Maxim Gorky read all his works. Gorky's works: a complete list

Maxim Gorky's literary activity lasted more than forty years - from the romantic "Old Woman Izergil" to the epic "Life of Klim Samgin"

Text: Arseny Zamostyanov, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the "Historian" magazine
Collage: Year of Literature.RF

In the twentieth century, he was both the ruler of thoughts, and a living symbol of literature, and one of the founders of not only the new literature, but also the state. Do not count dissertations and monographs devoted to the "life and work" of the "classic of proletarian literature." Alas, his posthumous fate was too tightly connected with the fate of the political system, which Gorky, after many years of hesitation, nevertheless blessed. After the collapse of the USSR, Gorky was carefully forgotten. Although we did not have and never will have a better chronicler of the "era of initial capital". Gorky found himself "in an artificial position outside the game." But it seems that he got out of it, and someday he will come out for real.

It is not easy and therefore useful to choose the top ten from a huge and multi-genre heritage. But we will talk almost entirely about textbook works. At least in the recent past, they have been diligently studied at school. I think they will not forget it in the future. We don't have a second Gorky ...

1. OLD WOMAN IZERGIL

This is a classic of "early Gorky", the result of his first literary searches. A harsh parable of 1891, a terrible tale, the favorite (in Gorky's system) conflict of Prometheus with both Zeus and birds of prey. This is new literature for that time. Not Tolstoy's, not Chekhov's, not Leskov's stories. The layout turns out to be somewhat pretentious: Larra is the son of an eagle, Danko raises his own heart high above his head ... The storyteller herself is an old woman, by contrast, earthly and stern. In this story, Gorky explores not only the essence of heroism, but also the nature of egoism. Many were hypnotized by the melody of prose.

It's actually a finished rock opera. And the metaphors are appropriate.

2. THE SPOUSES OF ORLOVA

Such a cruel naturalism - and even with a knowledge of the environment - Russian literature did not know. At this point, you will involuntarily believe that the author walked barefoot all over Russia. Gorky spoke in detail about the life that he would like to change. Everyday fights, pub, basement passions, diseases. The beacon in this life is the nurse student. This world wants to throw: “Oh, you bastards! Why do you live? How do you live? You are hypocritical crooks and nothing else! " The spouses have the will to make a difference. They work in the cholera barracks, work frantically.

However, Gorky does not like happy ends. But faith in a person shows through in the mud.

If you think about it, this is not at all commonplace. This is the pawn's grip. Such are the Gorky tramps. In the 1980s, the creators of the perestroika "chernukha" worked in the style of these paintings.

3. SONG ABOUT THE FALCON, SONG ABOUT BUREVESTNIK

All his life Aleksey Maksimovich wrote poetry, although he did not consider himself a poet. Stalin's half-joking words are known: “This thing is stronger than Goethe's Faust. Love conquers death. " The leader spoke about Gorky's poetic tale "The Girl and Death", which has been forgotten in our time. Gorky composed poetry in a somewhat old-fashioned manner. He did not delve into the searches of the poets of that time, but he read many. But two of his "songs", written in blank verse, cannot be deleted from Russian literature. Although ... Poems published as prose in 1895 were perceived as something outlandish:

“We sing glory to the madness of the brave!

The madness of the brave is the wisdom of life! Brave Falcon! In battle with enemies you bleed ... But there will be time - and drops of your blood, hot, like sparks, will flash in the darkness of life and many brave hearts will kindle with an insane thirst for freedom and light!

Let you die! .. But in the song of the brave and strong in spirit, you will always be a living example, a call to the proud to freedom, to light!

We sing a song to the madness of the brave! .. "

It's about the Falcon. And Petrel (1901) became a real anthem of the Russian revolution. In particular - the revolutions of 1905. The revolutionary song was illegally reissued in thousands of copies. One may not accept Gorky's stormy pathos, but it is impossible to erase this melody from memory: "Between the clouds and the sea, a petrel flutters proudly."

Gorky himself was considered a petrel.

A petrel of a revolution that really happened, although at first it did not please Alexei Maksimovich.

4. MOTHER

This novel, inspired by the events of 1905, was considered the foundation of socialist realism. At school he was studied with particular stress. Republished countless, filmed several times and, between us, imposed. This aroused not only respect, but also rejection.

On the barricade wave of 1905, Gorky joined the Bolshevik Party. An even more convinced Bolshevik was his companion - the actress Maria Andreeva, the most charming revolutionary of the twentieth century.

The novel is tendentious. But how convincing he is emotionally

Including in their hope for the proletariat. But the main thing is that this novel is not only a historical document. The strength of the preacher and the strength of the writer multiplied, and the book turned out to be powerful.

5. CHILDHOOD, IN PEOPLE, MY UNIVERSITIES

Korney Chukovsky said after reading this book: "In his old age, Gorky was drawn to paints." Between the 1905 revolution and the war, the main writer showed how a rebel, Prometheus, is born and matures in a child. During this time, Tolstoy left, and Gorky became the "main" Russian writer - in terms of influence on the minds of readers, in terms of reputation among colleagues - even such picky ones as Bunin. And the story with Nizhny Novgorod motives was perceived as the program of the sovereign of thoughts. It is impossible to dismiss comparisons with Childhood: the two stories are separated by half a century, but the main thing is that the authors are from different constellations. Gorky revered Tolstoy, but crossed out Tolstoyism. He did not know how to recreate real worlds in prose, Gorky composed a song, an epic, a ballad about the hero's young years, about his paths, paths.

Gorky admires people harsh, brave, thick-skinned, he admires strength, struggle.

