Characteristics of the Kashirin family in the story Gorky's Childhood (description of life in the Kashirin family, family members). Characteristics of the Kashirin family in the story Gorky's Childhood (description of life in the Kashirin family, family members) How they rested in the Kashirin family

Alyosha Peshkov's grandfather - "a small, dry old man, in a long black robe with a beard as red as gold, with a bird's nose and green eyes" - was a domineering man. Having gone through the harsh school of barge haulers in his youth, having experienced in his own skin how hard and bitter it is to be poor, and having got out of poverty thanks to his cunning, grandfather Kashirin despised the poor, considered them simple-minded and stupid. Therefore, his grandfather taught his grandson to be, first of all, cunning.

All acquired for his hard life grandfather was in no hurry to share the children, so there were constant quarrels in the Kashirin family. Everyone was afraid that he would get less than others.

Grandfather Kashirin kept his grandchildren and adopted son in strictness. For the slightest fault, he personally flogged everyone with rods. I thought that was the only way to achieve good upbringing. At the beginning of the story, it seems that the grandfather is a real despot and tyrant. But our attitude towards the old man changes after we learn how difficult his childhood and youth were. The lot of this man fell hard barge work, irrigated with sweat and tears. That is why he so fiercely protects everything he has acquired.

Grandfather is a smart and perspicacious person. In Gypsy, he immediately guessed the master - "golden hands" and appreciated him for it. In the same way, in Alyosha, grandfather saw a boy capable of science and therefore personally began to teach him to read and write. He respected his grandfather and his wife, although he shouted at her. With pride and gratitude, he speaks of his wife after the fire, when she, unlike himself, was not at a loss, but gave precise and correct instructions to everyone.

Composition on the topic: GRANDFATHER KASHIRIN AND HIS FAMILY (M. Gorky. "Childhood")

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The Kashirin brothers are a vivid example of how fame and honor can turn into their opposite in an instant. Their history is a series of difficult trials that made them incorruptible heroes of the Motherland. Therefore, let's go to the past in order to personally see the life path of these glorious Cossacks.

The history of the Kashirin family

The Kashirin family lived in the small village of Forstadt, in the Orenburg province. The head of the family, Dmitry Ivanovich Kashirin, was the chieftain of the local regiment of Cossacks. He also taught general subjects at a small rural school. He was a strong and intelligent man, highly respected by both his subordinates and fellow countrymen. Given this, it is not surprising that he was elected ataman of the village for 28 years in a row.

Together with his wife, he raised six children: four boys and two girls. Nikolay was the eldest child. It was he who took on most of the duties of his father when he left on behalf of the king. It should be noted that all the sons of the ataman were originally adherents of the monarchy, but later, together with their father, went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. But why did the Kashirin brothers do this? Perhaps the answer can be found in their biographies?

Kashirin Nikolay Dmitrievich

Nikolai was the eldest son - he was born in February 1888. He often had to replace his father, so he quickly turned from a boy into a real man. So, at the age of 14, the elder Kashirin was already working as a teacher at a local school, teaching children the basics of literacy. At the age of 18, he joined the Russian army and soon ended up in the Orenburg Cossack troops.

In 1912 he was expelled from the army for spreading revolutionary ideas among the soldiers. However, the First World War soon broke out, and he was returned to service again. It is worth noting that during the fighting he received six orders for his courage and valor. Ultimately, his merits led to the fact that the top management promoted him to the rank of sub-caesaul.

Nikolai Dmitrievich met the beginning of the October Revolution with obvious enthusiasm. He was one of the first to join the Red Army and created his own Cossack detachments in it. An important point is that the majority of the Orenburg Cossacks did not recognize the Bolshevik government. Therefore, the Kashirin brothers were forced to fight against their own comrades, which in itself was a difficult moral choice.

