Maxim Gorky (Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, 1868-1936)
Gorky meets Tolstoy. 1900
Autograph letter signed (‘A. Peshkov’) to Viktor Vasnetsov, Nizhni Novgorod, [postmarked 22 October 1900].

In Russian. Three pages, 265 x 210mm, on a bifolium. Envelope.

Gorky on meeting Leo Tolstoy: ‘You can love him to the point of madness and at the same time dislike him very, very much’. Gorky opens the letter with a jovial account of his arrival in Nizhni Novgorod, including the experience of being swindled by a ‘muzhik’ (peasant) in his search for apples (‘Muzhiks exist, you know, to dupe writers’). He goes on to describe his visit to Tolstoy (on 8 October):

‘I just recently visited Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, spent the entire day with him. A great man! He is 73 years old, and he jumps over ditches like a baby goat, fights like a devil with his fists, and is thinking and thinking all the time … He handles God in a casual and easy manner and defines him rather loosely … “God”, he states, “is my personal wish – that which I desire”… Generally speaking it is much more pleasant to look at Lev Nikolaevich than to listen to him. In fact, it is more instructive to see him than to hear him. His inextinguishable formation of ideas, though quite erroneous at times – is still very lively and brave: alluring as a spring of water – though one does not have to drink from it. When he … philosophises it is somewhat boring to listen to him, to be totally frank. But when he starts to speak about his craft and literature – I could listen endlessly! / He imparted to me the summary of the novel which he is planning to write – Father Sergius is the title – he not only talks about it, but literally sculpts it, paints it for you! It is all so wonderful! Such an enormous creative ability, and so sad that he pontificates at times – so sad!! You know, you can love him to the point of madness and at the same time dislike him very, very much…

Gorky had first met Tolstoy in Moscow in January 1900, and they were to meet a second time in May. The meeting described in the present letter, their third, took place on 8 October, and was the first at Tolstoy’s estate of Yasnaya Polyana: it is the subject of a famous photograph by Sophia Tolstaya of the two writers together. They were to meet on many occasions subsequently, but as reflected in the present letter their relationship was an ambiguous mixture of admiration and criticism – on both sides. It is highly revealing of Tolstoy's attitude to creativity that he should have presented Father Sergius as ‘the novel which he is planning to write’ and evidently recounted it extempore, given that it was in fact a short story whose composition he had completed (after an eight-year gestation) two years previously, in 1898: it was not to be published until 1911. The recipient of the letter, the artist Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926), is one of the masters of historical painting in Russian art, often on an epic scale.

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