Gorky articles. Seven myths about bitter. Early creativity and success

Alexey Peshkov, known in literary circles as Maxim Gorky, was born in Nizhny Novgorod. Alexei's father died in 1871, when the future writer was only 3 years old, his mother lived only a little longer, leaving her son an orphan at the age of 11. The boy was sent for further care to the family of his maternal grandfather Vasily Kashirin.

It was not the cloudless life in his grandfather’s house that forced Alexei to switch to his own bread from childhood. To earn food, Peshkov worked as a delivery boy, washed dishes, and baked bread. Later, the future writer will talk about this in one of the parts of the autobiographical trilogy called “Childhood.”

In 1884, young Peshkov sought to pass the exams at Kazan University, but was unsuccessful. Difficulties in life, the unexpected death of his grandmother, who was a good friend of Alexei, lead him to despair and attempt suicide. The bullet did not hit the young man’s heart, but this incident doomed him to lifelong respiratory weakness.

In a thirst for changes in the government system, young Alexei contacts the Marxists. In 1888 he was arrested for anti-state propaganda. After his release, the future writer travels, calling this period of his life his “universities.”

The first steps of creativity

Since 1892, having returned to his native place, Alexey Peshkov became a journalist. The young author's first articles are published under the pseudonym Yehudiel Chlamys (from Greek cloak and dagger), but soon the writer comes up with another name for himself - Maxim Gorky. Using the word “bitter,” the writer strives to show the “bitter” life of the people and the desire to describe the “bitter” truth.

The first work of the master of words was the story “Makar Chudra”, published in 1892. Following him, the world saw other stories “Old Woman Izergil”, “Chelkash”, “Song of the Falcon”, “Former People”, etc. (1895-1897).

Literary rise and popularity

In 1898, the collection “Essays and Stories” was published, which brought Maxim Gorky fame among the masses. The main characters of the stories were the lower classes of society, enduring unprecedented hardships of life. The author depicted the suffering of the “tramps” in the most exaggerated form, in order to create a feigned pathos of “humanity”. In his works, Gorky nurtured the idea of ​​​​the unity of the working class, protecting the social, political and cultural heritage of Russia.

The next revolutionary impulse, openly hostile to tsarism, was the “Song of the Petrel.” As punishment for calling for a fight against the autocracy, Maxim Gorky was expelled from Nizhny Novgorod and recalled from the Imperial Academy. Remaining in close ties with Lenin and other revolutionaries, Gorky wrote the play “At the Lower Depths” and a number of other plays that received recognition in Russia, Europe and the United States. At this time (1904-1921), the writer connected his life with the actress and admirer of Bolshevism Maria Andreeva, breaking ties with his first wife Ekaterina Peshkova.

Abroad

In 1905, after the December armed rebellion, fearing arrest, Maxim Gorky went abroad. Gathering support for the Bolshevik party, the writer visits Finland, Great Britain, the USA, meets famous writers Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt and others. But the trip to America turns out to be not cloudless for the writer, because he soon begins to be accused of supporting local revolutionaries, as well as violating moral rights .

Not daring to go to Russia, from 1906 to 1913 the revolutionary lived on the island of Capri, where he created a new philosophical system, which is vividly depicted in the novel “Confession” (1908).

Return to the Fatherland

An amnesty for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty allowed the writer to return to Russia in 1913. Continuing his active creative and civic activities, Gorky published key parts of the autobiographical trilogy: 1914 - “Childhood”, 1915-1916 - “In People”.

During the First World War and the October Revolution, Gorky's St. Petersburg apartment became the site of regular Bolshevik meetings. But the situation changed dramatically a few weeks after the revolution, when the writer explicitly accused the Bolsheviks, in particular Lenin and Trotsky, of lust for power and false intentions of creating democracy. The newspaper “Novaya Zhizn”, which Gorky published, became the target of censorship persecution.

Along with the prosperity of communism, Gorky's criticism diminished and soon the writer personally met with Lenin, admitting his mistakes.

Staying in Germany and Italy from 1921 to 1932, Maxim Gorky wrote the final part of the trilogy called “My Universities” (1923), and was also treated for tuberculosis.

The last years of the writer's life

In 1934, Gorky was appointed head of the Union of Soviet Writers. As a token of gratitude from the government, he receives a luxurious mansion in Moscow.

In the last years of his work, the writer was closely associated with Stalin, strongly supporting the dictator’s policies in his literary works. In this regard, Maxim Gorky is called the founder of a new movement in literature - socialist realism, which is more associated with communist propaganda than with artistic talent. The writer died on June 18, 1936.

