Gorky, Maxim, pseudonym of Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov 1868-1936
Russian novelist

Born in Nizhny Novgorod, he was a pedlar, scullery boy, gardener, dock hand, tramp and writer, leading a restless, nomadic life which he described brilliantly in his autobiographical trilogy, Detstvo (1913-14, Eng trans My Childhood, 1915), Vlyudakh (1915-16, Eng trans In the World, 1918) and Moi universitety (1922, Eng trans My University Days, 1923). He first achieved fame with his story Chelkash (1895), followed by others in a romantic vein, with vividly drawn characters, mostly tramps and down-and-outs. Foma Gordeyev (1899, Eng trans 1902) marks his transition from Romanticism to Realism. In 1902 he produced his best-known play, Na dne (Eng trans A Night's Lodging, 1905, better known as The Lower Depths, 1912). Involved in strikes and imprisoned in 1905, he lived abroad until 1914 and then engaged in revolutionary propaganda. From 1922 to 1928 he lived abroad again on account of his health, but then returned, a whole-hearted supporter of the Soviet regime. He sponsored 'Social Realism' as the official school in Soviet literature and art.

Bibliography: Dan Levin, The Stormy Petrel: The Life and Work of Maxim Gorky (1965); R Hare, Maxim Gorky, Romantic Realist and Conservative Revolutionary (1962)