As for Nikolai Dmitrievich, he made a significant contribution to the victory over Ataman Alexander Dutov. Moreover, after the defeat of the enemy army, he pursued the enemy for a long time, until he disappeared on the border of the Turgai steppes. Such dedication led to the fact that in the post-war years his career rapidly went up, replacing one military rank with another.

Kashirin Ivan Dmitrievich

Ivan Kashirin was born in January 1890. Like his older brother, the young man followed in his father's footsteps and became a military man. In general, Ivan was very similar to Nikolai. Having great potential, he now and then got into all sorts of troubles associated with non-performance. It is not surprising that in 1912 he was expelled from the army, since such fighters greatly corrupt discipline.

But as soon as the first shots of the approaching war were fired, the brave Cossack was again returned to duty. During the fighting, he showed himself from the best side, for which he received a silver checker directly from the hands of the commander in chief. In the Russian army, he managed to rise to the rank of podsaul, but with the advent of the revolution, without a doubt, he went over to the anarchists. Unlike his brother, he did not immediately join the Bolsheviks, as he was far from their ideology. He simply did not want to oppose his brothers, and the service to the king was clearly not to his liking.

Perhaps it was precisely because of his political aloofness that Ivan Kashirin was inferior in authority to Nikolai. Nevertheless, he had the talent of a military leader, so the leadership considered it right to honor him with the title of commander of the Special Cossack Cavalry Brigade of the Turkestan Army.

Kashirin Petr Dmitrievich

Peter was born on April 20, 1892. He was a Cossack, like the rest of the Kashirin brothers. The biography of Peter Dmitrievich is a series of difficult trials, because he spent most of the war in captivity: first with the Germans, then with the White Guards. It is noteworthy that he managed to escape from enemy hands, retaining his personal belongings, documents and

In the post-war period, he was mainly engaged in political rather than military activities. The last position held was the post of manager of a communal bank in Orenburg. You should also be aware that it was with him that the tragic sequence of events began, forever changing the fate of the Kashirin family.

Brothers Kashirin: repression

In 1937, a certain citizen told the NKVD that, since 1931, an underground counter-revolutionary organization of Cossacks had existed in Orenburg. And according to his testimony, they have been planning a coup d'état for a long time. This gang is headed by none other than the Kashirin brothers. Photos of the conspirators are immediately transferred to the local government, and soon a real hunt begins for them.

Pyotr Dmitrievich was the first to be arrested, as they believed that he was the leader of the group. It happened on June 6, 1937. Two weeks later, Ivan Kashirin went to jail, and on August 19 of the same year, the "funnel" came to the soul of Nikolai. As a result, the court found all the Kashirin brothers guilty of high treason and sentenced them to capital punishment - execution.

Brothers Kashirin: rehabilitation

After Stalin's death, the Supreme Court of the USSR reviewed the cases of most of the repressed prisoners. Thanks to this, the Kashirin brothers were acquitted and rehabilitated posthumously. The sad thing about this story is that, as heroes, they learned the shame of being unfairly accused of betrayal. And although their glory still rose from the ashes, alas, the brothers themselves did not live to see this day.

Kashirin's house in Nizhny Novgorod is both a living illustration of Maxim Gorky's Childhood story and an opportunity to see with your own eyes a huge number of things that the great writer touched.

Survived miraculously

“The flow of those wishing to look at the house where the great writer grew up is huge,” says Tamara Shukhareva, head of the A.M. Gorky "Kashirin's House". - We constantly have guests - both children and adults. They come with families, classes, university groups. There are many foreigners among the guests: Gorky is one of the most famous Russian writers abroad. At some point there was a real pilgrimage of Chinese students. Apparently, at first one group came, and then these guys told their compatriots about this museum.”

The history of a small estate at the Postal Congress is unique. Before gaining the status of a museum, it was twice under the threat of demolition: at the beginning of the 20th century (but the First World War and the revolution prevented urban planning), then in the 1930s - then the Nizhny Novgorod intelligentsia stood up to protect it.