If you ask: “What do you think about the work of Alexei Gorky?”, then few people will be able to answer this question. And not because these people don’t read, but because not everyone knows and remembers that this is the well-known writer Maxim Gorky. And if you decide to complicate the task even more, then ask about the works of Alexey Peshkov. Here, only a few will remember that this is the real name of Alexei Gorky. He was not just a writer, but also an active one. As you already understand, we will talk about a truly national writer - Maxim Gorky.

Childhood and adolescence

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

As an 11-year-old boy, the future writer was already “going public” - earning his own bread. He worked in all sorts of jobs: he was a baker, he worked as a delivery boy in a store, and as a dishwasher in a cafeteria. Unlike the stern grandfather, the grandmother was a kind and believing woman and an excellent storyteller. It was she who instilled in Maxim Gorky a love of reading.

In 1887, the writer attempted suicide, which he associated with difficult experiences caused by the news of his grandmother’s death. Fortunately, he survived - the bullet did not hit his heart, but damaged his lungs, which caused problems with the functioning of the respiratory system.

The life of the future writer was not easy, and he, unable to bear it, ran away from home. The boy wandered around the country a lot, saw the whole truth of life, but miraculously was able to maintain faith in the ideal Man. He will describe his childhood years, life in his grandfather’s house in “Childhood” - the first part of his autobiographical trilogy.

In 1884, Alexei Gorky tries to enter Kazan University, but due to his financial situation he learns that this is impossible. During this period, the future writer begins to gravitate towards the romantic philosophy, according to which the ideal Man is not similar to the real Man. Then he became acquainted with Marxist theory and became a supporter of new ideas.

The appearance of a pseudonym

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

In 1892, Gorky returned to his native place and took his first steps in the literary field as a writer in several provincial publications. For the first time his pseudonym "Gorky" appeared in the same year in the newspaper "Tiflis", which published his story "Makar Chudra".

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

Early creativity and success

Alexei Gorky was actively involved in propaganda, for which he was under constant police control. With the help of V. Korolenko, in 1895 his story “Chelkash” was published in the largest Russian magazine. Next, “Old Woman Izergil” and “Song of the Falcon” were published. They were not special from a literary point of view, but they successfully coincided with new political views.

In 1898, his collection “Essays and Stories” was published, which was an extraordinary success, and Maxim Gorky received all-Russian recognition. Although his stories were not highly artistic, they depicted the life of the common people, starting from the very bottom, which brought Alexei Peshkov recognition as the only writer who writes about the lower class. At that time, he was no less popular than L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov.

In the period from 1904 to 1907, the plays “The Bourgeois”, “At the Depths”, “Children of the Sun”, “Summer Residents” were written. His earliest works did not have any social orientation, but the characters had their own types and special attitudes to life, which readers really liked.

Revolutionary activities

The writer Alexei Gorky was an ardent supporter of Marxist social democracy and in 1901 wrote “Song of the Petrel,” which called for revolution. For open propaganda of revolutionary actions, he was arrested and expelled from Nizhny Novgorod. In 1902, Gorky met Lenin, and in the same year his election to membership in the Imperial Academy in the category of belles-lettres was cancelled.

The writer was also an excellent organizer: from 1901 he was the head of the Znanie publishing house, which published the best writers of that period. He supported the revolutionary movement not only spiritually, but also financially. The writer's apartment was used as a headquarters for revolutionaries before important events. Lenin even performed at his apartment in St. Petersburg. Afterwards, in 1905, Maxim Gorky, due to fears of arrest, decided to leave Russia for a while.

Life abroad

Alexei Gorky went to Finland and from there to Western Europe and the USA, where he collected funds for the Bolshevik struggle. At the very beginning, he was greeted there friendly: the writer made acquaintance with Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain. His famous novel "Mother" is published in America. However, later Americans began to resent his political actions.

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

Return to Russia

In 1913, Alexey Maksimovich returned to his homeland. During the First World War, he lost faith in the power of Man. In 1917, his relations with the revolutionaries deteriorated, he became disillusioned with the leaders of the revolution.

Gorky understands that all his attempts to save the intelligentsia do not meet with a response from the Bolsheviks. But then in 1918 he recognized his beliefs as erroneous and returned to the Bolsheviks. In 1921, despite a personal meeting with Lenin, he failed to save his friend, the poet Nikolai Gumilyov, from execution. After this he leaves Bolshevik Russia.

Repeated emigration

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

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

Return to homeland and last years of life

Alexei Gorky came to the Soviet Union several times, but did not stay there. In 1928, during a trip around the country, he was shown the “ceremonial” side of life. The delighted writer wrote essays about the Soviet Union.

In 1931, at the personal invitation of Stalin, he returned to the USSR forever. Alexey Maksimovich continues to write, but in his works he praises the image of Stalin and the entire leadership, without mentioning the numerous repressions. Of course, this state of affairs did not suit the writer, but at that time statements that contradicted the authorities were not tolerated.

