generations”—this is what earned him disfavor reader? Greed that could cloud his mind? So, after all, she awakens in him when he sees a wad of money, “raised” in one night and intended to be “wasted.” This is the groan of the soul of a man who really wanted to earn an honest living - he went to mow in the Kuban: “They mowed a mile away - they mowed a penny. Things are bad!”

Alexey Peshkovborn in Nizhny Novgorod into the family of a carpenter (according to another version, the manager of the Astrakhan office of the shipping company I. S. Kolchin) - Maxim Savvatyevich Peshkov (1839-1871). Mother - Varvara Vasilievna, nee Kashirina. Having been orphaned early, he spent his childhood years in the house of his grandfather Kashirin (see Kashirin's House). From the age of 11 he was forced to go “to the people”; worked as a “boy” at a store, as a pantry cook on a steamship, as an apprentice in an icon-painting workshop, as a baker, etc.

In 1884 he tried to enter Kazan University. I became acquainted with Marxist literature and propaganda work.
In 1888 he was arrested for connections with N. E. Fedoseev’s circle. He was under constant police surveillance. In October 1888 he became a watchman at the Dobrinka station in Gryaze-Tsaritsynskaya railway. Impressions from his stay in Dobrinka will serve as the basis for the autobiographical story “Watchman” and the story “Boredom for the Sake.”
In January 1889, at a personal request (a complaint in verse), he was transferred to the Borisoglebsk station, then as a weighmaster to the Krutaya station.
In the spring of 1891, he set out to wander around the country and reached the Caucasus.
In 1892 he first appeared in print with the story “Makar Chudra”. Returning to Nizhny Novgorod, he publishes reviews and feuilletons in Volzhsky Vestnik, Samara Gazeta, Nizhny Novgorod Listok, etc.
1895 - “Chelkash”, “Old Woman Izergil”.
1897 - " Former people", "The Orlov Spouses", "Malva", "Konovalov".
From October 1897 to mid-January 1898, he lived in the village of Kamenka (now the city of Kuvshinovo, Tver Region) in the apartment of his friend Nikolai Zakharovich Vasiliev, who worked at the Kamensk paper factory and led an illegal workers' Marxist circle. Subsequently, the life impressions of this period served the writer as material for the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin.”
1899 - novel “Foma Gordeev”, prose poem “Song of the Falcon”.
1900-1901 - novel “Three”, personal acquaintance with Chekhov, Tolstoy.
1901 - “Song about the Petrel.” 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.
In 1902 - A. M. Gorky turned to drama. Creates the plays “Bourgeois”, “At the Bottom”.
1904-1905 - writes the plays “Summer Residents”, “Children of the Sun”, “Barbarians”. Meets Lenin. He was arrested for the revolutionary proclamation and in connection with the execution on January 9, but then released under public pressure. Participant in the revolution of 1905-1907. In the fall of 1905 he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party.
1906 - A. M. Gorky travels abroad, creates satirical pamphlets about the “bourgeois” culture of France and the USA (“My Interviews”, “In America”). He writes the play “Enemies” and creates the novel “Mother”. Due to illness (tuberculosis), Gorky settled in Italy on the island of Capri, where he lived for 7 years. Here he writes “Confession” (1908), where his differences with the Bolsheviks were clearly outlined (see “The Capri School”).
1908 - play “The Last”, story “The Life of an Useless Person”.
1909 - stories “The Town of Okurov”, “The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin”.
1913 - A.M. Gorky edits the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda, the art department of the Bolshevik magazine Prosveshchenie, and published the first collection of proletarian writers. Writes "Tales of Italy".

1900 Yasnaya Polyana
Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky1912-1916 - A. M. Gorky creates a series of stories and essays that made up the collection “Across Rus'”, autobiographical stories “Childhood”, “In People”. The last part of the trilogy, “My Universities,” was written in 1923.
1917-1919 - A. M. Gorky does a lot of social and political work, criticizes the “methods” of the Bolsheviks, condemns their attitude towards the old intelligentsia, saves many of its representatives from Bolshevik repression and famine. In 1917, having disagreed with the Bolsheviks on the issue of the timeliness of the socialist revolution in Russia, he did not undergo re-registration of party members and formally dropped out of it. [source not specified 85 days]
1921 - A. M. Gorky’s departure abroad. IN Soviet literature a myth has developed that the reason for his departure was the resumption of his illness and the need, at Lenin’s insistence, for treatment abroad. In fact, A. M. Gorky was forced to leave due to worsening ideological differences with the established government.
From 1924 he lived in Italy, in Sorrento. Published memoirs about Lenin.
1925 - novel “The Artamonov Case.”
1928 - at the invitation of the Soviet government and Stalin personally, he tours the country, during which Gorky is shown the achievements of the USSR, which are reflected in the series of essays “Around the Soviet Union.”
1932 - Gorky returns to the Soviet Union. Here he receives Stalin’s order - to prepare the ground for the 1st Congress of Soviet Writers, and for this to carry out preparatory work among them. Gorky created many newspapers and magazines: the publishing house “Academia”, the book series “History of Factories”, “History of the Civil War”, the magazine “Literary Studies”, he wrote the plays “Yegor Bulychev and others” (1932), “Dostigaev and others "(1933).

