Why the writer Gorky was accused in connection with the wife of his own son

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Trying once again to settle accounts with life, Maxim Gorky left a note in which he wrote that he asks to cut his remains and look to find out "what the devil was in me." And this was not at all self-flagellation, frankly speaking, the most recognized Soviet writer has never been an exemplary Soviet citizen or a family man. Why, then, did not the best Russian writer get so much honor and respect and the memory of posterity?

There is hardly a city on the territory of Russia, or even the former USSR, in which there would be no street, park or other objects that would not bear the name of Maxim Gorky. The city where he comes from was renamed in his honor even during his lifetime; not a single writer was honored with such honor, although Russian literature is rich in talents, and what can we hide, there were those whose cultural trace was much more noticeable and vivid. The death of the writer became an all-Union grief, and Stalin personally carried the urn with the ashes. An unheard-of for those times disposition to a creative person, around whom there were always rumors.

With all this, despite his fame as a writer, very little is known about him as a person. He arose out of nowhere, a tramp and a tramp who did not even have a school education, suddenly began to write one work after another, in which even recognized writers recognized the hand of the master.

What was the real Gorky, because even his friends did not know his true face, for some he was a village tramp, for others a brave revolutionary, for others a mysterious writer. When did the "real Gorky" wake up: when did he rush to defend every hack from the flywheels of the revolution, or when he called to fight the notorious enemies of the people, exterminating them mercilessly?

Maxim's childhood

Trying to understand who the most famous Soviet writer really was, one cannot but dwell on his childhood. An important part of his image was precisely his origin. Gorky has noticeably succeeded in cultivating his roots and way of life. Moreover, his image of a native of the lower classes was formed exclusively from his own words. At the same time, fictional works of an autobiographical nature cannot be perceived as documentary data, therefore it can be said with some certainty that Alexey Peshkov, whom Gorky was at birth, was born into a fairly wealthy family.

His father was a cabinet-maker, and his mother came from a fairly wealthy family. When Alyosha was three years old, he fell ill with cholera, his father looked after him, but, unlike his son, he could not bear the disease. The mother was forced to return to the parents' house with the child, since there was no one to support her. This became the cause of conflicts over property, in the conditions of which Alexei rose from early childhood.

Peshkov entered the school, but he was enough for two years, then he left him, meanwhile his mother got married again, but there was no harmony in the new family, the husband raised his hand to the woman. The future writer even threw a knife at his mother's wife, trying to protect her. For this he was sent to live with his grandfather and grandmother, while his mother died of tuberculosis, followed by her grandparents. By the time Gorky became famous, his relatives were not alive, so there was no one to confirm or deny his words.

First creation and attention to the image

"Makar Chudra" - the first published story of Maxim Gorky - the pseudonym appeared immediately, did not bring him fame or recognition, Vladimir Korolenko helped him to publish. He was just not fed with bread - let him reveal someone's talent. Considering that Korolenko was an ardent populist, he perceived Gorky as a diamond, which he managed to get out of the mud. With the help of his mentor, he publishes several more works, works as a journalist, a couple of years was enough to become famous.

However, Gorky himself made a lot of efforts in order not only to become famous and in demand, but also to create a certain image. He was the first Russian writer to create himself with such care. He spoke, dressed and behaved in such a way as to deliberately emphasize his tramp roots, everything he did and said should have suggested that he came from the people.

His efforts were not in vain, a whole movement of “podmaximovs” appeared, who imitated him in the style of dress and manner of writing, even pronounced words in the folk manner. Considering that there were enough smart and attentive people around Gorky, there were enough of those who saw all this falsity. Chukovsky frankly wrote that he did not believe in Gorky's trampled manner, Bunin argued that someone was editing Gorky's manuscripts, since the latter was extremely illiterate, he wrote that Gorky was such a good actor that he could even burst into tears if necessary and often it does. An untrained viewer could well believe that the writer is extremely vulnerable and sensitive.

In fact, how is it that a tramp who didn't go to school suddenly became a first-class writer. When and from whom did he study, if, as he himself claimed, he spent his childhood and youth in hard and senseless work and wanderings? Read philosophers before bed while everyone around him was drinking?

But the aspiring writer had much more admirers, the people took him for their own, even Tolstoy considered him a real, folk writer. Less than five years after the beginning of his writing career, Gorky became one of the highest paid writers. When leading writers received 300-500 rubles per page, Gorky was paid 1000. And the average monthly wage of a worker was no more than 20 rubles.

Now he did not exploit the image of a tramp, apparently the love for expensive French wines bore fruit. Now he began to portray a philosopher and thinker. At all near-literary gatherings he always had a circle of admirers, having gathered them, he loved to utter deep thoughts. Often it was impossible to even squeeze through to Gorky himself, so dense was the circle of his adorers.

Bitter revolutionary

In 1905, Gorky joined the RSDLP and migrated from Russia, for Lenin the attention of such a famous writer to the party was extremely important. His "Song of the Petrel" became the anthem of the revolution, the youth were ready to pray for the author of these lines. He starts a relationship with actress Andreeva, who, thanks to her fame and pretty appearance, received money for the party, and Gorky and Andreeva were a kind of layer between bohemians and revolutionaries.

It was together with Andreeva that Gorky went to America on the instructions of the party, but there was an embarrassment that seriously affected the writer’s image. The locals learned that his companion was not his wife, but his legal spouse in general in Russia. The conservative west portrayed the writer as a bigamist, they were kicked out of the hotel, where, in fairness, it is worth noting, they settled in the same room.

In 1917, Gorky was already in Russia, nevertheless, despite his closeness to comrade Lenin, he accepted the coming to power of the Bolsheviks without much enthusiasm. But he readily assumed the role of defender of Russian culture, every now and then rushing to petition for the release of this or that cultural figure. However, when he became the head of the Evaluation Commission, his love for Russian culture began to manifest itself in a completely different way - he replenished his stocks with rare specimens.