In 1934, Gorky’s son died, and on June 18, 1936, under circumstances that were not fully understood, Maxim Gorky died. The entire leadership of the country saw off the people's writer on his final journey. The urn with his ashes was buried in the Kremlin wall.

Features of the work of Maxim Gorky

His work is unique in that it was during the period of the collapse of capitalism that he was able to very clearly convey the state of society through the description of ordinary people. After all, no one before him had described in such detail the life of the lower strata of society. It was this undisguised truth of the life of the working class that won him the people's love.

His faith in man can be traced in his early works; he believed that man can make a revolution with the help of his spiritual life. Maxim Gorky managed to combine the bitter truth with faith in moral values. And it was this combination that made his works special, his characters memorable, and made Gorky himself a writer of workers.

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

Alexey Peshkov - future Maxim Gorky | Pandia

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

Photo of Gorky in his youth | Poetic portal

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

Alexey Peshkov, who took the pseudonym Gorky | Nostalgia

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

It is curious that, despite all his Marxist views, Peshkov perceived the October Revolution rather skeptically. After the Civil War, Maxim Gorky, who had some disagreements with the new government, again went abroad, but in 1932 he finally returned home.

Writer

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

Legendary Soviet writer | Kyiv Jewish community

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

Personal life

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

With his first wife Ekaterina Volzhina | Livejournal

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

With his second wife, actress Maria Andreeva | Livejournal

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

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

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

Death

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

In the last years of life | Digital library

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

Books by Maxim Gorky

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

Maxim Gorky is a cult writer of the Soviet period of Russian history. His works are known not only in our country, but also far beyond its borders. At the beginning of the 20th century, they formed their idea of ​​Russia in Europe, America and other countries. Critics are divided in their opinions about Gorky's talent as a writer, but few deny his role in the establishment of socialist realism as the main literary movement of the Land of the Soviets. On the occasion of the writer’s 150th anniversary, we present to our readers a selection of quotes about M. Gorky.

