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502

Maxim Gorky

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Maxim Gorky

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Auction Date:2010 Nov 10 @ 19:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Important Russian/Soviet author and activist (1868–1936). Though his criticism of the Communist government led to a relationship marked by conflict and unease, he was ultimately embraced (though closely monitored) by the Stalinist regime, and Stalin himself was a pallbearer at Gorky’s funeral. LS in French, signed “M. Gorky,” one page, lightly-lined graph-like paper, 8.5 x 10.75, December 31 [1907]. Letter in the hand of Gorky’s wife, Maria Andreyeva (whom he had married earlier that year) to Italian journalist Ugo Ojetti. In full (translated): “Please forgive me for not having replied to your letter any sooner but you know what it is not being at home–we never do what we would like to do, we do nothing and at the same time, we are always so busy that the days go by like moments. We are leaving from here tomorrow and the 3rd we will be at home in Capri and I will be able to work–what chance for a poor man who had not held a pen in two months… Ha–yes! Excuse me for having disturbed you, dear friend, I understand that the time is not favorable to publish even such a little thing because it is said that Nicholas is to visit the king of Italy. It is too bad that such a misfortune is happening to your beautiful country! Goodbye my friends, my wife and I will await your arrival with great anticipation. When you see Caradini we ask you to please give him our regards.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, small tear to right edge, and a few areas of scattered light toning.

A supporter of the Bolsheviks against Tsar Nicholas II, Gorky bluntly sends his friend ‘condolences’ upon learning “that such a misfortune is happening to your beautiful country.” Two years before this referenced Nicholas visit with King Victor Emmanuel II, Gorky was arrested and charged with inciting the people to revolt. Following a wide-world protest at the writer’s imprisonment, the tsar agreed to have him deported, and at the time he wrote this letter was residing on Capri.

Gorky used his literary voice not only against the Russian monarchy, but to draw attention to those less fortunate. It was this focus on the ‘working man’ that drew him toward the Bolsheviks—though he was not always impressed by their ideals. The same year as this letter was penned, he attended the Fifth Congress of the Social Democratic Labour Party, where he met Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and other leaders of the party, and criticized Lenin's attempts to create a small party of professional revolutionaries. Following Lenin’s rise to power in the 1917 Revolution, the new Russian leader had Gorky’s plays closed and banned, and in 1934 would also be placed under house arrest as part of Stalinist repression. Interesting content.
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