Information about the author:

Abstract:

The article analyzes the influence of A.M. Gorky on E.N. Chirikova, both in biographical and literary terms. Chirkov began his creative way with a passion for Narodism, then joined the “Znanie” (“Knowledge”), was closely associated with the Gorky friendly and professional. Political divergence of writers began with the first world war. Chirikov joined the debate about the article Gorky “Dve dushi” (“Two Souls”). In emigration Chirikov wrote several anti-Gorkov’s articles (from 1920 to 1931), a brochure Smerdyakov of the Russian Revolution (1921). Gorky is depicted and negatively characterized in the writer’s last novel “Otchii dom” (The Father’s House, 1929–1931). At the same time, the poetics of “Znanie”, most clearly manifested in the pre-revolutionary plays of Chirikov (“Muzhiks”, “The House of Kocherginy”) can be found in the emigrant prose of the writer, in particular, in the novels “Sem’ia” (The Family) and “Otchii dom”. The heroes of the novels represent the most important classes of society, determined by the class psychology and we can talk about the “historical interior” and “historical landscape”, which literary criticism highlights in the The Life of Klim Samgin of Gorky. There is a similarity of some characters (Larissa Luginova from Chirikov and Marina Zotova from Gorky). It can be concluded, that in the literature of Russian emigration the Gorky tradition continued (“Znaniewski” realism as a forerunner of socialist realism).

Keywords: A.M. Gorky, E.N. Chirikov, The Life of Klim Samgin, “Otchii dom”, “Znaniewski” realism.