He shows them enlarged, neglecting semitones, but refrains from hasty judgments. He despises lack of will and humility, but he even admires the cruelty of the world. You can't say better than Gorky: “A thick, motley, inexpressibly strange life began and flowed with terrible speed. I remember it as a harsh fairy tale, well told by a kind but painfully truthful genius. " One of the most striking episodes in the story “Childhood” is about how Alyosha learned to read and write: “Buki-people-az-la-bla”. This became the main thing in his life.

6. AT THE BOTTOM

Here certification is superfluous, this is just Gorky's Bible, the apotheosis of the Russian outcasts. Gorky brought the inhabitants of the flophouse, tramps, and thieves onto the stage. It turns out that in their world there are high tragedies and struggles, no less weighty than those of Shakespeare's kings ... "Man - it sounds proudly!" - proclaims Satin, Gorky's favorite hero, a strong personality who was not broken by either prison or drunkenness. He has a strong rival - a wandering preacher of forgiveness. Gorky hated this sweet hypnosis, but refrained from unambiguously exposing Luke. Luke has his own truth.

The heroes of the Gorky shelter were applauded not only by Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also by Berlin, Paris, Tokyo ...

And they will always play "At the Bottom". And in the muttering of Satin - the seeker and the robber - they will find new implications: “There is only a man, all the rest is the work of his hands and his brain! Man! It's great!"

7. BARBARIANS

In the role of playwright, Gorky is the most interesting. And "Barbarians" in our list are represented at once for several of Gorky's plays about people of the early twentieth century. "Scenes in the county town" are sad: the heroes turn out to be fake, the provincial reality has gone and gloomy. But in the longing for the hero there is a premonition of something great.

Whipping up grief, Gorky does not fall into straightforward pessimism.

It is not surprising that the play has a happy theatrical fate: at least two roles - Cherkun and Monakhova - are spelled out with brilliance. There is something for interpreters to look for.

8. VASSA ZHELEZNOVA

But this tragedy in our time simply needs to be re-read and revised. I think there is no more perspicacious book (not to mention plays) about Russian capitalism. A merciless play. Even in our time, prudes are afraid of her. It is easiest to repeat the conventional wisdom that there is a crime behind every major fortune.

And Gorky managed to show the psychology of this crime in the rich neighborhoods.

He knew how to paint vices like no one else. Yes, he exposes Vassa. And yet she came out alive. Actresses are incredibly interesting to play her. Some even manage to justify this murderer. Vera Pashennaya, Faina Ranevskaya, Nina Sazonova, Inna Churikova, Tatyana Doronina - Vassu was played by actresses who were worshiped by the theatrical world. And the audience watched how Russian capitalism is mad with fat, kinks and dies.

9. TOWN OF OKUROV

Gorky wrote this story in 1909. A gray district town, eternal orphanhood of fussy, unhappy people. The chronicle turned out to be full-blooded. Gorky is observant and ironic: “The main street, Porechnaya, or Berezhok, is paved with large cobblestones; in the spring, when young grass breaks through the stones, the head of the city of Sukhobaev calls the prisoners, and they, large and gray, heavy, silently crawl down the street, pulling up the grass by the roots. On Porechnaya, the best houses stretched out harmoniously — blue, red, green, almost all with front gardens — the white house of the chairman of the regional council Vogel, with a turret on the roof; red brick with yellow shutters - heads; pinkish - the father of Archpriest Isaiah Kudryavsky and a long row of boastful cozy houses - the authorities were quartered in them: the military commander Pokivaiko, a passionate lover of singing, was nicknamed Mazepa for his large mustache and thickness; tax inspector Zhukov, a gloomy man who suffered from heavy drinking; zemstvo chief Strehel, theater and playwright; police chief Karl Ignatievich Worms and cheerful doctor Ryakhin, the best artist of the local circle of comedy and drama lovers.

An important topic for Gorky is the eternal dispute about philistinism. Or "confusion"?

Indeed, a lot is mixed in the Russian person, and, perhaps, this is his mystery.

10. LIFE OF CLIMA SAMGIN

The novel is the largest in Gorky's legacy, "for eight hundred persons," as the parodists sore, and remained unfinished. But what is left surpasses everything written by Gorky in polish. It turns out that he knew how to write with restraint, almost academic, but at the same time in Gorky.

According to Gorky's definition, this is a book about "an intellectual of average value who passes through a whole series of moods, looking for the most independent place in life for himself, where he would be comfortable both financially and internally."

And all this - against the background of the critical revolutionary years, up to 1918. Gorky first showed himself to be a realist, an objective analyst, found a harmonious narrative tone for his latest book. He wrote Samghin for decades. At the same time, the author does not like the title character. Samghin is a real one, also reminiscent of Shchedrin's Judas Golovlev. But he crawls "all over the great Russia" - and the space of history opens up to us. It seems that Gorky, who lived in eternal haste, did not want to part with this book. It turned out to be an encyclopedia, and not idealistic at all. Gorky writes without hypocrisy about love and flirting, about politics and religion, about nationalism and financial scams ... This is both a chronicle and a confession. Like Cervantes, he even mentions himself in the novel: the heroes discuss the writer Gorky. As we are a hundred years later.