Maxim Gorky and Genrikh Yagoda. Not earlier than November 1935, 1934 - Gorky “conducts” the 1st Congress of Soviet Writers, giving the main report at it.
In 1925-1936 he wrote the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin,” which was never finished.
On May 11, 1934, Gorky’s son, Maxim Peshkov, unexpectedly dies. A.M. Gorky died on June 18, 1936 in Moscow, having outlived his son by a little more than two years. After his death, he was cremated and his ashes were placed in an urn in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow. Before cremation, A. M. Gorky's brain was removed and taken to the Moscow Brain Institute for further study.

[edit] Death
The circumstances of the death of Gorky and his son are considered “suspicious” by many; there were rumors of poisoning, which, however, were not confirmed. At the funeral, among others, Molotov and Stalin carried Gorky’s coffin. It is interesting that among other accusations against Genrikh Yagoda at the so-called Third Moscow Trial of 1938 was the accusation of poisoning Gorky’s son. Some publications blame Stalin for Gorky's death [source not specified 85 days]. An important precedent for the medical side of the accusations in the “Doctors' Case” was the Third Moscow Trial (1938), where among the defendants were three doctors (Kazakov, Levin and Pletnev), accused of the murders of Gorky and others.

An excellent position - to be a man on earth

1868–1936

The pseudonym was already unusual; it was not chosen by chance by the aspiring writer. He will later tell about how he lived the years preceding the appearance of his first work in the wonderful autobiographical trilogy “Childhood”, “In People”, “My Universities”. Fate was unusually unkind to its hero: early orphanhood, life in the house of a grandfather with a stern disposition who soon pushed his grandson “into the people,” unbearably hard work that allowed him to live only from hand to mouth, constant wanderings around Rus' in search of his daily bread, but also the impact not immediately a conscious desire to see the world, to meet new people. And here’s what’s amazing: when talking about the “leaden abominations” of life, the writer is especially attentive to the bright and joyful things he encountered.

About himself, who was taking his first steps in life, he will say this: “There were two people living in me: one, having learned too much abomination and dirt, became somewhat timid from this and, depressed by the knowledge of everyday terrible things, began to treat life, people with distrust, suspicion, with impotent pity for everyone, and also for himself.<…>The other, baptized by the holy spirit of honest and wise books... defended himself tensely, gritting his teeth, clenching his fists, always ready for any argument and battle.” It is noteworthy that the young hero of the trilogy turns to books - in them he finds support for the force of resistance that grows in him. And also in the warm-hearted, kind, interesting people with whom fate so often brought him together. And how bitter it was that life often treated them too cruelly.

The story “Makar Chudra” was introduced into literature by a writer who had something to tell people. And it is surprising that he, whom life was truly mercilessly tormented, began on such a high romantic note - a love story that turns out to be disastrous for the lovers. This story unfolds - or better yet, a legend - against an almost fabulously beautiful backdrop: the expanse of the steppe, the sound of a sea wave, the music floating across the steppe - it made “the blood ignite in the veins...”. Here live beautiful, strong people who value will above all else, despising those who live huddled together in stuffy cities.

It is difficult because, in fact, the life of the people about whom Makar Chudra speaks with such contempt is devoid of meaning, their work is not inspired by a high goal: they are not able to see or feel the beauty of life and nature.

The author of “Makar Chudra” does not accept slavish humiliation, but he also does not want to follow the advice of the hero of the story: the will that the old gypsy values so highly turns out to be illusory and leads a person to isolation from others. And yet people of this very breed - free, proud, homeless - find themselves in the center of attention of a young writer who is looking for - and does not find! - genuine heroes among, so to speak, normal, ordinary people. And without heroes, life is tiresomely dreary, like a stagnant swamp. And he carefully looks at those who “break out” of ordinary life, lose their inner balance: in them, in their appearance and behavior, one can clearly feel the general trouble, faults and cracks that are increasingly being discovered in reality itself.

