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Abstract:

The article deals with several episodes, illustrating the history of relations between Gorky and Platonov. It unveils the birth of the Soviet legend that Gorky immediately noticed and highly appreciated Platonov’s talent. New information is presented on the publishing of the first posthumous prose collection by Platonov and the preface to it, written by the critic F.M. Levin. References to Platonov in letters, written by Gorky in 1927–1928, are analyzed in the article. The reasons for Platonov’s failure to meet Gorky at the editors office of “Krasnaya Nov’” magazine on the 9th of June, 1928, are discovered. Responses on Gorky and Platonov, made by participants of the meeting, are identified. The context of “no meeting” between Platonov and Gorky in summer 1928 is clarified. Platonov’s contacts with Gorky in 1929 concerning publication of the novel Chevengur are explored. The article unveils the implication of the phrase made by Gorky about Voronsky in his letter to Platonov, which gives the conclusion about the inability to publish a novel. A document, that was taken from Voronsky file at the Russian state archive of socio-political history and proved contacts between Gorky and Voronsky after his return from exile in Lipetsk, has been published for the first time. It is noted that Platonov used Gorky’s appreciation of his novels as an argument to apply for an apartment in the writers house in the Art theater passage. It is established that it is extremely difficult to clarify the role of Gorky in the overcoming by Platonov of disastrous consequences of the story “Vprok” publication in 1931. It examines the significance of the fact that Stalin resent the letter, addressed to him by Platonov, to Gorky, thus giving him the role of the censor on Platonov’s art creations. It turns out that Platonov understood why his letters to Gorky in 1932 and 1933 remained unanswered. It examines Platonov’s appeal to Gorky concerning staging of the play “High voltage” in the theater as well as his hope for the publication of the play in the Gorky almanac. The fate of the story “Rubbish wind” is clarified. It is discovered that Platonov’s participation in Gorky’s project “Two five-year plans” resulted in the unbanning of Platonov’s publications in 1934. Platonov’s trip with the writers team to Turkmenistan, the creation and success of the story “Takyr” allowed him to join the Union of Soviet writers.

Keywords: Platonov, Gorky, Voronsky, “Krasnaya Nov”, “Chevengur”, “Vprok”, “Takyr”, “Two five-year plans”, the Union of Soviet writers.