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Gorky's early work amazes, first of all, by the artistic diversity unusual for a young writer, by the bold confidence with which he creates works of various colors and poetic intonation. The tremendous talent of the artist of the rising class - the proletariat, drawing mighty strength from the "movement of the masses themselves," was revealed already at the very beginning of Maxim Gorky's literary work.
By acting as the herald of the coming storm, Gorky fell into the tone of the public mood. In 1920, he wrote: "I began my work as a stirrer of a revolutionary mood with the glory of the madness of the brave." Exam questions and answers. Literature. 9th and 11th grades. Tutorial. - M .: AST-PRESS, 2000. - P.214. This applies primarily to the early romantic works of Gorky. In the 1890s. he wrote the stories "Makar Chudra", "Old Woman Izergil", "Khan and His Son", "Dumb", "Return of the Normans from England", "Blindness of Love", fairy tales "The Girl and Death", "About the Little Fairy and the Young Shepherd "," The Song of the Falcon "," The Song of the Petrel "," The Legend of Marko "and others. All of them differ in one feature, which can be defined by the words of L. Andreev:" the taste of freedom, something free, wide, bold. " Gorky M. Prose. Dramaturgy. Journalism. - M .: Olympus; LLC "Firm" Publishing House AST ", 1999. - P.614. In all, the motive of rejection of reality, confrontation with fate, a daring challenge to the elements sounds. In the center of these works is the figure of a strong, proud, courageous man who does not submit to anyone, inflexible. And all these works, like living gems, shimmer with unprecedented colors, spreading a romantic glow around.

The story "Makar Chudra" - affirming the ideal of personal freedom
In the center of the early works of Maxim Gorky - exceptional characters, strong-willed and proud people, who, according to the author, "the sun is in their blood." This metaphor generates a number of images that are close to it, associated with the motive of fire, sparks, flame, torch. These heroes have burning hearts. This feature is characteristic not only of Danko, but also of the characters in Gorky's first story - "Makar Chudra". Rogover E.S. Russian literature of the twentieth century. To help the school graduate and the applicant: Textbook. - SPb .: "Parity", 2002. - S. 131.
Old gypsy Makar Chudra begins his story to the pensive melody of lapping waves. From the very first lines, the reader is seized by a feeling of the unusual: the endless steppe on the left and the endless sea on the right, an old gypsy lying in a beautiful strong pose, the rustle of coastal bushes - all this sets us up for a conversation about something intimate, the most important. Makar Chudra slowly talks about the vocation of man and his role on earth. “A person is a slave, as soon as he was born, a slave all his life and that's it,” says Makar. Gorky M. Prose. Dramaturgy. Journalism. - M .: Olympus; LLC "Firm" Publishing House AST ", 1999. - P.18. And he contrasts this with his own: "A man will be born to learn what will is, the breadth of the steppe, to hear the sound of the sea wave"; "If you live - so as kings over all the earth."
This idea is illustrated by the legend of the love of Loiko Zobar and Rada, who did not become slaves to their feelings. Their images are exceptional and romanticized. Loiko Zobar has "eyes like clear stars shine, and a smile is a whole sun." Ibid, p.21. When he sits on a horse, it seems as if he was forged from one piece of iron along with the horse. Zobar's strength and beauty are not inferior to his kindness. "You need his heart, he would have pulled it out of his chest and gave it to you, if only it would make you feel good about it." Ibid, p. 20. The beautiful Rada is also matched. Makar Chudra calls her an eagle. “You can't say anything about her. Maybe her beauty could be played on a violin, and even someone who knows this violin as his soul ”.
The proud Rada long rejected the feelings of Loiko Zobar, for the will was dearer to her than love. When she decided to become his wife, she set a condition that Loiko could not fulfill without humiliating himself. An insoluble conflict leads to a tragic ending: the heroes die, but remain free, love and even life are sacrificed to the will. In this story, for the first time, a romantic image of a loving human heart arises: Loiko Zobar, who could tear his heart out of his chest for the happiness of his neighbor, checks whether his beloved's heart is strong, and plunges a knife into him. And the same knife, but already in the hands of the soldier Danila, strikes the heart of Zobar. Love and thirst for freedom turn out to be evil demons, destroying the happiness of people. Together with Makar Chudra, the narrator admires the strength of the characters' character. And together with him, he cannot answer the question that runs through the whole story as a leitmotif: how to make people happy and what is happiness.
In the story "Makar Chudra" two different understandings of happiness are formulated. The first is in the words of a "strict man": "Submit to God, and he will give you everything you ask." Ibid, p. 18. This thesis is immediately debunked: it turns out that God did not give the "strict man" even clothes to cover his naked body. The second thesis was proved by the fate of Loiko Zobar and Rada: will is more precious than life, happiness is in freedom. The romantic worldview of young Gorky goes back to the well-known words of Pushkin: "There is no happiness in the world, but there is peace and will ..."

