Article

Name: The early works of Maxim Gorky in the publishing strategies of social democrats

Authors: Olga Yu. Shum

V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract:

The paper reconstructs the publishing history of early short novels by Maxim Gorky, which eventually became his first collection of works. Consideration is given to the actions of figures from the social democratic movement, who were drawn to Gorky’s works due to their artistic merits as well as their inherent potential for protest. It was a common practice for adherents of social democratic ideas to maintain constant contact and engage in patronage, frequently through correspondence. Following the correspondence recommendations, Gorky encountered V. G. Korolenko, who exhibited unwavering support and a willingness to discuss and promote the manuscripts of the young author and participate in their publication from 1893 to 1895. From 1898 to 1901, Gorky was under the patronage of V. A. Posse, who spearheaded the publication of the collected works of the provincial author in the capital. Despite the strategic risk involved, Posse managed to establish the publishing house of Dorovatovsky and Charushnikov in St. Petersburg. In 1898, this publishing house released the first two volumes of Gorky’s “Essays and Stories” and in 1899, the third volume appeared and the first two were reprinted. The reconstruction of the publishing history of Gorky’s works made it possible to qualify the organizational and publishing intentions of social democrats as publishing strategies to create and promote publications that are important ideologically for a par-ticular social group. In artistic book publishing, it was crucial to prioritize ideological strategies that would appeal to a broad audience.

Keywords: publishing strategies, M. Gorky, early stories, publications, In G. Korolenko, V. A. Posse, the first published of works, publishing house, ideological publishers

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