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Abstract: The article presents the first detailed analysis of the little-studied fact of Gorky’s scientific biography related to the almanac “Soviet Country”, published from 1927 to 1929. The aim of this article is to study Gorky’s work as editor of this almanac, which reflected the writer’s vision of creating multinational Soviet literature. Today, in an era of the in-depth study of national ethnoses, research into Gorky’s role in updating the almanac “Soviet Country” could significantly enrich the history of the literatures of the peoples of Russia and countries outside Russia – the CIS countries. The research methods employed in this article combine a comparative historical approach with an integrated approach, which, in addition to literary criticism, involves the related disciplines such as history, sociology, anthropology, ethnography, and others. This integrated approach allows filling significant gaps in the understanding of the literary movement of the 1920s and 1930s. Beginning with 1928, Gorky’s work aimed at creation of the multinational Soviet literature took on practical nature: he began to reorganize the almanacs “Soviet Country” and “Taiga and Tundra”. The writer wanted to combine them into one almanac “Soviet Country” (“Literature of the Peoples and Tribes of the Union of Soviets”), but this project was not crowned with success. The magazine ceased publication in 1929 after the 3rd issue. The last attempt to revive the magazine edited by A. V. Lunacharsky was undertaken in 1931; Gorky took part in the formulation of the new concept for the magazine, but this plan was not realized either. Previously, ineffective principles of the magazine’s management were said to be the main reason for the failure. The documents show that the main factor was the national question, which had become more acute due to the political situation. The forced collectivization and dispossession of the kulaks in the late 1920s and early 1930s led to an increase in class struggle and interethnic strife.

About the author(s) :

Olga V. Shugan

А. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5885-2287

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 05.05.2025; date of publication: 29.12.2025

References:

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