Gorky’s first love

　　On March 5, 1895, Gorky published a poem entitled “Farewell” in the then “Sabala” 　　: 　　Farewell
　　! 　　Flocks of seagulls galloping and screeching, 　　row after row of spray and foam splashed, 　　and said goodbye, land 　　and me… goodbye! 　　The distant voyage is full of disasters, my soul is gloomy, the vast sea is full of white waves 　　… 　　But— -Even if I wash it with all the sea water, 　　your beautiful image still remains in my heart! 　　Ah, I can’t wash it away! Goodbye!… 　　This is one of the few love poems that Gorky has left for us. It can be clearly seen from the book that the poet suffered a big setback in love at that time, and his heart was full of unspeakable difficulties: on the one hand, parting, on the other hand, Qianying still remained in the “heart”, and even used “all the sea”. Can’t be rinsed off. People can’t help but ask, who is this “Qianying”? This “Qianying” is none other than Olga Kaminskaya, his first wife who broke up with him in December 1894, and they have an extraordinary relationship. Romance.

　　Olga Kaminskaya’s father is a doctor and her mother is a midwife. She has lived in Poland with her aunt since she was 3 years old. After graduating from an aristocratic girls’ school, she returned to Moscow and married an agricultural student, Fei Kaminsky. The two broke up because of her husband’s mental illness. She took her daughter to Tiflis, where she married Boleslav Korsak. She met Gorky in June 1889. It can be said that Gorky fell in love with her at first sight. After only five minutes of talking with her, Gorky felt that he “could sit still for five hours, five days, five years, silently looking at this woman’s lovely little oval face and her warm eyes. Olga smiled at him, and Gorky believed that this kind of smile was really what he had “begged for a long time”. The…” The relationship between the two “developed very quickly”. Once, Gorky was injured while swimming and diving, and was recuperating at home. When Olga came to visit him, Gorky expressed his love to her. She also admitted that she fell in love with Gorky, but thought it was “very bad”. A few days later, the two of them had a lengthy conversation, and she made it clear to Gorky that she “didn’t like tragedy” and that she couldn’t leave her “cowardly” husband. At that time, the relationship between the two did not develop except that Gorky “swears secretly in his heart” to dedicate his “all hearts to her”.
　　In June 1890, Kaminskaya went to Paris to find her husband, and Gorky left Nizhny Novgorod in April of the following year.
　　In September 1892, Gorky published his maiden work “Makar Chudra” in Tiflis “The Caucasus”. At this time, he heard that Olga Kaminskaya was also in the city and ended the relationship with her husband. Gorky, 23, “passed out for the first time in his life” with excitement. When Gorky was hesitating, Olga Kaminskaya took the initiative to invite him. During the two years apart, Gorky saw many women who were “prettier and smarter” than Olga Kaminskaya, but he never forgot her. Now the two finally reunited, they kept talking until late at night before breaking up, the next day Gorky immediately sent her a poem:
　　Madam!
　　Because of your love and tender eyes, the
　　clever magician is willing to be your servant ,
　　He is very well versed
　　in the art of entertaining,
　　even if he has nothing, he can use trivial things
　　to create small joys!
　　
　　Please accept this delightful servant!
　　Maybe he can also use this small joy to
　　create great happiness. —Isn’t 　　this
　　world made of particles by man? 　　Ah, yes! The world created is not joyful, and there 　　is so little joy in the world! 　　But after all, there are many things that make people laugh and laugh, for 　　example, your loyal ones Servant 　　-the yearning of his heart is beauty, 　　I’m talking about you! 　　You! 　　But-please keep silent, 　　in this world lacking flowers, compared 　　with your beautiful heart 　　made flowers, 　　this clumsy language is again What is it? 　　After that, Gorky also gave a poem to his sweetheart: 　　I have a new feeling in my life, and a 　　new power fills my whole body; 　　I will write in purple ink from now on, and 　　this little poem will testify to this . 　　There are many more poems donated by Gorky, but only these two have survived, from which people can see that Gorky was completely immersed in love at that time. He asked his sweetheart to live with him. After some deliberation, Olga Kaminskaya finally came to Nizhny Novgorod and lived with Gorky.

　　It was a strange marriage, because Olga Kaminskaya was ten years older than Gorky, which seemed absurd in worldly eyes. But this is not the case. Gorky’s pursuit of himself is well thought out. He was young at the time, full of “strange and absurd thoughts” and never had the love of a woman he thought would help him “recognize who he is, and she has a magical power. “, can save him “this man who can’t see a ray of light, from the dark real life”, and make his heart “filled with infinite power and ignite the flame of incomparable joy”, Gorky even felt that “in life. All good things come from the power of love for a woman.”
　　However, reality is reality after all, the new family life lasted only two years, and the two had to part ways. First, Olga Kaminskaya found herself not what Gorky “needs”, and although she felt with Gorky and tasted “never so much joy”, she still felt that the combination of the two was all-encompassing its own fault. On the other hand, Golgi also found differences between each other. He wrote:
　　”I devoured my studies, read, and began to devote my full attention to literary creation,” but Olga Kaminskaya organized a “crazy belly party”, often invited guests to dinner, and “guests” Getting in my way more and more, they’re boring people and they’re getting bigger and bigger.” “My wife treats my novels with a rather indifferent attitude.”
　　One day, Gorky stayed up all night to finish writing “The Old Wife of Izequer”, in which there is an immortal image of Danke. In order to illuminate the way forward for people in the dark forest, Dan Ke resolutely pulled out a burning heart from his chest. Gorky believed that this novel was his “bronze bell cast with the fire of life in his chest”, which would arouse women’s “longing and pursuit of freedom and beauty”. But when Gorky read the novel to Olga Kaminskaya in the morning, she fell asleep. Gorky only felt that “the chest was tingling, and the heart was deeply hurt.” The relationship between the two had reached an irreversible point. In December 1894, the two sides broke up.
　　In 1921, Gorky accepted Lenin’s advice and went abroad to recuperate. He was with his only son Maxim at the time. When he heard the news of Olga Kaminskaya’s death due to illness, he wrote an autobiographical novel titled “First Love”, which artistically summarized his first love. At first glance, the life expressed in the works seems a little strange, especially for a man of high prestige like Gorky. But Gorky is a serious man, and his greatness lies in his simplicity and ordinaryness. With graceful writing, he described Olga Kaminskaya as a person, frankly admitting that he had “learned a lot” from his first wife, in addition to expressing his condolences to her, he also warned the later People:
　　”Life is a serious mission” Please don’t forget!