The founder and first director of Domik Kashirin was Fyodor Pavlovich Khitrovsky. He knew Gorky personally - they worked together in the Nizhny Novgorod leaflet. The museum was opened to visitors on January 1, 1938. The house and furnishings have been restored since 1935. Khitrovsky personally asked Gorky to help recreate everything here, as it was under the Kashirins. In 1936, Gorky sent a plan of the house drawn by himself.

Grandfather Vasily Kashirin's room. The famous raccoon coat remained behind the scenes. Photo: AIF-Nizhny Novgorod / Natalya Burukhina

“The Kashirins seem to have just left!”

Many people who were here under the Kashirins helped to recreate the atmosphere at home. Neighbors, friends, relatives - everyone remembered how the furniture was arranged, what kind of curtains were on the windows.

“There are a lot of real, Kashirin things here,” says Tamara Shukhareva. - When grandfather Vasily Kashirin decided to divide the inheritance between his sons, Mikhail's family lived in a house at the Postal Congress in a separate room. He, unlike his brother Yakov, did not squander the property. Many items were brought to the museum by the descendants of Mikhail Kashirin. So almost all the dishes returned here, a round table and a velvet tablecloth. Even the grandmother's feather bed and quilt, spoons and forks, which were used by the Kashirins, have survived. A beautiful sugar bowl-house and a butter dish with chickens were also in the house when little Alyosha Peshkov arrived here.

The restorers were delighted to find old wallpaper under the plaster. Under the wallpaper was a layer of newspapers with dates that corresponded to the time of residence of the Kashirins. The artists restored the pattern of the wallpaper, and new ones were printed on special order.

Before the opening, the museum was invited Anna Kirillovna Zalomova, a friend of Gorky's mother. Zalomova often visited the Kashirins, it was she who became the prototype main character novel "Mother". Anna Kirillovna in 1938 was almost 90 years old. She looked around the house and said: “The Kashirins seemed to have just left here!”

The stove in Kashirin's house. Photo: AIF-Nizhny Novgorod / Natalya Burukhina

Fairy tales and rods

“Little Alyosha listened to fairy tales every evening,” continues Tamara Shukhareva. - He slept in his grandmother's room on a chest, and opposite his bed was a stove with tiles. They are perfectly preserved. The plots of the pictures on each are different. They, one might say, were the first illustrations for fairy tales for the future writer.

In the Kashirins' house, colored glass was inserted into some of the frames - this was an indicator of well-being. The glass has been preserved. Alyosha, these colored highlights also seemed fabulous.

But nearby in the kitchen there was a bench and a rod in a large tub ... As long as his father was alive, no one touched Alyosha with a finger. But, once in his grandfather's house, the boy faced another world - almost immediately he had to taste the rod. The child, realizing that they were going to flog him, did not behave resignedly, like the rest of the children in the family. He pulled his grandfather's beard and bit him on the finger.

But we must not forget that it was the grandfather who was the first teacher of the future writer. He taught him to read and write, noticed that his grandson had a good memory and had the ability to learn. In a good mood, Kashirin even promised Alyosha to present his fur coat with raccoon fur.

Did the gypsy survive?

“Gorky’s story “Childhood” describes both this house at the Postal Congress and its inhabitants,” says Tamara Shukhareva. - But you need to understand that "Childhood" is still not a scientific article, but a work of art. So, for example, literary critics do not have an unambiguous opinion about who was the prototype of the Gypsy.

The gypsy in Gorky's story is one of Alyosha's close friends, he clearly had a great influence on the future writer. This Tsyganok teaches Alyosha how to behave correctly during a spanking, tries to help him avoid punishment for pranks. The guy works in the dye house, he is a grandmother's favorite, cheerful, lively, crafty.

In the story, Tsyganok dies because of the Kashirin brothers. But what really happened? And was there a Gypsy at all in this house?