• “The sharpest and deepest feature, moreover: the basis of Gorky’s artistic individuality is his despotism. A ruler, a ruler, a despot who does not tolerate contradictions in anyone, even in himself. If Gorky contradicts Gorky, then he simply covers it with a hat; and even if there are two heads under the hat, there is complete unity on the outside.” L. N. Andreev
• “The nineties of the 19th century and the first half of the 1900s passed in Russia under the sign of Gorky - even his haters will not argue with this.” D. L. Bykov
• “Gorky is a great, monstrous, touching, strange and absolutely necessary writer today.” D. L. Bykov
• “Gorky is the proletarian Pechorin, evidence that now the fate of Russia will be decided by the lower classes.” D. L. Bykov
• “Gorky was not fascinated by Marxism, but was fascinated by the dream of a new man and a new God...” D. L. Bykov
• “I don’t like Gorky as a person, but what a huge, strong writer he is and what terrible and important things he says about the writer.” M. A. Bulgakov
• “For so many years now, world fame, completely unparalleled in its undeservedness...” I. A. Bunin
• “Chekhov and Gorky are really “prophets,” although not in the sense that they are thought of, as perhaps they think of themselves. They are “prophets” because they bless what they wanted to curse, and curse what "They wanted to bless. They wanted to show that man without God is God; but they showed that he is a beast, worse than a beast is cattle, worse than cattle is a corpse, worse than a corpse is nothing." D. S. Merezhkovsky
• “Chekhov and Gorky are exponents not so much of the people as of the class, not so much of the cultural, but of the intelligent middle of the Russian middle class, the most numerous and active, which at the present time has to “make history” and for what will be done, give an answer at the Last Judgment stories". D. S. Merezhkovsky
• "Man - that's the truth. This is where everything begins and ends. Everything is in man, everything is for man. Only man exists." - “The True Shekinah (God) is man.” This is Gorky’s confession.” D. S. Merezhkovsky
• “Gorky has earned his fame: he discovered new, unknown countries, a new continent of the spiritual world; he is the first and only, in all likelihood, unique in his field. When entering that “land of darkness and the shadow of death,” which is called tramping, he will forever remain inscribed with the name of Gorky." D. S. Merezhkovsky
• “There is no art in Gorky’s works; but they contain something that is hardly less valuable than the highest art: life, the most truthful original of life, a piece torn out of life with body and blood...” D. S. Merezhkovsky
• “It’s not worth saying more than two words about Gorky as an artist. The truth about the tramp, told by Gorky, deserves the greatest attention; but poetry, with which he, unfortunately, sometimes considers it necessary to decorate this truth, deserves nothing but condescending oblivion.” D. S. Merezhkovsky
• Finally, there was one area in which he recognized himself as helpless - and suffered from this in a very real way.
  - Please tell me that my poems are very bad?
  - Bad, Alexey Maksimovich.
  - It's a pity. It's a terrible pity. All my life I dreamed of writing at least one good poem. V. F. Khodasevich
• "[...]he demanded criticism, listened to it with gratitude and paid attention only to reproaches, letting praise fall on deaf ears. He often defended himself and argued, but just as often he conceded in the argument, and having conceded, he certainly sat down for alterations and corrections ". V. F. Khodasevich
• “I have not seen a person who wore his fame with greater skill and nobility than Gorky.” V. F. Khodasevich
• “From the Nizhny Novgorod guild Alexey Peshkov, who studied with copper money, to Maxim Gorky, a world-famous writer, there is a huge distance that speaks for itself, no matter how one evaluates Gorky’s talent.” V. F. Khodasevich
• “He considered it his duty to stand before humanity, before the “masses” in the image and in the pose that these masses expected from him and demanded in exchange for their love. Often, too often, he had to feel himself as a kind of mass illusion, part of that “golden dream”, which was once inspired and which he, Gorky, no longer has the right to destroy.” V. F. Khodasevich
• “He tended to become surrounded by petty swindlers and beggars every time he appeared on the street. In their craft, he liked the interweaving of truth and lies, as in the craft of magicians. He succumbed to their tricks with visible pleasure and was all beaming when he was a garcon or a merchant of some rubbish he was shortchanged." V. F. Khodasevich
• “He liked everyone, absolutely all people who brought an element of rebellion or at least mischief into the world, right down to maniacal arsonists, about whom he wrote a lot and about whom he was ready to talk for hours.” V. F. Khodasevich
• “This “great realist” truly liked only everything that decorates reality, takes away from it, or does not take it into account, or simply adds to it what is not in it. I have seen many writers who were proud that Gorky I cried listening to their works." V. F. Khodasevich
• “Gorky happened to live in an era when the “golden dream” was the dream of a social revolution, as a panacea for all human suffering. He supported this dream, he became its spokesman - not because he believed so deeply in the revolution, but because believed in the salvation of the dream itself." V. F. Khodasevich
• “His whole life was permeated with acute pity for a person whose fate seemed hopeless to him. He saw the only salvation of a person in creative energy, which is unthinkable without the constant overcoming of reality - hope. He did not highly value the ability of a person to realize hope, but this very ability to dream, "The gift of dreams - brought him delight and awe. The creation of any dream that could captivate humanity, he considered a true sign of genius, and maintaining this dream was a matter of great philanthropy." V. F. Khodasevich
• “[...] he failed to make himself a real, disciplined Marxist, but nevertheless accepted Marxism as his official religion or as a working hypothesis on which he tried to base his artistic work.” V. F. Khodasevich
• “None of the Russian writers I met could compare with him in fame. He received a huge number of letters in all languages. Wherever he appeared, strangers approached him, asking for autographs. Interviewers besieged him. Newspaper correspondents rented rooms in the hotels where he stayed, and stayed for two or three days, just to see him in the garden or at the table. V. F. Khodasevich
• “All of his literary, as well as all of his life’s activities, are imbued with a sentimental love for all types of lies and a persistent, consistent dislike for the truth.” V. F. Khodasevich
• [Gorky] is incomparably greater than Bunin: greater, and more humane, and more original, and more necessary - Gorky. Gorky is an era, and Bunin is the end of an era. M. Tsvetaeva
• “Gorky replaced the tragedies of life that tormented former great writers with tragedies of everyday life.” K. I. Chukovsky
• “Gorky demands that we be compassionate, because it seems to him that in the cruel conditions of painful Russian life, pity is as necessary as air.” K. I. Chukovsky
• “Gorky is not a seeker of God, not a seeker of truth, he is only a seeker of happiness: happiness for him is more precious than truth, holier than God - and if God does not give humanity happiness, Gorky will reject such a worthless God. And if the truth does not give humanity happiness, then long live lies! " K. I. Chukovsky

