Maxim Gorky (Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, 1868-1936)
On the 'uncultivated' nature of the Russian reader. 1929
Autograph letter signed ('A. Peshkov') to [Vladimir Pimenovich] Krymov, Sorrento, 8 May 1929.

In Russian. One page, 280 x 215mm, on squared paper. Envelope. Provenance: Ira & Larry Goldberg auction, Los Angeles, 17-18 November 2018, lot 72.

On the 'uncultivated' nature of the modern Russian reader. Gorky opens with an apology: 'Forgive me – I forgot your first name and patronymic. I am not good with names'. He agrees in principle to write the foreword for Krymov's book , and gives him an address in Moscow for him to send the manuscript. He goes on to discuss the nature of the modern Russian reader:

As far as a fee is concerned – let's not talk about it – it's unnecessary. As for me – your proposal is not acceptable at all. If I should help to find readers for a good book – this would serve as a solid fee! I like our modern day Russian reader. He is 'uncultivated', it's true! But in his 'lack of culture' I see the 'immunisation' of a healthy human being against the pathogenic fundamentals of the past culture.

Vladimir Pimenovich Krymov (1878-1968) was a novelist whose best known work is his autobiographical trilogy Za millionami (1933). The book to which Gorky is to write the foreword is Krymov's Lyudi v pautine (Berlin, 1930): see the following lot for Gorky's critique of it.

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