"And I Know Him for a Long Time": Maksim Gorky and Samuil Marshak in their Historical Context

Abstract

Julia de Florio investigates the relationship between Maxim Gorkii and Samuil Marshak in her article “And I Know Him for a Long Time: Gorky and Samuil Marshak in their Historical Context”. The article focuses on the relationship between M. Gorky and S. Marshak, beginning from their first pre-Revolutionary encounters, until their last meeting in Crimea in 1936, some months before Gorky’s death. A thorough analysis of stylistically similar statements and claims by both authors shows the new conception of children’s literature, one that Marshak and Gorky carried out at the end of the 20s-beginning of the 30s, and that was finally announced during the First Congress of Soviet Writers in 1934. The tight artistic dialogue between the two writers demonstrates their ideological affinity and goes beyond the construction of Gorky’s myth, which was fostered by many writers (including Marshak), in order to protect themselves from the harsh official critics.

Keywords: Maksim Gorky, Samuil Marshak, First Congress of Soviet Writers, great literature for the little ones, Detizdat, critics on children’s literature