Maxim Peshkov is the only son of the famous Russian writer Maxim Gorky. Possessing talents in various fields of art, he, however, could not put them into practice, leading an idle lifestyle. This article presents a biography of Maxim Peshkov. What prevented him from achieving personal success and why did the writer’s son die young?
Childhood and youth
Maxim Alekseevich Peshkov was born on July 21, 1897 in the Poltava province, in the family of the famous writer Maxim Gorky (real name Aleksey Peshkov) and Ekaterina Peshkova, his first wife. Gorky always liked the name of his father - Maxim, so he took this name as a pseudonym, and then christened his son with the same name. In the photo below, little Maxim Peshkov with his father.
From 9 to 16 years old Maxim lived abroad with his mother - by that time she remained Gorky's wife only officially, they had not lived together since 1906. Maxim’s childhood passed mainly in Paris, but for seven years he managed to live in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. At this time, Maxim studied various sports.
Despite a large gap in communication with his father, Maxim knew very well that he was the son of a famous person, and existed mainly on his father's money, which negatively affected his character: the young man grew up a spoiled sybarite.
Personal life
In 1922, together with his future wife Nadezhda Vvedenskaya, 25-year-old Maxim Peshkov moved to Italy with his father. Soon Maxim and Nadezhda got married, their wedding took place in Berlin. A few days before the wedding, Nadia, delighted with the European fashion for short haircuts, cut off her hair, for which she received the nickname "Timosha" from Gorky, which remained for her until the end of her life. Wife of Maxim Peshkov in the photo below.
Soon the couple had two daughters: in 1925, Marfa Peshkova was born in Sorrento, and two years later, in Naples, her sister, Daria.
For ten years from the date of the move, Peshkov and his family lived in Europe, staying as close as possible to his father and his common-law wife. Gorky was satisfied because he loved his son, and his granddaughter simply adored, and therefore fully provided for his son and his family financially. Then the environment remembered Maxim as a surprisingly infantile young man, not adapted for adulthood.
In 1932, Maxim Peshkov, together with his whole family, including his father, moved to Moscow.
Work and creativity
Contemporaries recalled Maxim as a diversely gifted, but very lazy person who had absolutely no aspirations other than entertainment and satisfying his needs, of course, with his father’s money. From his youth, Peshkov was fond of drawing, he was very good at sketching and caricature ink, but he could not finish a single full-fledged picture. In addition, he sometimes wrote small stories - one of them, under the name “Ilyich’s Bulb, ” Maxim even sent for publication, but the editors mistakenly published it under the name of Gorky. Since then, Maxim Peshkov is no longer engaged in literature.
During his life in Europe, Peshkov became interested in photography - his father paid Maxim an expensive camera and a whole photo laboratory, but the hobby again quickly passed. Having the opportunity to keep track of world movie innovations, Maxim Peshkov was carried away by cinema for a while - he spent whole days in cinemas buying bundles of postcards with actors and movie magazines. Suddenly, he felt acting abilities in himself, but he never came to any movie screenings. Having never felt the need, Maxim didn’t even think about finding himself some kind of permanent profession, and therefore he simply lounged for most of his life.
The official works of Maxim Peshkov include serving in the Cheka for the food supply of capitals from 1918 to 1919, and serving as a military commissar at Vsevobuc from 1920 to 1922. He proved himself to be a good organizer, taking care of the premises and food, as well as drawing up thoughtful and interesting lesson plans, teaching future Red Army men all kinds of sports that he himself was engaged in in his youth.