Gypsy, it turns out, did not die under the cross. Photo: AIF-Nizhny Novgorod / Natalya Burukhina

“The story says that Vanya Tsyganok is a foundling: “in early spring, on a rainy night, he was found at the gate of the house on a bench,” says Tamara Shukhareva. - Nikolai Zaburdaev, who headed the Gorky State Museum for almost 20 years, has been studying the prototypes and the history of the creation of the story for many years. In the police archives, he did not find any mention of the fact that a baby was thrown into the Kashirins' house. There were no records of adoption in the papers of the city government either.”

Most likely, Tsyganok is a collective image of several students of grandfather Kashirin.

One of these students was the cantonist of the company Movsha Festovsky, he was 19 years old. It was him that Vasily Kashirin adopted and even baptized - Movsha became Nikolai. But Nikolai Festovsky did not die like the Gypsies under the cross. In 1864, he was taken into the army and returned to Nizhny Novgorod in 1870 with the rank of non-commissioned officer of the 145th Novocherkassk Infantry Regiment. Nikolai Zaburdaev writes that after the service, Festovsky was assigned to the Nizhny Novgorod bourgeoisie and, apparently, again went to work for the Kashirins. In 1874, Festovsky married and began to trade. His house with a sign "Vegetable Trade" is captured in the photo of Maxim Dmitriev.

In Gorky's story "In People", grandmother Akulina Ivanovna says that the grandfather completely went bankrupt, giving money on interest without a receipt to his godson Nikolai. In the 1930s, Khitrovsky, collecting materials for the museum, talked with Mikhail Kashirin's son Konstantin. He recalled that in his life, Vasily Kashirin, shortly before his death, lent 3 thousand rubles to a fruit merchant, but did not issue receipts, and the money disappeared. True, Konstantin Kashirin calls the merchant Krestovsky. Zaburdaev believed that confusion in surnames was simply a memory error.

The tiles on the stove near Alyosha's bed are perfectly preserved. Photo: AIF-Nizhny Novgorod / Natalya Burukhina

Three facts about "Childhood" and Kashirin's House

  • There were no children's books in the Kashirins' house, although little Alyosha listened to fairy tales every evening.
  • Grandfather's raccoon coat, now over 200 years old, hangs in the museum in his room. Vasily Kashirin was proud of this outfit. In those days, such fur coats were mainly worn by merchants. Grandfather Kashirin was the foreman of the dyeing shop, he got out to the Duma, but he never became a merchant.
  • The prototype Gypsy Movsha (Nikolai) Festovsky in 1870 acted as the guarantor of the groom in the second wedding of Uncle Alyosha Peshkov - Yakov.

Reader response Alexey Reshenkov to an article in the Bulletin of the City Duma.

(Note: the material is present only on the site).

My family and Kashirin family

Markova Anastasia Sergeevna(1916-2007), daughter Kashirina Valentina Egorovna(1877-1956), she mentioned more than once in conversations with me that her grandmother Kashirina Elena with your spouse Kashirin Egor lived for some time in the same house with A.M. Peshkov, also mentioned that a curse lies on the family. She said that perhaps Yegor was not the real name of her grandfather. Somehow, I did not take this information seriously then. But when in 2007 my dear and close person passed away, feeling the pain of loss, the swiftness of the passing time, I became interested in my genealogy.

I did not even consider the attitude of our family towards Peshkov. One thing was clear to me: Gorky's grandfather and grandmother - Vasily Vasilyevich And Akulina Ivanovna are my distant ancestors. I found confirmation of this in my personal archive. Vladimir Nikolaevich Isaichev. In his photo album there are photographs of people who are also found in my archive. (www.isaichev.ru) - family Ivan Petrovich Kashirin).

The first and third man on the right and the first woman on the left are present in a group photograph of the Kashirin family in 1905.

In his poem - "Ancestral Find", Vladimir Isaichev writes:

Kashirina - not too much and not too little,

If you believe both legends and rumors, -

So my father's grandmother was

He is related to Alyosha Peshkov himself.