The story "Old woman Izergil" - awareness of human personality
On the seashore near Akkerman in Bessarabia, the author of the legend, the old woman Izergil, is listening. Everything here is full of atmospheric love: men are "bronze, with lush black mustaches and thick curls up to their shoulders," women, "cheerful, flexible, with dark blue eyes, are also bronze." The author's fantasy and night make them irresistibly beautiful. Nature is in harmony with the author's romantic mood: the foliage sighs and whispers, the wind plays with the silky hair of women.
In contrast, the old woman Izergil is depicted: time bent her in half, her bony body, dull eyes, a raspy voice. Ruthless time takes away beauty and love with it. The old woman Izergil tells about her life, about her beloved: "Her voice crunched, as if the old woman spoke with bones." Gorky leads the reader to the idea that love is not eternal, just as man is not eternal. What remains in life for centuries? Gorky put two legends in the mouth of the old woman Izergil: about the eagle's son Lara, who considered himself the first on earth and wanted happiness only for himself, and about Danko, who gave his heart to people.
The images of Lara and Danko are in sharp contrast, although both of them are brave, strong and proud people. Lara lives by the laws of the strong, to whom "everything is permitted." He kills the girl, since she did not submit to his will, and steps her foot on her chest. Lara's cruelty is based on the sense of superiority of a strong personality over the crowd. Gorky debunks the popular at the end of the 19th century. ideas of the German philosopher Nietzsche. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche argued that people are divided into strong (eagles) and weak (lambs), who are destined to be slaves. Nietzsche's apology for inequality, the idea of ​​the aristocratic superiority of the elect over all others were subsequently used in the ideology and practice of fascism. Spiridonova L.A. "I came into the world to disagree."
In the legend of Lara, Gorky shows that the Nietzschean, who professes the morality "everything is allowed to the strong," awaits loneliness, which is more terrible than death. “The punishment for him is in himself,” says the wisest of people after Lara commits a crime. And Lara, doomed to eternal life and eternal wandering, turns into a black shadow, dried up by the sun and winds. Condemning the egoist who only takes from people, giving nothing in return, the old woman Izergil says: "For everything that a person takes, he pays with himself, with his mind and strength, sometimes with his life."
Danko pays with his life, performing a feat for the sake of the happiness of people. The blue sparks that flare up at night in the steppe are the sparks of his burning heart, which illuminated the road to freedom. An impenetrable forest, where giant trees stood like a stone wall, the greedy mouth of a swamp, strong and evil enemies gave rise to fear in people. Then Danko appeared: - “What will I do for people,” Danko shouted louder than thunder. And suddenly he tore open his chest with his hands and tore his heart out of it and raised it high above his head. It blazed as brightly as the sun, and brighter than the sun, and the whole forest fell silent, illuminated by this torch of great love for people, and the darkness scattered from its light ... "
As we have seen, the poetic metaphor “to give your heart to your beloved” appeared both in the story “Makar Chudra” and in the tale of the little fairy. But here it turns into an expanded poetic image, interpreted literally. Gorky puts a new high meaning into the erased banal phrase, which for centuries has been accompanied by a declaration of love: "to give your hand and heart." Danko's living human heart has become a torch that illuminates the path to a new life for humanity. And although the "cautious man" nevertheless stepped on him, blue sparks in the steppe always remind people of Danko's feat.
The meaning of the story "The Old Woman Izergil" is defined by the phrase "There is always a place for exploits in life." The daredevil Danko, who “burned his heart for people and died without asking them for anything as a reward for himself,” expresses Gorky's innermost thought: the happiness and will of one person are unthinkable without the happiness and liberation of the people.

"Song of the Falcon" - a hymn to action in the name of freedom, light
“The madness of the brave is the wisdom of life,” asserts Gorky in The Song of the Falcon. The main method by which this thesis is approved is the dialogue of two different "truths", two worldviews, two contrasting images - Sokol and Uzh. The writer used the same technique in other stories. The free shepherd is the antipode of the blind Mole, the egoist Lara is opposed to the altruist Danko. In The Song of the Falcon, the hero and the bourgeoisie appear before the reader. The smug Already convinced of the inviolability of the old order. In a dark gorge, he is fine: "warm and damp." The sky for him is an empty place, and the Falcon, dreaming of flying into the sky, is a real madman. With a poisonous irony, Already claims that the beauty of flying is in the fall.
In the soul of the Falcon lives an insane thirst for freedom, light. By his death, he affirms the righteousness of the feat in the name of freedom.
The death of the Falcon is at the same time a complete debunking of the "wise" Uzh. In "Song of the Falcon" there is a direct echo with the legend of Danko: blue sparks of a burning heart flare up in the darkness of the night, always reminding people of Danko. The death of the Falcon also brings him immortality: "And the drops of your blood, hot, like sparks, will flare up in the darkness of life and many brave hearts will kindle with an insane thirst for freedom and light!"
From work to work in the early work of Gorky, the theme of heroism grows and crystallizes. Loiko Zobar, Rada, a little fairy commit madness in the name of love. Their actions are extraordinary, but this is not yet a feat. The girl, coming into conflict with the king, daringly conquers Fear, Fate and Death ("The Girl and Death"). Her courage is also the madness of the brave, although it is aimed at protecting personal happiness. Lara's courage and audacity lead to a crime, for he, like Pushkin's Aleko, "only wants freedom for himself." And only Danko and Sokol, by their death, affirm the immortality of the feat. So the problem of the will and happiness of an individual person fades into the background, being replaced by the problem of happiness for all mankind. “The madness of the brave” brings moral satisfaction to the brave ones themselves: “I go to burn as brightly and deeply as possible to illuminate the darkness of life. And death for me is my reward! " - declares the Gorky Man. Spiridonova L.A. "I came into the world to disagree." Gorky's early romantic works awakened the consciousness of the inferiority of life, unjust and ugly, giving birth to the dream of heroes rebelling against the established order of centuries.
The revolutionary-romantic idea also determined the artistic originality of Gorky's works: a pathetic sublime style, a romantic plot, a genre of fairy tales, legends, songs, allegories, a conventionally symbolic background of the action. In Gorky's stories, it is easy to find the exclusiveness of the heroes, the setting of action, and language characteristic of romanticism. But at the same time, they contain features characteristic only of Gorky: a contrasting juxtaposition of a hero and a philistine, a man and a slave. The action of the work, as a rule, is organized around the dialogue of ideas, the romantic framing of the story creates a background against which the author's thought stands out prominently. Sometimes a landscape serves as such a frame - a romantic description of the sea, steppe, thunderstorm. Sometimes - a harmonious harmony of the sounds of the song. The significance of sound images in Gorky's romantic works can hardly be overestimated: the melody of the violin sounds in the story of the love of Loiko Zobar and Rada, the whistle of a free wind and the breath of a thunderstorm - in the tale of a little fairy, "the wonderful music of revelation" - in "Song of the Falcon", a formidable roar storms - in the "Song of the Petrel". The harmony of sounds complements the harmony of allegorical images. The image of an eagle as a symbol of a strong personality arises when characterizing heroes with Nietzschean features: the eagle Rada, free as an eagle, a shepherd, the eagle's son Lara. The image of the Falcon is associated with the concept of an altruistic hero. Makar Chudra calls the storyteller a falcon who dreams of making all people happy. Finally, the Petrel symbolizes the movement of the masses themselves, the image of the coming retribution.
Gorky generously uses folklore motifs and images, transcribes Moldavian, Wallachian, Hutsul legends that he overheard during his wanderings across Russia. The language of Gorky's romantic works is flowery and patterned, melodiously sonorous.