When it became necessary, he ceased to be a rebel and became a man of the system, accepting the rules of the game, he clearly fit into the established framework. Often he caused bewilderment to those with whom he had previously worked together. After all, now he was praising the Solovetsky camp and the White Sea Canal and urged to fight the enemies of the people. Gorky did not help anyone else, indifferently watching how yesterday's colleagues ended up in the camps.

However, it was not cheap enough to tame Gorky. The Bolsheviks provided him with truly tsarist conditions. He had a mansion in Moscow, apartments in the Crimea. The secret list of expenses of the NKVD contains information about how much Gorky cost. Together with food, staff maintenance, household expenses, 112 thousand rubles a month were obtained, and the average salary in the country was then slightly more than two hundred.

Sinful love

The first suicide attempt was made by Alexei because of unhappy love at the age of 19, but in the future he will have a lot of them and all unsuccessful, then he will miss, then they will have time to save him. Psychiatrists who have studied the personality of the writer define him as mentally unstable, prone to sadism and vagrancy. However, the latter he beautifully clothed in populism and vagabond.

Increased sexuality can be traced even in the works of Gorky, and the description of such scenes cannot be called aesthetic and subtle, rather it is rude and cynical, often with disgust. However, this did not prevent him from maintaining physical health until his death and starting romance after romance. He writes about his first experience in the story "One Fall", despite the fact that this hobby was fleeting, he describes any physical relationship without spiritual intimacy with a certain disgust. The story "The Watchman" describes his experience when he witnessed orgies that were organized by the workers of the bakery.

Olga Kaminskaya, with whom he begins a life together at the age of 25, was a graduate of the Institute for Noble Maidens. However, she was ten years older than the writer, and had previously been married. Their relationship was short-lived, after Olga fell asleep while reading the freshly written "Old Woman Izergil", they parted.

Ekaterina Volzhina worked with Gorky, he is a journalist, and she is a proofreader. They were united not only by their work, but also by their views on the future. She was 8 years younger than the writer. She gave birth to the writer two children, Maxim and Ekaterina. The daughter did not live to be 5 years old. Despite the fact that officially until the end of their days, they lived for only seven years. Then there was the same actress Maria Andreeva, together they led revolutionary activities. However, their life together cannot be called exemplary either. During his foreign trips, Gorky did not miss a single maid, was interested in paid love and started fleeting romances. However, similar behavior was typical for him in Russia.

After Maria left Gorky, he was introduced to another Maria Zakrevskaya. She left her legal spouse for the sake of Gorky, but their happiness did not last long, she soon went to Herbert Wells. All three main women of Gorky, despite his numerous betrayals, attended his funeral.

The accusations of being a daughter-in-law

Bright and effective - Gorky's daughter-in-law Nadezhda Peshkova was considered one of the brightest beauties in Moscow. Yes, and her fans were entirely titled and high-ranking. Even Stalin himself expressed signs of attention to her. A girl was born in the family of a doctor, and, in addition to her, there were seven children in the family, and the mother of the children died early. Nadya managed to get married at the age of 17, to her father's assistant. However, despite the fact that the wedding took place, the family life of the young did not work out. The girl ran away to her father from the first wedding night - her new husband got drunk and fell asleep, the girl decided that she was in a hurry with the choice. Who knew that her categoricalness in love relationships would cost her men their lives.

Despite the fact that Nadya had known the son of the writer for a long time, they began dating after her unsuccessful marriage, they say that it was this story that amused Maxim Jr., that he looked at the girl differently. After the young couple decided to get married, the girl was introduced to the writer, who very favorably accepted the future daughter-in-law. The young family left for Italy with the elders, Nadezhda recalls this period with special warmth, since both her husband and father-in-law literally doted on the girl.

In Italy, the daughters of Nadezhda and Maxim Peshkov, the granddaughter of the writer, were born. Upon their return to Russia, the Peshkovs' family was greeted with dirty gossip, Nadezhda, being a bright and spectacular woman, who also knew how to maintain a conversation, always attracted a lot of attention. Around her and her father-in-law, who treated her too warmly and, moreover, had a reputation as a womanizer, every now and then there were rumors. Allegedly, it is not without reason that Gorky is so sweet and courteous with Nadezhda, recalling the "daughter-in-law" that was once widespread in Russia.

However, both Stalin himself and Genrikh Yagoda often visited the house of Maxim Gorky, in which Nadezhda lived. Moreover, the leader often came with a bouquet of flowers and they were clearly not for the writer. Such an obsessive attention to the writer's daughter-in-law could not go unnoticed by the spouse himself, he soon fell ill with pneumonia and died suddenly. However, the fate of other men who tried to get the widow's attention was also sad. Stalin repressed almost everyone. The second time Nadezhda got married only after the death of Stalin, her son Beria became her chosen one.

The fate of Nadezhda is a vivid example of the tragedy of that time. Most of the men who fell under the orbit of her attractiveness faced an unenviable fate. They were shot, having fallen under the Stalinist repressions, or died under mysterious circumstances as Nadezhda's husband or her father-in-law “daughter-in-law”. Daughters Martha and Daria have always denied any immoral relationship between their grandfather and their mother, but they often claimed that their father was deliberately drunk by representatives of the OGPU. And if something destroyed their family, then the close attention of those for whom the fate of a person was nothing.

Given these circumstances, Stalin's desire to personally carry the urn with Gorky's ashes takes on new, eerie shades. After all, the writer was the last strong shoulder and protection not only of Nadezhda, but also of other women close to Gorky who lived in his house.