There is no need to explain with what excitement and trepidation I reread Gorky's Childhood, how I read Pavel Basinsky. Each page of these books gave me a feeling of that time. I drew psychological portraits of my relatives, which, as life has shown, have been repeated through generations. Gradually, the image of Vasily Vasilyevich and Akulina Ivanovna, the Kashirin family in my mind acquired some outlines.

In 1831, at the age of 24, Vasily Vasilyevich in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior married the daughter of a Nizhny Novgorod tradesman Ivan Yakovlevich Muratov- Akulina Ivanovna is 18 years old. ( Ilya Gruzdev writes that Akulina Ivanovna married her husband 14 years old.) In my opinion, it was Akulina Ivanovna who had a great influence on the formation of relationships in the Kashirin family.

The desire of Vasily Vasilyevich in marriage to elevate his family explains to us why the hard worker and homely Vasily made an offer to an orphan (perhaps an illegitimate one, as indicated by her mother’s “begging” and early begging).

“It was good for Christ for the sake of living ...” - this is how Akulina's grandmother told Alexei Peshkov. The title of a tradesman is the goal pursued by Vasily Vasilyevich.

Pursuing her, the wise Basil, when choosing a bride, even ignores the question of faith. After all, Vasily Vasilyevich could not help but know that Akulina worships the sun, that pagan blood roams in her.

“- How much I have taught you, oak head, how to pray, and you are mumbling all your own, heretic! As soon as the Lord bears you! Cursed Chuvash! Oh you-and…”

And the "witch" - prays ...

“- My heart is pure, heavenly! My protection and cover, golden sun. Mother of the Lord, protect from evil obsession, do not let me offend anyone, and I would not be offended in vain!

Against the backdrop of these differences, disagreements often arise between spouses. And given the harsh, tough character of Vasily and kind (in the words Gorky, “in truth, the light in the window, the heart of the world, almost the earthly Mother of God”) the character of Akulina Ivanovna, then these disagreements were significant. Thanks to these rather different people, Alexey Peshkov learns adulthood early, and with the help of the gift that Akulina Ivanovna possessed, the gift of a storyteller, he, as it were, inadvertently joins figurative, literary thinking.

“Look, look, how good! Here it is, father, the Lower one! Here it is, gods! Churches, look at you, they seem to be flying!

So, in one phrase, to show the kindness and poetry of your language, this is a talent.

According to Orthodox traditions, the wedding of a Christian and a pagan is unacceptable, and if this happened, it is worthy of a curse. And therefore, how is the life of Vasily Vasilyevich, Akulina Ivanovna, as well as their children and grandchildren. we can say that the curse was reflected in all subsequent generations of the Kashirin family.

I would have been doubtful about the presence of a curse, if not for the words of Vasily Vasilyevich:

“... The children did not succeed, no matter how you look at them. Where did our juice-strength go? You and I thought, we put it in a basket, and the Lord put a thin sieve in our hands .... And you indulged them all, tatyam, indulgence! You are a witch!

If Pavel Basinsky had not noticed:

“Definitely, the curse of the grandfather God hung over the Kashirin family! All the children of the beautiful Varvara, except for the unloved Alexei, died, faded away, disappeared like shadows.

If under each of the following points I could not write the names of the descendants of Akulina and Vasily, whom I knew personally:

if there are mentally retarded children in the family,

if there are people in the family who deny God,

if the family litigates, blood relatives share the inheritance,

if the family voluntarily renounces kinship (You are no longer my mother!)

a curse hangs over this family. Moreover, the sins of each of us, like a snowball, grow from year to year and increase the threat to our descendants.

Infertility is evidence that, from the point of view of the Creator, given genus must be terminated. Their sins are too heavy to pass on to children.

