Gorky, Maxim

Russian author, born and raised in Nizhny Novgorod at the Volga River. His real name was Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, but he took the name Maxim Gorky at the age of 24, when he made his debut as an author with the novel Makar Chudra (1892). The last name, Gorky, means "bitter" in Russian. His father was a carpenter and paperhanger, but the family was very poor. The parents died when he was a child, and Gorky therefore grew up with his mother’s parents. Here he got to experience a very strict grandfather ruling the family with an iron fist, and a compliant, humble, and patient grandmother. The situation was in many ways decisive for that hatred of oppression of people which would characterize Gorky’s entire authorship.