“A work of great breath...”: M. Gorky about the novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” in interviews to the Italian press 1926–1928

UDC 821.161.-3

DOI  10.20339/PhS.6-23.108

Gavrish Tatyana R.,

Candidate of Philology, Senior Researcher

Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4139-7203

e-mail: berenica25@yandex.ru

The complex creative history of M. Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” is characterized by the constant development of his original idea, which was the result of a writer’s deep artistic and philosophical understanding of the changing sociohistorical context. This process took place in parallel with Gorky’s work on the novel. During his stay in Sorrento, Gorky gave several interviews to the Italian press (in 1926, 1927 and 1928), which were devoted to the writer’s work on “The Life of Klim Samgin”. These are the following interviews: the interview “Maxim Gorky and his new novel “Researcherˮ for newspaper Il Mezzogiorno on March 23–24, 1926; the interview “Gorky’s new novel” — to Corriere della Sera on January 29, 1927, reprinted by Il Giornale d’Italia on January 30, 1927 under the title “Gorky writes a great historical novel in Sorrento”; the interview “At Maxim Gorky’s Sorrento asylum. A conversation with the writer about his new novel “Forty Yearsˮ — to the newspaper Il Messaggerо on June 5, 1927 (its summary was published by Corriere della Sera on June 6, 1927); the interview “Maxim Gorky’s sixtieth birthday” — to the newspaper Il Messaggero on March 30, 1928. During these three years, the writer created the first (winter 1924–1925 or spring 1925 — the end of June 1926) and the second (summer 1926 — the end of February 1928) parts of the “Life of Klim Samgin”. The writer’s interviews reflected the gradual clarification of the time, setting and the scope of the novel, its title, volume and structure, the psychological type and the occupation of the main character.

Keywords: Maxim Gorky, “The Life of Klim Samgin”, artistic idea, Sorrento, interviews, Il Mezzogiorno, Corriere della Sera, Il Giornale d’Italia, Il Messaggero.

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