It's not about the curse, as in a church rite, but about the disagreements that reigned among the Kashirins, creating a nervous atmosphere in the family, which often led to fights and, of course, had an impact on the psyche of the younger generation.

Markov Ivan, deacon of the church of St. George the Victorious, in the village of Ignatievo near Gzhel, father Sergei Ivanovich Markov(1873-1939), as well as grandfather Anastasia Sergeevna Markova. By the nature of his service, he was well versed in people. And when his son Sergei asked his father for the blessing of marriage with Kashirina Valentina Yegorovna, his answer was sharply negative.

Pagan blood, heterodoxy in the Kashirin family seeped through literally everything.

For Deacon Ivan Markov, this marriage was perceived not only as a personal insult, but also as a threat to the true faith. Faith in Christ. Sergei Ivanovich went against his father and married Valentina Yegorovna. From that moment on, the life paths of father and son diverged. We can say that this family strife is also a consequence of the curse.

Surprisingly clearly, through the generations, a physical resemblance was transmitted, for example, Akulina Ivanovna (according to the descriptions) and Kashirina Valentina Yegorovna (granddaughter). In the photo, "Kashirina Elena and the Markovs" are on the far right. - Valentina Egorovna, in the marriage of Markov, - "Big-headed, with huge eyes." Unfortunately, I did not see the photo of Akulina Ivanovna, as well as the photo of Yakov, whose descriptions are very similar to Yegor Kashirin. But not only physical traits were transferred. The psychological portraits of the Kashirins are also transferred under carbon copy.

And when I read Gorky's letter to Ekaterina Volzhina, to the bride, and then to the wife, characterizing the young Alexei Peshkov, I can subscribe to his every word and say that this is a portrait of my father.

“First of all, it is not simple and clear enough. He is too convinced that he does not look like people, and too flaunts it. He makes too great demands on people, as if he alone is smart, and all the rest are idiots and blockheads. And most importantly, it is difficult to understand him, because he does not understand himself at all. The main thing is that he is too incomprehensible, that's his misfortune.

Understanding the relationship between members of the family of Vasily Vasilyevich, in relation to his grandchildren, I understood why my parents sent me to “free bread” at the age of 18. Why, to this day, when I turned 47, my father does not show interest in me and in his grandchildren. History repeats itself.

And yet I dream of bowing to the graves of my ancestors, despite the curse, the influence of which also affected me. Ready to kiss each of them. In gratitude for my life, the foundation of which was laid in 1831 by Vasily Vasilyevich and Akulina Ivanovna, without suspecting it.

This is my view of the relationship in the Kashirin family, maybe I'm wrong somewhere. But it is based not only on research work Gruzdev, Pelevin, Basinsky and Gorky himself, but also on my analysis of the life of the descendants of Vasily Vasilyevich and Akulina Ivanovna, whose life, as a parallel of centuries, copies the life of their ancestors.

I am immensely grateful to those people who keep the memory of the Kashirin family.

I would like to ask Lyudmila Mikhailovna Smirnova assist in acquiring the Kashirin family tree. For my part, I will be glad to answer all your questions. Thanks for your creativity.

[email protected]

Chapter One THE CURSE OF THE KASHIRIN FAMILY

What, the witch, gave birth to beasts? ..

No, you don't love him, you don't feel sorry for the orphan!

I myself am an orphan for life!

They offended me so much that the Lord God himself looked and cried! ..

M. Gorky. Childhood

"Was there a boy?"

A metrical entry in the book of the Church of Barbara the Great Martyr, which stood on Dvoryanskaya Street in Nizhny Novgorod: “Born 1868 on March 16, and baptized on the 22nd, Alexey; his parents: a tradesman from the Perm province Maxim Savvatievich Peshkov and his legal wife Varvara Vasilievna, both Orthodox. The sacrament of holy baptism was performed by priest Alexander Raev with deacon Dmitry Remezov, sexton Feodor Selitsky and sexton Mikhail Voznesensky.