And there seems to be nothing to talk about here: Chelkash, who threw money to Gavrila, “felt almost like a hero,” and in response he uttered “joyful cries,” his face was distorted with “the delight of greed.” The assessments are very expressive, but are they completely fair? Of course, by the will of the author, the reader’s sympathies are given to Chelkash. Well, Gavrila, with his good-natured naivety, with his dream of his own farm, of a home and family, of becoming “completely free, on his own,” “sticking forever to the earth by the offspring of many generations”—he is something earned the reader's disfavor? Greed that could cloud his mind? So, after all, she awakens in him when he sees a wad of money, “raised” in one night and intended to be “wasted.” This is the groan of the soul of a man who really wanted to earn an honest living - he went to mow in the Kuban: “They mowed a mile away - they mowed a penny. Things are bad!”

The figure of Chelkash is romanticized, and a significant role in this is played by the fact that next to him there appears a deliberately reduced image of a trusting and good-natured guy who deserves not condemnation, but pity. The cruel act - a stone thrown at Chelkash's head - is an expression of extreme despair that completely clouded his mind. But Chelkash, whose appearance and behavior constantly emphasizes predation, is clearly not fit to be a hero. However, Gorky gives the role of the hero to a person who stands out from the general ranks, forcing the reader to believe in the superiority of his hero over the crowd of small people, “ragged, sweaty, dull from fatigue, noise and heat.” “What they created enslaved and depersonalized them.”

The desire to portray someone in whom the ideal of a person, a hero would be embodied openly and fully, does not leave the young writer. Neither people immersed in their daily worries, nor those who preferred proud loneliness and vagrancy to ordinary life, also did not correspond to this role. To embody the ideal, the genre of legend, fairy tale, song, which Gorky readily used, was most suitable. These genres made it possible to neglect details everyday life, to create the world and the person in it the way he is there must be brushing aside the frequent reproaches in the mouth of the reader that This doesn't happen in life. But a legend (fairy tale, song) tells about what once was and should be, and the guarantee of this is the brightness, colorfulness of the world opening up here, the amazing strength and beauty of the people living in it.

And the first in this series should be the name of the daredevil Danko. With his heart ripped out of his own chest, he illuminated the path for completely desperate people from the darkness that threatened “with something terrible, dark and cold” into a world washed by “the sea.” sunlight and clean air, washed by rain."

This “beautiful fairy tale” is told by the old woman Izergil, who has lived and seen a lot in her time and laments that the people around her do not live, but only try on life, and “when they rob themselves, having wasted time, they will begin to cry at fate.” One can understand an old woman who has already been “bent in half by time”, whose “once black eyes were dull and watery”; for her, the time really remains in the past when “there was more strength and fire in a person, and therefore life was more fun and better " But how can one not notice that in her stories about this - better - life, lived, in her own words, “greedily”, we are talking only about passion: crazy, intoxicating, pushing to reckless actions and always bringing misfortune to Izergil herself, and her many lovers. There is no need to complain about fate here - Izergil chose her fate herself, easily parting with those whom she still loved yesterday. The old woman’s life was stormy: poverty gave way to wealth, lovers appeared, sometimes fought to the death for her and disappeared without a trace. Her heart flared up often, but was never given to anyone. That is why, in her declining days, remembering hot nights and passionate caresses, she does not even try to remember who she made happy, whose life she was able to fill.

Life is complex, it reveals different sides. Gorky was convinced that only a person who lives with people and for their sake can understand its meaning and live the time allotted to him on earth with dignity.

This wisdom was inaccessible to the old woman Izergil, but it was natural to Danko. “Young handsome man. Beautiful people are always brave,” Izergil says about him. And the people whom he was going to lead “saw that he was the best of all, because a lot of strength and living fire shone in his eyes.” But then they, tired of the long and difficult road, frightened by the thunderstorm, turned to Danko, who was leading them, with the words: “You are insignificant and harmful person for us!”, and one of them, called “cautious,” who saw his brave heart next to Danko’s corpse, “being afraid of something, stepped on his proud heart with his foot. And so it, scattered into sparks, faded away...”

Telling the legend about the daredevil Danko, the writer finds words that can convey the beauty of the feat, the power of a man who, at the cost of his life, leads people from darkness to light. The trees in the old forest stretch out “gnarled long arms, weaving them into a thick network, trying to stop people,” people are dying “from the poisonous breath of the swamp.” All the more beautiful - in contrast - is the world that opens up to the gaze of those who rushed after Danko, holding his burning heart high: “The sun shone, the steppe sighed, the grass glittered in the diamonds of the rain, and the river sparkled with gold.” But it is worth recalling: Danko’s heart “blazed as brightly as the sun, and brighter than the sun” - that’s why even the thunderstorm recedes, continuing to rage over the “dense and silent” forest, but now left behind and therefore no longer scary.