Conclusion
The early work of Maxim Gorky is notable for different styles, noted by L. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov and V.G. Korolenko. The work of young Gorky was influenced by many writers: A.S. Pushkin, Pomyalovsky, G. Uspensky, N.S. Leskova, M. Yu. Lermontov, Byron, Schiller.
The writer turned to both the realistic and romantic trends of art, which in some cases existed independently, but often whimsically mixed. However, at first, Gorky was dominated by works of the romantic style, sharply distinguished by their brightness.
Indeed, in Gorky's early stories, traits of romanticism predominate. First of all, because they depict the romantic situation of the confrontation between a strong person (Danko, Lara, Sokol) and the world around him, as well as the problem of a person as a person in general. The action of stories and legends is transferred to fantastic conditions (“He stood between the boundless steppe and the endless sea”). The world of works is sharply differentiated into light and darkness, and these differences are important when assessing the characters: after Lara, there is a shadow, after Danko - sparks.
The gap between the heroic past and the miserable, colorless life in the present, between the "must" and the "existing", between the great "dream" and the "gray era" was the soil on which the romanticism of early Gorky was born.
All the heroes of Gorky's early work are morally emotional and experience mental trauma, choosing between love and freedom, but they still choose the latter, bypassing love and preferring only freedom.
People of this type, as the writer predicted, can turn out to be great in extreme situations, in the days of disasters, wars, revolutions, but they are most often not viable in the normal course of human life. Today, the problems posed by the writer M. Gorky in his early work are perceived as relevant and urgent for solving the problems of our time.
Gorky, who openly declared at the end of the 19th century about his faith in man, in his mind, in his creative, transforming capabilities, continues to arouse the interest of readers to this day.

The great Russian writer Maxim Gorky (Peshkov Alexey Maksimovich) was born on March 16, 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod - he died on June 18, 1936 in Gorki. At an early age "went to the people", in his own words. He lived hard, spent the night in the slums among all kinds of rabble, wandered, interrupted himself with an occasional piece of bread. He passed vast territories, visited the Don, Ukraine, the Volga region, southern Bessarabia, the Caucasus and the 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, critical articles began to be published, and then the book "On Gorky". Gorky's works interested politicians and public figures. Some of them believed that the writer interprets the 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 speeches. During World War I, the writer took an openly anti-militarist position. He met the revolution of 1917 with enthusiasm, and turned his apartment in Petrograd into a turnout for political figures. Often Maxim Gorky, whose works became more and more topical, reviewed his own work in order to avoid misinterpretation.

Abroad

In 1921, the writer went abroad to undergo a course of 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 to publish his memoirs about Lenin. In 1925 he wrote the novel The Artamonovs Case. All of Gorky's works of that time were politicized.

Return to Russia

The year 1928 was a turning point for Gorky. At Stalin's invitation, he returned to Russia and within a month moved from city to city, meets people, gets acquainted with the achievements in industry, observes how socialist construction is developing. Then Maxim Gorky leaves for Italy. However, in the following year (1929), the writer again came to Russia and this time visited the Solovetsky special purpose camps. At the same time, the reviews leave the most positive. Alexander Solzhenitsyn mentioned this trip to Gorky in his novel The Gulag Archipelago.

The final return of the writer to the Soviet Union took place in October 1932. Since that time, Gorky has been living in the former Ryabushinsky mansion on Spiridonovka, at his dacha in Gorki, and goes on vacation to the Crimea.

First Congress of Writers

After some time, the writer receives a political order from Stalin, who instructs him to prepare the 1st Congress of Soviet Writers. In light of this assignment, Maxim Gorky creates several new newspapers and magazines, publishes book series on the history of Soviet factories and factories, the civil war and some other events of the Soviet era. Then he wrote plays: "Egor Bulychev and others", "Dostigaev and others". Some of the works of Gorky, written earlier, were also used by him in the preparation of the first congress of writers, which took place in August 1934. At the congress, organizational issues were mainly resolved, the leadership of the future Union of Writers of the USSR was elected, and 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. In general, 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 controversy 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 are not indifferent to his work. Indeed, for many, the writer M. Gorky, whose works were understandable to the common man, became a conductor of a new life. Theater spectators went to the performance several times, read and re-read books.

Early romantic works of Gorky

The writer's work can be roughly divided into several categories. Gorky's early works are romantic and even sentimental. They do not yet feel the rigidity of political sentiment, which is saturated with the later stories and novellas of the writer.