It was a strange family. And Alyosha's godparents were strange. Alyosha had no further contact with any of them. But, according to the story "Childhood", both his grandfather and grandmother, with whom he had to live until adolescence, were religious people.

His father, Maxim Savvatievich Peshkov, and his paternal grandfather, Savvaty, were also strange, a man of such a cool “ndrava” that in the era of Nicholas the First he rose to the rank of officer, but was demoted and exiled to Siberia “for cruel treatment of the lower ranks” . He treated his son, Maxim, in such a way that he ran away from home more than once. Once his father poisoned him in the forest with dogs, like a hare, another time he tortured him so that the neighbors took the boy away.

It ended with the fact that Maxim was taken in by his godfather, a Perm carpenter, and taught the craft. But either the boy's life was not sweet there, or the vagabond nature again took over in him, but he only ran away from his godfather, took the blind to fairs and, having come to Nizhny Novgorod, began working as a carpenter in the Kolchin shipping company. He was a handsome, cheerful and kind guy, which made the beautiful Varvara fall in love with him.

Maxim Peshkov and Varvara Kashirina got married with the consent (and with the help) of the bride's mother alone, Akulina Ivanovna Kashirina. As the people said then, they got married with a "hand-rolled" one. Vasily Kashirin was furious. He did not curse the "children", but he did not let them live with him until the birth of his grandson. Only before the birth of Varvara did he let them into the wing of his house. Reconciled with fate...

However, it is with the advent of the boy that fate begins to haunt the Kashirin family. But, as happens in such cases, at first fate smiled at them with the last sunset smile. Last joy.

Maxim Peshkov turned out to be not only a talented upholsterer, but also an artistic nature, which, however, was almost obligatory for a cabinet maker. The Krasnoderevtsy, unlike the Beloderevtsy, made furniture from precious woods, finishing with bronze, tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, plates of ornamental stone, varnishing and polishing with toning. They made stylish furniture.

In addition (and this could not but please Vasily Kashirin), Maxim Savvatievich moved away from vagrancy, firmly settled in Nizhny Novgorod and became a respected person. Before the Kolchin shipping company appointed him a clerk and sent him to Astrakhan, where they were waiting for the arrival of Alexander II and building a triumphal arch for this event, Maxim Savvatiev Peshkov managed to visit a jury in the Nizhny Novgorod court. And they wouldn't put a dishonest person in the clerk's office.

In Astrakhan, fate overtook Maxim and Varvara Peshkov, and with them the entire Kashirin family. In July 1871 (according to other sources in 1872), three-year-old Alexei fell ill with cholera and infected his father with it. The boy recovered, and his father, who was busy with him, died, almost waiting for his second son, who was born before the term by Varvara near his body and named Maxim in his honor. Maxim Sr. was buried in Astrakhan. The younger one died on the way to Nizhny, on a ship, and remained lying in the Saratov land.

Upon Varvara's arrival home, to her father, her brothers quarreled over part of the inheritance, which her sister, after the death of her husband, had the right to claim. Grandfather Kashirin was forced to separate from his sons. Thus the Kashirins' case withered away.

The result of this sudden series of misfortunes was that after some time both Russian and world literature was enriched with a new name. But for Alyosha Peshkov, the arrival in God's world was associated primarily with severe spiritual trauma, which soon spilled over into a religious tragedy. This is how Gorky's spiritual biography began.

There is virtually no scientific description of the early biography of Maxim Gorky (Alyosha Peshkov). And where would he come from? Who would have thought to notice and record the words and deeds of some Nizhny Novgorod kid, half an orphan, and then an orphan, born in a dubious marriage of some craftsman who came from Perm and a bourgeois, the daughter of a first rich, and then ruined owner of a dyeing workshop ? A boy, although unusual, not like the others, but still just a boy, just Alyosha Peshkov.