The old woman Izergil told another “fairy tale” - about Larra, the son of an eagle and a woman, who “considered himself the first on earth” and therefore was convinced of his right to fulfill any of his desires. His punishment was immortality: “He has no life, and death does not smile on him. And there is no place for him among people..."

We are not talking about pride, but about arrogance. Two legends and the story of old Izergil together give a vivid idea of how Gorky sees (or rather, wants to see) a person. Later writer puts into the mouth of Satin, one of the characters in his play “At the Lower Depths,” the words: “Man! This is great! It sounds... proud! We must respect the person!” The writer knew better than many others how cruel life is to people, how unreasonably cruel people can be to each other. In his story “The Shake,” little Mishka, having returned from the circus, where he was amazed by the cheerful art of a clown, again finds himself in the gloomy atmosphere of a workshop, where embittered people are gloomily swarming around. And to top it all off, for a tiny offense he will be punished with unbearable pain from the “shake,” but even more so with the laughter of those working in the workshop. “Pain and bitterness” - this is what the boy experiences, doomed to work all day for a piece of bread in a “dark and dirty workshop” and fall asleep, remembering that in the morning, as always, he will be woken up with a kick.

The autobiographical stories “Childhood” and “In People” allow us to assert that the pain and humiliation that befell Mishka was experienced more than once by the writer himself, which is why his feeling of compassion for the downtrodden is so great little man. But Gorky always hated suffering; he preferred protest, the desire to resist the blows of fate, to complaint. The hero of the story “Shake” is perhaps still too young to feel such a desire within himself, but the author of the story does not at all call for humility. He doesn’t make Mishka a rebel, but simply gives him the opportunity to meet a different – bright, joyful – life. Even if it’s just a circus, and indeed a short-lived spectacle. But there is it, some other life, where people are able to bring joy to others. Say more in short story- would mean violating the truth, but the author of the sad story keeps repeating the same thing: man was created for happiness and the life of those who viciously tread on the wings of this happiness is disgustingly meaningless.

Gorky's fairy tale and reality go hand in hand. The story of Izergil living out her life allows us to better understand the tales she told that are so significant in their meaning. “Song of the Falcon” is framed by short chapters, where the reader sees the sea, “lazily sighing near the shore,” mountains, “dressed in the warm and gentle haze of the southern night”; “Across the dark blue sky, with a golden pattern of stars, something solemn is written, enchanting the soul, confusing the mind with the sweet expectation of some kind of revelation.” And the “Song” itself is narrated in a “sad recitative” by the old Crimean shepherd Nadyr-Rahim-ogly, “a dry and wise old man, capable of spiritualizing the waves.”

The words “the madness of the brave” are uttered by the old man and therefore take on a special meaning: Rahim, who has lived a long and, of course, difficult life, has already fulfilled his “life’s work,” but refuses to see in Falcon’s act a desire to hide “his unsuitability” for such a task.

In “Song of the Falcon,” two ideas about what makes it possible to fill life with truly worthy content sharply collide—enjoyment of the proximity of the sky, the “happiness of battle,” or the desire to lie quietly where it is “warm and damp.” The pathos of Sokol, who said with conviction: “I lived a glorious life! I know happiness!”, the sad “truth” of the Snake, for whom the sky is empty, is opposed: “There is a lot of light there, but there is no food there and no support for the living body.”

There are two characters in “The Song,” but the writer included only the name of one of them in its title—Falcon. It is about him that the most significant words are said here: “The madness of the brave is the wisdom of life!” And Gorky composes precisely song. Rhythmic prose, the emphasized unusualness of the setting, the brightness of the colors - everything serves to affirm the idea of the infectious power of feat, of immortality strong in spirit Falcon, whose name will forever sound like “a call to the proud to freedom, to light!” And the “Song of the Petrel”, written a little later, is completely the fruit of a free “fantasy”: the inspired “siskin” singing this song remained behind the text - there is no need for it. This is where the writer’s passionate desire with his words to arouse in the reader the will to action, to fight, the confidence that “clouds will not hide the sun - no, they will not hide it!” was expressed with particular force.

“The Song of the Petrel” soon after its appearance gained extraordinary popularity: “thirst for the storm”, “confidence in victory” - this is what the reader enthusiastically accepted in the “proud Petrel”. This corresponded to the mood that dominated Russian society at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, which was fraught with drastic changes and fault lines. How warmly the premonition expressed in the words: “Soon a storm will break out!” was perceived then! The writer called the Petrel the “prophet of victory,” which “flies boldly and freely over a sea gray with foam!” But the author of the “Song” himself was perceived as such a prophet. Her pathos, formulated in the words “the power of anger, the flame of passion and confidence in victory,” was especially understandable in that truly pre-storm era. To complaints and whining, so common among the weak in spirit, Gorky contrasts “enjoyment of the battle of life.” The writer had no doubts about what the outcome of this battle would be.