The first story of the writer "Makar Chudra" is about a fleeting gypsy 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 by the hand of her beloved, the proud gypsy Rada passed away, and after her Loiko Zobar himself - swam together across the sky, hand in hand.

Stunning plot, incredible storytelling power. The story "Makar Chudra" became the hallmark of Maxim Gorky for many years, firmly taking first place in the list of "early works of Gorky".

The writer worked a lot and fruitfully in his youth. Gorky's early romantic works are a cycle of stories featuring Danko, Sokol, Chelkash and others.

A short tale of spiritual excellence is thought-provoking. "Chelkash" is a story about an ordinary person who carries high aesthetic feelings. Escape from home, vagrancy, complicity in a crime. A meeting of two - one is doing the usual thing, the other is given by an incident. Envy, distrust, readiness for submissive servility, fear and servility of Gavrila are opposed to Chelkash's courage, self-confidence, and love for 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 veil of romance.

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

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

Danko is no less proud, but he treats people with love. Therefore, he obtains the freedom necessary for his fellow tribesmen who believed him. Despite the threats of those who doubt that he is able to lead the tribe out of the dense forest, the young leader continues his journey, dragging people along with him. And when everyone's strength was running out, and the forest did not end, Danko tore open his chest, took out his burning heart and with his flame lit the path that led them to the clearing. Ungrateful fellow tribesmen, having escaped to freedom, did not even look in the direction of Danko when he fell and died. The people ran away, trampled on the flaming heart as they ran, and it crumbled 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, the romantic works of Gorky are distinguished by deep morality, which is unobtrusive, but makes you think.

The theme of personal freedom dominates in the early work of the writer. The heroes of Gorky's works are freedom-loving and are even ready to 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. A young, full of life 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 one more time.

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

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

The man in the works of Gorky

The special, refined psychologism of Maxim Gorky is present in all his stories, while the personality is always assigned the main role. Even the homeless vagabonds, the characters of the shelter, and they are presented by the writer as respected citizens, despite their plight. The person in the works of Gorky is put at the forefront, everything else is secondary - the events described, the political situation, even the actions of state bodies are in the background.

Gorky's story "Childhood"

The writer tells the story of the life of the boy Alyosha Peshkov, as if in his own name. 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 the funeral of his mother: "You are not a medal, you should not hang on my neck ... Go to people ...". And he kicked out.

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

Alexei grew up, supported by his mother, and a thick fog of enmity between everyone and everyone hung in the house. Uncles fought among themselves, threatened grandfather that he would be beaten, 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 an intricate relationship with his grandfather, grandmother and mother that the children could communicate only 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 of Russian society. The writer described several characters, inhabitants of the shelter, with frightening accuracy. In the center of the narrative are homeless people who are on the verge of despair. Someone is thinking about suicide, someone else hopes for the best. The work of M. Gorky "At the Bottom" is a vivid picture of social disorder in society, often turning into a tragedy.

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

After some time, a certain Luka appears, a search engine and chatterbox. He "floods", how much in vain, conducts lengthy conversations, promises everyone indiscriminately a happy future and complete prosperity. Then Luke disappears, and the unfortunate people whom he has given hope are at a loss. A severe disappointment ensued. A forty-year-old homeless man, nicknamed the Actor, commits suicide. The rest are also not far from this.

A dormitory, as a symbol of the dead end of Russian society at the end of the 19th century, an undisguised ulcer of the social structure.

Creativity of Maxim Gorky

• "Makar Chudra" - 1892. A story about love and tragedy.
• "Grandfather Arkhip and Lyonka" - 1893. A poor, sick old man with his grandson Lyonka, a teenager. At first, the grandfather could not stand the hardships and dies, then the grandson dies. Kind people buried the unfortunate by the road.
• "Old Woman Izergil" - 1895. Several stories of an old woman about selfishness and selflessness.
• "Chelkash" - 1895. A story about "an inveterate drunkard and a clever, brave thief."
• "The Orlovs" - 1897. A story about a childless married couple who decided to help sick people.
• "Konovalov" - 1898. The story of how Alexander Ivanovich Konovalov, who was 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 a fabulous robber.
• "Bourgeois" - 1901. The story of the bourgeois roots and the new trend 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 topic of revolutionary moods in society, about events taking place within a manufacturing factory, with the participation of members of the same family.
• "Vassa Zheleznova" - 1910. A play about a youthful 42-year-old woman, the owner of a shipping company, strong and domineering.
• "Childhood" - 1913. The story of a simple boy and his far from easy life.
• "Tales of Italy" - 1913. A cycle of short stories about life in Italian cities.
• "Passion-Faces" - 1913. A short story about a deeply unhappy family.
• "In People" - 1914. The story of an errand boy in a fashionable shoe store.
• "My Universities" - 1923. A Story about Kazan University and Students.
• "Blue Life" - 1924. A story about dreams and fantasies.
• "The Artamonovs' case" - 1925. The story of the events taking place at the factory of woven fabric.
• "The Life of Klim Samgin" - 1936. Events of the early XX century - Petersburg, Moscow, barricades.

Each story, novella or novel read, leaves an impression of high literary skill. Characters carry a variety of unique traits and characteristics. An analysis of Gorky's works presupposes a comprehensive characterization of the characters followed by a summary. The depth of the narrative is organically combined with complex but understandable literary techniques. All the works of the great Russian writer Maxim Gorky were included in the Golden Fund of Russian culture.

