His political and literary activism, his many friendships (and extensive correspondence) with leading individuals in a variety of endeavors, and the sheer eventfulness of his life make his biography at least as interesting as his literary accomplishments.
Whatever the ambiguities of Gor'ky's political allegiances after the Bolsheviks came to power, the Soviet government saw him as a figure who could help bring prestige to the young regime. The authorities came to refer to him as the "father of Soviet literature" and even named various schools, theaters, institutes, ships, and factories after him during his lifetime. Yet, following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, some of the most prominent entities reverted to their former names: hence, Gor'ky Street in Moscow again became known as Tverskaia Street, and the large city where he was born, located on the Volga River, reverted from Gor'ky to its earlier name of Nizhnii Novgorod.
Gor'ky was born Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov (he adopted the pseudonym Gor'ky, the Russian word for "bitter," when he published his first story in 1892) on 16 March 1868. He was just three years old when his father, Maksim Savvatievich Peshkov, died of cholera, apparently contracted from his son during an epidemic in Astrakhan', a southern Volga city.
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