M. Gorky

M. Gorky. Collected works in thirty volumes M., GIHL, 1953 Volume 27. Articles, reports, speeches, greetings (1933-1936) The question of the themes of children's books is, of course, a question of the line of social education of children. In our country, to educate means to revolutionize, that is, to free the child’s thinking from the technical skills of thought predetermined by the past of his grandfathers and fathers, from its delusions, which are based on the centuries-old experience of conservative life, built on the class struggle and on the desire of individuals for self-defense, to the affirmation of individualism and nationalism as “eternal” forms and laws of social existence. It is necessary to organize the task of raising children in such a way that from an early age, even at games, they decisively break away from the conscious and unconscious attraction to the past - hence it is clear that it is necessary to reveal to the children the processes of the past. This is unattainable through familiarization only with facts, ideas, theories; it can only be achieved by stories about labor processes, how these processes created facts and how concepts, ideas, theories flowed from facts. It is necessary to show that freedom of thought is possible only with complete freedom of labor activity, which absolutely did not find and does not find a place under the conditions of the capitalist system of society and is obligatory for everyone under the socialist system. We should not forget about the difference in the influence of facts and processes on thought. This happens not only in everyday life, but also in science, where the so-called “firmly established facts” often play a conservative role, keep thought captive to “evidence” and thereby retard the pace and freedom of the cognitive process. Very often, “truth” - an instrument of knowledge, its temporary starting point - expresses the personal conscious or instinctive desire of the “producer” of truth for peace, for power over minds and, rejecting criticism, is taught as an unshakable, “eternal” law, as “faith” ". It is quite possible that the hypothesis of “entropy” - the gravitation of energy towards rest - is only an expression of the desire of a tired thought for rest and calm. Likewise, the doctrine of “supercompletion” - that the physiological defects of the body are supposedly compensated for by an increase in intellectual abilities - is a doctrine, the main idea of ​​which, if transferred to the field of sociology, would justify the shameful deformities of social relations, as they tried to justify them Malthus and many other bourgeois thinkers. All of them were based on facts, but only Marx brilliantly revealed the processes of creation of facts, only he clearly and indisputably showed that the main reason for the tragic life and all the suffering of mankind was the gap between an intelligent working hand and an intelligent head. Oliver Lodge, a biologist, a materialist in his youth, a mystic in his old age, argued in one of his first books that thinking arose from the sensation of pain, as a chemical reaction of a nerve cell to shocks and blows from the outside world. Long and continuous collisions of some primitive organism with its environment created a neuro-cerebral sensory, it later developed as touch, vision, hearing, taste, smell and, finally, in the ancient ancestor of man it grew into the instinct of self-preservation, prompted him the need to arm himself to fight against phenomena that threaten his health and life. At some ancient stage of development, people were no more “social” than wolves are today. But a relative of the monkey, man, developed his forelimbs more skillfully, and these smart hands of his, they are the force that, having distinguished man from among animals, contributed to the rapid growth of his thoughts and ultimately organized him as he is in our days: the most skillful master of processing metals into the most precise instruments, apparatus, machines, a most talented pianist, a surgeon who works miracles, etc. The above does not at all detract from the power of the influence of social relations on the growth and development of thought, but this is a later point. We need to show children historical man, coming from the “darkness of centuries” and at the very beginning of his semi-conscious labor processes; It is necessary that children have some idea of ​​the paths that have been traversed from the inventor of the stone ax to Stephenson and Diesel, from the creator of the fairy tale, which was a fantastic hypothesis, to the great teaching of Marx, which showed us a wide and straight path to the bright future of working humanity. Entering a new world, the world of free, technically facilitated labor and a classless society, children must know how enormous the importance of physical labor is, how it changes not only the forms, but also the qualities of matter, how, by mastering its elemental forces, it creates a “second nature.” ". It is undeniable that thinking is nothing more than a reflection in the human brain of the objective, really existing world of matter, the most amazing and complex product of which is the human neuro-brain tissue. But it is necessary for children to know: if freedom of labor activity had not been constrained, had not been limited throughout history by the self-interest and greed of the commanding classes, working humanity would have been at a height immeasurably higher than the modern stage of “universal human culture”, built on the bones of the working people, cemented his blood. Of course, “everything is conditioned,” but for us history is no longer a fetish, we build it according to plan. We need to especially sharply emphasize the decisive importance of freedom of labor. Using the example of the bourgeois world, we see that capitalism is increasingly abandoning its “culture”, because it