(estimates: 6 , average: 3,17 out of 5)

Name: Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov
Aliases: Maxim Gorky, Yehudiel Chlamida
Birthday: March 16, 1868
Place of Birth: Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire
Date of death: June 18, 1936
Place of death: Gorki, Moscow region, RSFSR, USSR

Biography of Maxim Gorky

Maxim Gorky was born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1868. In fact, the writer’s name was Alexei, but his father was Maxim, and the writer’s surname was Peshkov. My father worked as a simple carpenter, so the family could not be called wealthy. At the age of 7, he went to school, but after a couple of months he had to quit due to smallpox. As a result, the boy was educated at home, and he also studied all subjects on his own.

Gorky had a rather difficult childhood. His parents died too early and the boy lived with his grandfather , which had a very difficult character. Already at the age of 11, the future writer went to earn his own bread, earning money either in a bakery store, or in a canteen on a steamer.

In 1884, Gorky ended up in Kazan and tried to get an education, but this attempt failed, and he had to work hard again to earn money for his food. At the age of 19, Gorky even tries to commit suicide due to poverty and fatigue.

Here he is fond of Marxism, trying to agitate. In 1888 he was arrested for the first time. He takes an iron job, where the authorities keep a close eye on him.

In 1889, Gorky returned to Nizhny Novgorod, got a job with the lawyer Lanin as a clerk. It was during this period that he wrote "The Song of the Old Oak" and turned to Korolenko to appreciate the work.

In 1891, Gorky went to travel around the country. His story "Makar Chudra" is published for the first time in Tiflis.

In 1892, Gorky again went to Nizhny Novgorod and returned to the service of the lawyer Lanin. Here he is already published in many editions of Samara and Kazan. In 1895 he moved to Samara. At this time, he actively writes and his works are constantly published. The two-volume Essays and Stories, published in 1898, is in great demand and is very actively discussed and criticized. In the period from 1900 to 1901 he met Tolstoy and Chekhov.

In 1901, Gorky created his first plays "Bourgeois" and "At the bottom". They were very popular, and "Bourgeois" was even staged in Vienna and Berlin. The writer has already become known internationally. From that moment on, his works were translated into different languages ​​of the world, and he and his works also became the object of close attention of foreign critics.

Gorky took part in the revolution in 1905, and since 1906 he has been leaving his country due to political events. He has been living on the Italian island of Capri for a long time. Here he writes the novel "Mother". This work influenced the emergence of a new direction in literature, like socialist realism.

In 1913, Maxim Gorky was able to finally return to his homeland. During this period, he was actively working on an autobiography. He also works as an editor for two newspapers. Then he gathered around him proletarian writers and published a collection of their works.

The period of the revolution in 1917 was ambiguous for Gorky. As a result, he joins the ranks of the Bolsheviks, even despite doubts and torments. However, he does not support some of their views and actions. In particular, regarding the intelligentsia. Thanks to Gorky, most of the intelligentsia in those days escaped hunger and painful death.

In 1921, Gorky leaves his country. There is a version that he does this because Lenin was too worried about the health of the great writer, whose tuberculosis worsened. However, the reason could be Gorky's contradictions with the authorities. He lived in Prague, Berlin and Sorrento.

When Gorky was 60 years old, Stalin himself invited him to the USSR. A warm welcome was organized for the writer. He traveled around the country, where he spoke at meetings and rallies. He is honored in every possible way, he is taken to the Communist Academy.

In 1932, Gorky finally returned to the USSR. He leads a very active literary activity, organizes the All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, and publishes a large number of newspapers.

In 1936, terrible news spread throughout the country: Maxim Gorky left this world. The writer caught a cold when he visited his son's grave. However, there is an opinion that both the son and the father were poisoned due to political views, but this has not been proven.

Documentary

To your attention a documentary film, biography of Maxim Gorky.

Bibliography of Maxim Gorky

Novels

1899
Foma Gordeev
1900-1901
Three
1906
Mother (second edition - 1907)
1925
The Artamonovs case
1925-1936
The life of Klim Samgin

Stories

1908
The life of an unnecessary person
1908
Confession
1909
Okurov town
The life of Matvey Kozhemyakin
1913-1914
Childhood
1915-1916
In people
1923
My Universities

Stories, essays

1892
Girl and death
1892
Makar Chudra
1895
Chelkash
Old Isergil
1897
Former people
The Orlovs
Mallow
Konovalov
1898
Essays and stories (collection)
1899
Song of the Falcon (prose poem)
Twenty six and one
1901
Song of the Petrel (prose poem)
1903
Man (prose poem)
1913
Tales of Italy
1912-1917
Across Russia (cycle of stories)
1924
Stories from 1922-1924
1924
Diary notes (cycle of stories)

Plays

1901
Burghers
1902
At the bottom
1904
Summer residents
1905
Children of the Sun
Barbarians
1906
Enemies
1910
Vassa Zheleznova (revised in December 1935)
1915
Old man
1930-1931
Somov and others
1932
Egor Bulychov and others
1933
Dostigaev and others

Journalism

1906
My interviews
In America "(pamphlets)
1917-1918
a series of articles "Untimely Thoughts" in the newspaper "New Life"
1922
About the Russian peasantry

Years of life: from 03/28/1868 to 06/18/1936

Russian writer, playwright, public figure. One of the most popular authors at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Maxim Gorky (real name - Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov) was born (16) on March 28, 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod. Father, Maxim Savvatievich Peshkov (1840-71) - the son of a soldier, demoted from officers, a cabinet-maker. In recent years, he worked as a manager of a steamship office, died of cholera. Mother, Varvara Vasilievna Kashirina (1842-79) - from a bourgeois family; Widowed early, remarried, died of consumption. The writer's childhood passed in the house of Vasily Vasilyevich Kashirin's grandfather, who in his youth boiled over, then became rich, became the owner of a dyeing establishment, and went bankrupt in his old age. His grandfather taught the boy from church books, grandmother Akulina Ivanovna introduced her grandson to folk songs and fairy tales, but most importantly, she replaced his mother, “saturating”, in the words of Gorky himself, “with strong strength for a difficult life”.

