Maxim Gorki

Maxim Gorki, born in Nizhny Novgorod on March 28th, 1868, grew up in bitter poverty as Aleksej Peschkov. His father died early, then Gorki kept himself afloat as a casual labourer and began travelling through Russia in 1888. His childhood and youth, as well as his experiences on the road, are the subjects of his early works, which he published under the pseudonym Maxim Gorki (the bitter one). On his journeys through the Russian Empire, Gorki came into contact with the revolutionary movement in student and Marxist circles, which is why he was arrested multiple times. In 1905 Gorki, now a writer with an international reputation, was an active participant in the failed revolution and, as a result of the increased political persecution, lived in exile in France and the USA. After the October Revolution, Gorki returned to the Soviet Union to work on its cultural reconstruction.  Ideological differences with Lenin and a lung infection forced Gorki into exile once again in 1921. Gorki stayed primarily in Freiburg, Berlin and Sorrento, before he, now an officially recognized proletariat writer, returned to Stalin’s Soviet Union in 1931. His novel Mother (1906–1907), in particular, was subsequently labelled a prototypical work of Socialist Realism. Maxim Gorki died in Moscow on June 18th, 1936. His stories, novels and plays have been translated into over a hundred languages. Gorki’s most significant plays include The Philistines (1901) and The Lower Depths (1902).