is becoming hostile to it. Using the example of the free vital activity of the working energy of the Union of Socialist Soviets, we have the indisputable right to show how quickly, diversified, and lastingly collective labor enriches our vast country, how in 15 years the strong foundations of a new culture are laid. Using many examples of crooked, distorted reflections in the bourgeois head of the phenomena of the objective world, we must show children how and why the correct, natural perception of the world was distorted. Once again: we need to raise to the proper height the idea of ​​the historical working man, the receptacle of energy that organizes and transforms the world, creating his “second nature” - the culture of socialists. Man is the bearer of energy that organizes the world, creating a “second nature”, culture - man is an organ of nature, created by it as if for its self-knowledge and transformation - this is what must be instilled in children. It is necessary that from the age of six or seven they begin to understand the wonderful power of the work of thought, delve into the meaning of social phenomena, and become accustomed to knowing their abilities. Therefore, introducing children to life should begin with stories about the distant past, about the beginning of labor processes and the organizing work of thought. It should be firmly remembered that the history of the creation of culture began with helpless, illiterate people, completely absorbed in the struggle for their lives against natural phenomena and predatory animals hostile to them. Bourgeois cultural historians usually portray primitive man, a member of a clan collective, as a thinker who was troubled by questions: what is sleep, death, by what force was the earth created, why was man created, etc. But the man of that time lived in continuous physical labor and in continuous in a state of self-defense, he was primarily a creator of real facts and did not have time to think abstractly. “The real turned into the ideal” exactly as the universal mind of Marx guessed about it: under the influence of labor processes. The methods of self-education among primitive man were very simple: man understood that he needed to become stronger than the beast, and, before learning to defeat the beasts, he allowed for this possibility, creating fairy tales about the conquerors of lions Samson and Hercules. He had no other need to create gods other than allowing for the possibility of a fantastic development of his powers and abilities. Assuming this, he was not mistaken: the best masters of primitive crafts were portrayed by him as winners of monstrous resistance to his will from nature and matter. The most ancient myths do not know gods who were not craftsmen: these are skilled blacksmiths, hunters, shepherds, sailors, musicians, carpenters; Goddesses are also craftswomen: spinners, cooks, healers. What is called “the religious creativity of primitive people” was, in its essence, artistic creativity, devoid of signs of mysticism. Mysticism invaded when individuality, for one reason or another, breaking away from the collective, began to understand the meaninglessness of its existence and its powerlessness in the face of nature, and especially in the face of the power of the collective, which demanded - could not help but demand - from the unit equality in labor. It is extremely difficult to allow a primitive family and clan to tolerate in its midst idlers, lazy people and, in general, subjects who would shy away from participating in the collective work of obtaining food and protecting life - such people were probably exterminated. Man began to think abstractly and mystically even when he was decrepit, when the motivator of his thinking was the fear of the inevitability of death. Fear can cause panic in a group, but panic cannot be long-lasting and does not suppress the biological energy of the group. Natural disasters, for example, volcanoes, earthquakes, and periodic floods have never caused the resettlement of peoples. The most pessimistic religion is Hinduism - Vedoism, Buddhism - but, as you know, this does not prevent Hindus from living and reproducing. The Indo-German philosophy of Schopenhauer and Hartmann did not noticeably increase the number of suicides, even in a bourgeois, fragmented society. Fear of life - of the “unknowable”, etc. - a property of an individualist, - as said, stems from a person’s sense of his personal nonentities. Individualists have learned to utilize their fear, instilling it in working people as the highest wisdom, as a super-intelligent penetration into secrets inaccessible to reason. It is very likely that the first founders of mystical religions, organizers of cults, and priests were precisely frightened loafers and decrepit people. Cases of premature fatigue of thought, its fear of its own conclusions can be traced throughout the history of the bourgeoisie. The closer to our era, the more frequent such cases are. The 19th and 20th centuries are especially rich in leaps of scientific-revolutionary and materialist thought into reactionism and mysticism. Oliver Lodge, Virchow, Mendeleev, Crookes, Richet and many other “men of science” confirm the senile decrepitude of bourgeois society with the facts of the fatigue of their thinking. In order to achieve success in creating fiction and educational literature for children, we need a cadre of talented writers who have the ability to write simply, interestingly and meaningfully, a cadre of cultural editors who have sufficient political and literary training, we need technical conditions that ensure timely output and quality children's book. Such problems cannot be solved in one day. This means that we should begin to resolve them immediately. It is possible that we will to some extent help the cause of creating a new children's book by outlining several topics to be developed:

