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Abstract: This study examines the life and the creative career of V. F. Pletnev (1886–1942) – a prominent figure in the Proletkult movement, a playwright, an editor, and M. Gorky’s correspondent. Its main aim is to reconstruct Pletnev’s biography based on newly introduced archival sources, to analyze the circumstances of his creative contacts with Gorky, Eisenstein and other cultural figures, and to verify dubious facts from his pre-revolutionary and editorial work. The research employs microhistorical analysis – highlighting the interaction between individual biographies and broader social processes – along with comparative-historical and source-critical methods. The source base includes unpublished materials from collections at RGALI, GARF, TsGA Moscow, and the Archives of A. M. Gorky (IMLI RAS). These sources enable clarification of biographical details, such as pre-revolutionary arrests and exile circumstances, and verification of discrepancies in reference sources. The study traces the evolution of Pletnev’s ideological and creative views – from his early publications as a Menshevik in Nasha Zarya (1913) to his leadership in Proletkult and his theoretical foundation of the goals of proletarian culture. It reconstructs his collaboration with Eisenstein, including the production of Lena and Stachka, revealing tensions in their creative relationships. An innovative analysis of his correspondence with Gorky (1933–1935) sheds light on the mechanism of literary coaching and Gorky’s influence on Pletnev’s plays, such as Shlyapa and Tanya. His editorial activities – particularly his work on the project Dve Pyatiletki (the collection “Creativity of the Peoples of the USSR) and the jubilee edition celebrating Stalin’s 60th anniversary – are also discussed in the article. The findings, materials, and conclusions of the article can be used for further research into the Russian literature and culture of the Soviet period, when writing commentaries to Gorky’s literary collections, and in lecture courses on the history of the theater, cinema, and socio-cultural struggles of the 1920s–1930s. Pletnev’s biography, with its unique details, is a typical illustration of the social mobility, ideological adaptation, and creative conflicts of the early Soviet period. His figure remains significant as an example of a man of letters, who systematically realized the function of mediation between the ideological order, creative experiment, and the needs of a mass audience – from Proletkult to wartime press of 1941.

About the author(s) :

Saltanat Zh. Kenzhebaeva

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

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8267-9269

Anastasia G. Plotnikova

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

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1866-0608

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 09.03.2026; date of publication: 30.06.2026

References:

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