Several documents related to the birth of Alexei Peshkov still survive. They were published in the book Gorky and His Time, written by wonderful person Ilya Alexandrovich Gruzdev, prose writer, critic, literary historian, member of the Serapion Brothers literary group, which included M. M. Zoshchenko, Vs. V. Ivanov, V. A. Kaverin, L. N. Lunts, K. A. Fedin, N. N. Nikitin, E. G. Polonskaya, M. L. Slonimsky. The latter in the 1920s decided to become a biographer of Gorky, who from Sorrento took care of the "Serapions" in every possible way. But then Slonimsky changed his mind and handed over the “case” to Gruzdev. Gruzdev fulfilled it with the conscientiousness of an intelligent and decent scientist.

Gruzdev and local history enthusiasts sought out documents that can be considered scientifically based evidence of Gorky's origin and childhood. Otherwise, biographers are forced to be content with Gorky's memoirs. They are set out in a few scanty autobiographical notes written in the early years of his literary career, in letters to Gruzdev in the 1920s and 1930s (at his polite but insistent requests, to which Gorky answered grumblingly ironically, but in detail), as well as the main “autobiography » Gorky - the story "Childhood". Some information about Gorky's childhood years and the people who surrounded him at that age can be "fished out" from the stories and novels of the writer, including later ones. But how reliable is this?

The origin of Gorky and his relatives, their (relatives) social status in different years life, the circumstances of their births, marriages and deaths are confirmed by some metric records, "revision tales", documents of state chambers and other papers. However, it is no coincidence that Gruzdev placed these papers at the end of his book, in an appendix. As if a little "hidden".

In the appendix, a tactful biographer casually blurts out: yes, some of the documents "are different from the materials of" Childhood "". "Childhood" (story) of Gorky and childhood (life) of Gorky are not the same thing.

It would seem, so what? "Childhood", like the other two parts of the autobiographical trilogy ("In People" and "My Universities") - artistic works. In them, the facts, of course, are creatively transformed. After all, “The Life of Arseniev” by I. A. Bunin, “The Summer of the Lord” by I. A. Shmelev or “Junker” by A. I. Kuprin are not considered scientific biographies of writers? When reading them, in addition to the peculiarities of the authors' fantasy, it is also necessary to take into account the temporal context. That is When these things were written.

"The Life of Arseniev", "The Summer of the Lord" and "Junkers" were written in exile, when Russia was painted by their authors "illuminated" by bloody flashes of revolution, and memories of the horrors of the Civil War inevitably influenced the mind and feelings. Returning to childhood memory was a salvation from these nightmares. So to speak, a kind of spiritual "therapy".

The story "Childhood" was also written in exile. But it was a different emigration. After the defeat of the first Russian revolution (1905–1907), in which Gorky took an active part, he was forced to go abroad, as he was considered a political criminal in Russia. Even after the political amnesty announced by the Emperor in 1913 in connection with the 300th anniversary of the royal house of the Romanovs, Gorky, who returned to Russia, was subjected to investigation and trial for the story "Mother". And in 1912-1913, the story "Childhood" was written by a Russian political emigrant on the Italian island of Capri.

“Remembering the leaden abominations of wild Russian life,” writes Gorky, “I ask myself for minutes: is it worth talking about this? And, with renewed confidence, I answer myself - it's worth it; for - this is a tenacious, vile truth, it has not died to this day. This is the truth that must be known to the root, in order to root it out of memory, from the soul of a person, from our whole life, heavy and shameful.

This is not a childish look.

“And there is another, more positive reason forcing me to draw these abominations. Although they are disgusting, although they crush us, crushing many beautiful souls to death, the Russian person is still so healthy and young in soul that he overcomes and overcomes them.

And these are the words and thoughts not of Alexei, an orphan, “man of God”, but of the writer and revolutionary Maxim Gorky, who is irritated by the results of the revolution, blames the “slave” nature of the Russian people for this and at the same time hopes for the youth of the nation and its future.

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