Gorky did not receive a real education, graduating only from a vocational school. The thirst for knowledge quenched independently, he grew up "self-taught". Hard work (a dishwasher on a steamer, a "boy" in a store, an apprentice in an icon-painting workshop, a foreman at fairgrounds, etc.) and early privations taught a good knowledge of life and inspired dreams of rebuilding the world. Participated in illegal populist circles. After his arrest in 1889, he was under police surveillance.

With the help of V.G. Korolenko. In 1892 Maxim Gorky published his first story - "Makar Chudra", and in 1899-1900 he met L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov, is getting closer to the Moscow Art Theater, which staged his plays "Bourgeois" and "At the Bottom".

The next period of Gorky's life was associated with revolutionary activities. He joined the Bolshevik Party, later, however, at odds with it on the issue of the timeliness of the socialist revolution in Russia. He took part in organizing the first legal Bolshevik newspaper, Novaya Zhizn. In the days of the December 1905 armed uprising in Moscow, he supplied the workers' squads with weapons and money.

In 1906, on behalf of the party, Maxim Gorky illegally left for America, where he campaigned in support of the revolution in Russia. Among the Americans who ensured Gorky's reception in the United States was Mark Twain.

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

Using the amnesty, in 1913 he returned to St. Petersburg, collaborated in the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda. In 1915 he founded the Letopis magazine, headed the literary department of the magazine, rallying around it such writers as Shishkov, Prishvin, Trenev, Gladkov, and others.

Gorky greeted the February Revolution of 1917 with enthusiasm. He was a member of the "Special Meeting on Art Affairs", was the chairman of the Commission on Art at the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of the RSD. After the revolution, Gorky participated in the publication of the newspaper Novaya Zhizn, which was the organ of the Social Democrats, where he published articles under the general title Untimely Thoughts.

In the fall of 1921, due to the exacerbation of the tuberculous process, he left for treatment abroad. At first he lived in the resorts of Germany and Czechoslovakia, then moved to Italy in Sorrento. He continues to work a lot: he finishes the trilogy - "My Universities" ("Childhood" and "In People" were published in 1913 - 16), writes the novel "The Artamonovs Case" (1925). Begins work on the book "The Life of Klim Samgin", which he continued to write until the end of his life. In 1931, Gorky returned to his homeland. In the 1930s he again turned to drama: "Yegor Bulychev and others" (1932), "Dostigaev and others" (1933).

Summing up his acquaintance and communication with the great people of his time, Gorky wrote literary portraits of L. Tolstoy, A. Chekhov, V. Korolenko, the essay "VI Lenin". In 1934, through the efforts of M. Gorky, the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers was prepared and held.

On May 11, 1934, Gorky's son, Maxim Peshkov, unexpectedly dies. The writer himself died on June 18, 1936 in the town of Gorki, near Moscow, having outlived his son by a little more than two years. After his death, he was cremated, the 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. Around his death, as well as the death of his son Maxim, there is still a lot of unclear.

Gorky started out as a provincial newspaper (published under the name of Yehudiel Chlamyda). The pseudonym M. Gorky (letters and documents signed by his real name - A. Peshkov) appeared in 1892 in the Tiflis newspaper Kavkaz, where the first story, Makar Chudra, was published.

The circumstances of the death of Gorky and his son are considered by many to be "suspicious." There were rumors about the poisoning, which, however, have not been confirmed. According to the interrogations of Genrikh Yagoda (one of the main leaders of the state security organs), Maxim Gorky was killed on the orders of Trotsky, and the murder of Gorky's son, Maxim Peshkov, was his personal initiative. Some publications blame Stalin for Gorky's death.

Bibliography

Stories
1908 - "The Life of an Unnecessary Person".
1908 - "Confession"
1909 - "", "".
1913-1914- ""
1915-1916- ""
1923 - ""

Stories, essays
1892 - "Makar Chudra"
1895 - "Chelkash", "Old Woman Izergil".
1897 - Former People, The Orlov Spouses, Malva, Konovalov.
1898 - "Essays and Stories" (collection)
1899 - "Song of the Falcon" (prose poem), "Twenty six and one"
1901 - "Song of the Petrel" (prose poem)
1903 - "Man" (prose poem)
1913 - "Yegor Bulychov and others (1953)
Egor Bulychov and others (1971)
The Life of the Baron (1917) - based on the play "At the Bottom"
The Life of Klim Samgin (TV series, 1986)
The life of Klim Samgin (film, 1986)
The Well (2003) - based on the story of A.M. Gorky "Gubin"
Summer People (1995) - based on the play "Summer Residents"
Malva (1956) - based on short stories
Mother (1926)
Mother (1955)
Mother (1990)
Bourgeois (1971)
My Universities (1939)
At the Bottom (1952)
At the Bottom (1957)
At the bottom (1972)
Washed in blood (1917) - based on the story of M. Gorky "Konovalov"
The Premature Man (1971) - based on the play by Maxim Gorky "Yakov Bogomolov"
Across Russia (1968) - based on early stories
For Boredom (1967)
Tabor goes to heaven (1975)
Three (1918)
Foma Gordeev (1959)