Geochemical and geophysical understanding of the earth; history of its formation; metals, minerals, origin of fertile soils. The role of high temperatures, mastering which, science creates steel from the main ore - from iron - and through an alloy with one or another metal makes increasingly resistant, hard metals. Practical conclusions.

Its chemistry, gases, especially oxygen and hydrogen; physical action of air currents. Formation of acids, salts, alkalis. Burning, rotting. Movement as the basis of all phenomena of physics and chemistry. Our attempts to utilize air currents. Its physical and chemical work. Movement - fall - of water as a source of electricity. These three topics should be developed in such a way that the young reader receives as clear an idea as possible about all the various processes of change in matter and about the gradual conquest of the elemental forces of nature by science. Further topics need to be developed:

Plant

The history of its development and exploration by man.

Animal

The history of the growth of organic life from plant cells to humans.

How did people appear on earth?

Mythological explanations: people came out of the water, from the forest, from animals, and were generally created by the forces of nature. Church, priestly explanations: the creators of people are the gods. The theory of organic evolution.

How people learned to think

The theory of nerve cell formation. Skin touch and development of the five senses. The role of similarities and differences in natural phenomena, in changing realities. Pleasant and unpleasant sensations. The instinct of self-preservation. Forming concepts from observing similarities and differences. The role of light and darkness in obtaining food. Onomatopoeia as one of the possible speech stimulants. Creak, roar, thunder, squealing, rustling, rustling, etc.

How people mastered fire

Sparks when processing stone. Flashes of dry wood when rubbed. (Bushman's explanation: "If you rub a tree for a long time, it sweats, smokes and gets angry - it flares up." Coincidence: Slavic words - fire - anger, be angry, burn.) Lightning. The myth of Prometheus.

How people have learned to make their work and life easier

Invention and use of primitive tools. Bird's nests as a pattern of weaving; the beak of a bird sewing nests could give the idea of ​​a needle, the shell of a bird's egg or a nut - a prototype of a boat, a spider's web - a weaving. Observation of moles, field mice, and family-eating birds could lead to the development of cereals.

What was the significance for people of the development of iron and other metals?

About sweet, sour, salty, fresh

Glucose, acids, salts, alkalis. Their role in the human body, importance in industry, etc.

About the miraculous in the work of science

Mainly in chemistry. Making glass: opaque matter becomes transparent like air. Refractory, flexible glass, etc. You can talk about the transformation of potatoes into rubber and a number of other processes that have a particularly strong effect on the imagination as a force that helps expand the conceivable limits of the possible.

Thoughts and deeds

Their mutual connection, their contradictions, resolution of contradictions in the processes of labor experience.

About the technology of the future

Solar engineering, radio engineering, utilization of wind power, temperature differences, etc.

Why and how did people write fairy tales?

There is no fantasy that is not based on reality. Existing and desired: the beast is stronger than man - man needs to be stronger than the beast. Large animals cannot catch a bird in the air, hence the desire to fly, to move quickly on the ground - “fleet boots”, “flying carpet”, etc. The fantasy of primitive man as an expression of what he wants, an idea of ​​what is possible for him . Skeletons of pterosaurs and a flying lizard - the "dragon shuttlecock" - as a prototype of the dragon Serpent Gorynych. A fairy tale as a prototype of a hypothesis.

What is religion and why was it invented?

Who created religions? The mystical gods of the priests were created according to the type of master gods: Vulcan, Thor, Valdur, Weinemainen, Apollo, Yarila, etc., Bird Angels. The lives of saints were based on folk tales. God-creating priests, God-fighting people. The most ancient evidence of theomachism: Prometheus, Kadevi - the hero of the Estonian "Kalevipoeg", Loki - the enemy of the gods, etc. - the church included theomachists in the image of Satan. Materialism and skepticism of paganism. The mysticism of the Christian church, its cruelty. The Inquisition, its continuous struggle against heretics and, despite this, chimeras and the devil on the towers of the Paris Cathedral, human buttocks as a drain on the Cathedral in Freiburg in Schwarzwad, etc. of that kind. Anti-church tales, legends. What did religion give to people?

About how science made people giants

The telescope and television have lengthened vision, the microscope has deepened it. Telephone, radio - hearing enhancement. Modern methods of movement on land, water, air - legs have grown. Remote control - long arms.

The history of the engine from the steam engine to the diesel engine, "for what - nothing?"

The meaning of emptiness in technology. Measure, weight. The value of the accuracy of measurements of space, time, gravity. Consequences of violation of accuracy: train collisions, the need for accuracy in replacing worn-out machine parts, poisoning due to incorrect weight of medicines, etc.