In 1906, Gorky had to leave Russia: he, an active participant in the political struggle, which in December 1905 resulted in an armed uprising in Moscow, was threatened with arrest and imprisonment. After a short stay in America, he chose Italy as his place of exile, where he lived until 1913, when an amnesty was declared for those accused of political crimes. In 1921, the writer, who suffered from a pulmonary disease, again came to these beloved lands with their healing climate. Only in 1933 did Gorky finally return to Russia, with which he never broke ties.

Italy did not become a second homeland for him, but entered his heart forever, and the most striking evidence of this is the wonderful “Tales of Italy”, where a world filled with joy and light opens up; where beautiful and proud people appear, whose lives are truly covered in poetry; where passions rage and smiles shine, and above all this the dazzling sun shines and so often the gentle warm sea is always revealed to the eye. But even in the crowd of people appearing on Gorky’s pages, Pepe, a ten-year-old boy, “fragile, thin, fast, like a lizard,” stands out. This little, never dejected ragamuffin is amazingly charming, truly a child of the street, where for him everything is his own, everything is clear. The Russian writer was able to accurately convey the features of Italian national character, in which unfeigned pride coexists with a cheerful disposition, and worldly wisdom finds expression in simple and apt words. It is worth special mention about the ability of the little hero of Gorky’s fairy tale, who is surprised that someone can eat every day - his ability to enjoy life, look for a long time at the cracks whimsically winding through the stones or look at flowers, “as if listening to the quiet flutter of silk petals under the breath sea wind." And at the same time, “he hums something quietly - he’s always singing.”

“Tales of Italy” was written by a man in love with life, and little Pepe turns out to be its embodiment. More precisely, the embodiment of poetry literally spilled in the air. Everything that opens to the eye is saturated with it. “Pepe will be our poet,” those “who are kinder” say about the boy. And this does not mean at all that he will necessarily write poetry. He's just one of those people who enjoy life. Will! If not today, when he lives, maintaining simple-hearted naivety and goodwill, which not everyone likes, then certainly in the future. The writer believes this. After all, his hero is only ten years old: he and his fellow peers live tomorrow. And as the “wise and revered” old man Pasqualino says, “the children will be better than us, and they will live better!”

Maxim Gorky is a famous Soviet prose writer and thinker, playwright, and revolutionary. The secret of the novelty of the author’s works is that they, like a mirror, reflect the change of eras. He was an eyewitness and participant in those events.

He is one of the most published writers of that time - with total circulation 3556 publications, 242.621 million books published. Repeatedly nominated for Nobel Prize in the field of literature. Gorky's real name is Peshkov Alexey Maksimovich.

Gorky's creativity

The writer's early works are classified as romanticism. This distinguished him from his contemporaries Chekhov or Bunin, who realistically portrayed that pre-revolutionary time. Gorky chose as his task the awakening in a person of pride in himself . To do this, he most often used the genres of stories and legends, where he could easily use allegory.

The running thread throughout the writer’s work is the pressure of power, the deprivation of personal freedom and the struggle of man against this oppression..

Maxim Gorky's play “At the Depths” is a philosophical reflection on the meaning of life. Carefully selected phrases and images convey their point of view, yet the author does not impose it, but gives the reader the opportunity to decide for himself.

The best works of Gorky online:

Brief biography of Maxim Gorky

Born in the spring of 1868 into a poor family of a carpenter in Nizhny Novgorod. At an early age, Gorky was orphaned and lived with his grandparents. It was his grandmother who instilled in him a love of literature. Since my teenage years I was forced to earn extra money, taking on any job.

After two years of studying at the Nizhny Novgorod School, I wanted to enter one of the universities in Kazan. Having never become a student, Gorky decided to educate himself. He studied propaganda literature and attended Marxist circles. Therefore, he was arrested several times and was under police supervision.

Wanting to find a suitable income, he traveled to the Volga region, Ukraine, Southern Bessarabia, Crimea, and the Caucasus.

In 1896 he married Ekaterina Volzhina.

From 1906 to 1913, Gorky, fearing arrest in Russia, lived first in the USA and then in Crete. In 1921 he left Russia again. This time Gorky travels to Germany and Italy. Only in the fall of 1932 did the writer finally return to his homeland.