Mikhail Petrovich Artsybashev (1878-1927)
Letter to Gippius on his determination to fight. n.d.
Typed letter signed ('Artsybashev') and with autograph postscript to Zinaida Gippius, n.p., n.d. [1920s].

In Russian. 1¼ pages, 271 x 210mm, signature and postscript in pencil.

On his determination to continue the struggle. Artsybashev sympathises with Gippius on her deafness: 'I know all too well what an affliction deafness is. Not only becuase it narrows one's life ... but mainly because it puts a human being in a position of being constantly dependent on the kindness and fellowship of others. These things are quite unreliable ... / Therefore, believe me that your letter had evoked nothing other than the feeling of deepest compassion. As to the question of the struggle I can say the following: first of all there is a great difference between you and me. You cannot naturally plunge into a personal struggle, whilst I on the other hand will not avoid one if necessary. Not because I possess such a combative temperament ... but merely because I am ready to move towards the goal in any way possible'. Still on the subject of 'the struggle', he concludes that 'a lot depends on the "atmosphere" and it is possible to create it. I am attempting to create a combative atmosphere, and I deem it much better than if I had to create a hopeless and compromised mood ... For me in general there are two states of affairs: yes and no. If yes, then everything else falls away'.

Artsybashev is the leading proponent of naturalism in Russian literature, most notably in the novel Sanin (1907), which shocked contemporary readers with its sexual frankness. From that period, he was often the target of controversy, something that only intensified when he opposed the October Revolution. He was obliged to emigrate to Poland in 1923, and died there in 1927 of the tuberculosis with which he had struggled for years – aggravated, as he says here, by his increasing deafness. Gippius had significant reservations about Artysbashev's works, finding them too derivative of Dostoevsky and sexually obsessed – but was always admiring of his human qualities.

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