Two natures

First part. The power of nature over man. Human enemies: wind, thunderstorm, swamps, cold, heat, river rapids, deserts, predatory animals, poisonous plants, etc. Second part. Man's war with hostile nature and the creation of a new nature. Conquering wind, water, electricity. Swamps provide humans with peat as fuel and fertilizer. Animals and plants in the service of humans, etc. The third part. The power of man over nature. Planned, organized labor of a socialist society. Victory over the elements, over illness and death. A particularly important and serious task is... give children books about where private property came from, and how in our time property is becoming the main obstacle to human development. This problem can be solved by a number of historical books, and sharp political pamphlets, and everyday satire directed against the vestiges of possessiveness in the conditions of the Soviet Country, among adults and children. Before the revolution in Russia there were quite a lot of books dedicated to Western countries, for example, books by Vodovozova. Most of these books were written rather superficially. The life of different countries was given outwardly, the people were distinguished by constant character traits - say, the French - humor, the British - calmness, and Dutch women - headdresses. There was no talk of any class struggle in these books. But nevertheless, books developed in the child an interest in the life and culture of Western countries and encouraged him to study foreign languages. We must ensure that the best writers and artists give us books and albums dedicated to the peoples of the world. Local historians and participants of numerous expeditions scattered throughout the territory of the Union can best tell about the peoples of the USSR. They will show us national life in the process of its change and development, and instill internationalism in children. It is extremely important to involve representatives of the national people in the creation of these books - in particular, students studying in general universities and colleges, as well as in institutes of the peoples of the North and East. In general, we need to build all literature for children on a completely new principle that opens up the broadest prospects for imaginative scientific and artistic thinking; this principle can be formulated as follows: in human society, a struggle is flaring up for the liberation of the labor energy of the working masses from the yoke of property, from the power of capitalists, the struggle for the transformation of the physical energy of people into the energy of the mind - intellectual, - the struggle for power over the forces of nature , for the health and longevity of working humanity, for its worldwide unity and for the free, diverse, limitless development of its abilities and talents. This principle should be the basis of all literature for children and every book, starting with books for younger children. We must remember that there are no longer fantastic fairy tales that are not justified by work and science, and that children should be given fairy tales based on the requests and hypotheses of modern scientific thought. Children should learn not only to count and measure, but also to imagine and foresee. We must not forget to forget that the unarmed imagination of ancient people foresaw the possibility for a person to fly in the air, live under water, limitlessly increase movement on earth, transform matter, etc. n. Nowadays, fantasy and imagination can rely on real data from scientific experience and thereby limitlessly enhance the creative power of the mind. We see among our inventors people who, with little knowledge of mechanics, create the right ideas for new machines, machines, and apparatus. We must call on science to help children’s imagination, we must teach children to think about the future. The strength of Vladimir Ilyich and his students is hidden precisely in their amazing ability to foresee the future. In our literature there should not be a sharp distinction between fiction and popular science books. How to achieve this? How to make an educational book effective and emotional? First of all - and again! - our book about the achievements of science and technology should give not only the final results of human thought and experience, but introduce the reader into the very process of research work, showing gradually how to overcome difficulties and the search for the right method. Science and technology should be portrayed not as a warehouse of ready-made discoveries and inventions, but as an arena of struggle where a specific living person overcomes the resistance of material and tradition. The authors of such a book can and should be the best scientists, and not impersonal intermediaries-compilers, ready to concoct an essay, an article or an entire treatise at the request of any publishing house and on any topic. Soviet reality, which expels middlemen from industry, must also expel them from the field of literature. Only with the direct participation of genuine workers of science and writers of high literary technology can we undertake the publication of books dedicated to the artistic popularization of scientific knowledge. The bold and successful experience of several authors who created books for children and youth about the prospects of our construction: Ilyin - “The Story of the Great Plan”, Paustovsky - “Kara-Bugaz”, etc. - convinces us that with children it is possible speak simply and captivatingly, without any didactics, on the most serious topics. Simplicity and clarity of style are achieved not by a reduction in literary quality, but by genuine craftsmanship. An author going into children's literature must take into account all the characteristics of the reading age. Otherwise, he will end up with a book without an address, which is of no use to either a child or an adult. Along with writers, masters of words, children's literature should be able to use the rich life experience of “experienced people” - hunters, sailors, engineers, pilots, agronomists, MTS workers, etc. Books by people of various professions perfectly acquaint the child with the specific situation of our construction site and struggle with all the diverse Soviet reality. It goes without saying that only a rough outline of the work is outlined here and that it needs to be carefully and in detail considered, for which a group of young scientists and writers should be immediately organized.

NOTES

The twenty-seventh volume includes articles, reports, speeches, greetings written and delivered by M. Gorky in 1933-1936. Some of them were included in authorized collections of journalistic and literary-critical works ("Publicistic Articles", 2nd edition - 1933; "On Literature", 1st edition - 1933, 2nd edition - 1935, as well as in the 3rd edition - 1937, prepared for publication during the author’s lifetime) and were repeatedly edited by M. Gorky. Most of the articles, reports, speeches, and greetings included in the volume were published in periodicals and were not included in authorized collections. Articles, reports, speeches, and greetings from M. Gorky are included in the collected works for the first time.

First published simultaneously in the newspapers "Pravda", 1933, No. 287, October 17, "Izvestia of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee", 1933, No. 255, October 17, and "Literary Gazette", 1933, No. 48, October 17. Included in the second and third editions of the collection of articles by M. Gorky “On Literature”. Published according to the text of the second edition of the specified collection, verified with the manuscript and authorized typescript (A. M. Gorky Archive). ...books by Vodovozova.— We are talking about the three-volume work of E. N. Vodovozova “The Life of European Nations,” which is geographical and ethnographic essays for youth. -- 106.