Maxim Gorky

@Writers, Birthday and Family

Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, better known as Maxim Gorky, was a Russian author

Mar 28, 1868

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Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: March 28, 1868
  • Died on: June 18, 1936
  • Nationality: Russian
  • Famous: Dramatist, Writers, Writers, Novelists, Playwrights
  • Spouses: Maria Andreyeva, Moura Budberg, Yekaterina Peshkova
  • Known as: Alexei Maximovich Peshkov
  • Childrens: Catherine Zhelyabuzhskiy, Maxim Peshkov, Yekaterina Peshkova, Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky, Zinovy Peshkov

Maxim Gorky born at

Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire

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Birth Place

Moura Budberg, who was initially hired by Gorky as his secretary in 1921, became his unofficial wife.

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Personal Life

On June 18, 1936, Gorky died at his villa in Gorki Leninskiye, outside of Moscow. He was 68. Gorky had been unwell and undergoing medical treatment, but rumors circulated that Stalin had arranged for his death.

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Personal Life

Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov was born on March 28, 1868, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia and became an orphan at the age of eleven.

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Childhood & Early Life

He was raised by his maternal grandmother who helped his development as a storyteller. He ran away from home at the age of twelve in 1880.

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Childhood & Early Life

After an attempt at suicide in December 1887, he travelled on foot across the Russian Empire for five years, frequently changing jobs. His jobs included, among many others, work as assistant in a shoemaker’s shop, as errand boy for an icon painter, and as a dishwasher on a Volga steamer, where the cook introduced him to reading—soon to become his main passion in life.

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Childhood & Early Life

In the 1890s, he began writing. He adopted the pseudonym Maxim Gorky (choosing the name Gorky because it meant "bitter").

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Career

His first short story, “Makar Chudra” was published in various journals in 1892, and it became very popular with readers.

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Career

Then, in 1895, “Chelkash,” a short story about a thief and a peasant boy was published. In all his writings, Gorky wrote using all the experiences he had gained from living in poverty. He wrote with sympathy about the simple folks, the outcasts, the gypsies, the hobos and dreamers in the context of social decay in the Russian Empire. His perspective won him great acclaim around the country, and he was soon viewed as one of the leading writers.

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Career

In 1898, a collection of Gorky’s writings, “Sketches and Stories” was published.

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Career

He also produced full-length books and plays beginning with the novel “Foma Gordeyev” in 1899.

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Career

Among his many writings, Gorky’s play “The Lower Depths” was praised by Chekhov and was successfully played in Europe and the United States in 1902.

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Major Works

“Twenty-six Men and a Girl”, “The Song of the Stormy Petrel”, “Summerfolk”, and “Children of the Sun” are among the most well-known works of Gorky.

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Major Works