New Yasnaya Polyana in Sorrento: towards the history of villa “Il Sorrito”

UDC 82-94

DOI 10.20339/PhS.5-23.123  

Akimova Anna S.,

Candidate of Philology, Senior Scientific Researcher

Gorky Institute of World Literature of Russian Academy of Sciences;

Associate Professor of the Russian Literature of the

XX–XXI centuries Department

Moscow Pedagogical State University

e-mail: a.s.akimova@mail.ru

For the first time, the article based on the correspondence of M. Gorky with Soviet writers, public and political figures, shows the significance of Gorky and the second period of his stay in Italy at the Sorrento villa Il Sorrito, where he lived in 1924–1933, for the formation of Russian literature of the Soviet period, as well as the role of Italian impressions of his guests in their biography and creativity. The use of historical-biographical and historical-cultural methods in combination with scientific-source and textual approaches allow you to look into the laboratory of writers who worked at the villa Il Sorrito, as well as describe the creative history of a number of works. As a result of the study, it was found that many Soviet writers came here to Sorrento to Gorky. This allowed the Milan newspaper to call it “the new Yasnaya Polyana” for Russian writers. N. Aseev, A.N. Afinogenov, I. Babel, A. Bezymensky, Artyom Vesyoly, I. Volnov, A. Zharov, Vs. Ivanov, V. Kataev, V. Kin, P. Kogan, M. Koltsov, L. Leonov, V. Lidin, S.Ya. Marshak, L. Nikulin, A. Sobol, A.N. Tolstoy, I. Utkin, O. Forsh were here at different times. According to ego documents, as well as archival sources, the lifestyle of those who came to the villa was restored, which allowed them to describe their Italian impressions and determine the role of walks and conversations with Gorky, visits to concerts and surrounding cities in the formation of the idea of a number of works, in particular, in the transformation of the idea of the second book of Tolstoy’s novel Peter the Great.

Keywords: Manor topos, M. Gorky, Russian-Italian cultural ties, Soviet writers, correspondence, villa Il Sorrito, creative history, novel Peter the Great.

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