Reminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreyev

by Maxim Gorky, Bryan Karetnyk (translator)

In 1920, Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press published Maxim Gorky's Reminiscences of Tolstoy and it was recognized almost immediately as one of the few masterpieces of modern biography. 'It is one of the most remarkable biographical pieces ever written,' writes Leonard Woolf in his autobiography. 'It makes one hear, see, feel Tolstoy and his character as if one were sitting in the same room – his greatness and his littleness, his entrancing and infuriating complexity, his titanic and poetic personality, his superb humour.' In 1934, the book was expanded to include Gorky's memoirs of two other great Russian literary figures, Anton Chekhov and Leonid Andreyev. Almost a hundred years later, Reminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreyev is reissued in a superb new translation by Bryan Karetnyk.

Genres: Nonfiction, Russia, Biography

189 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Russian writer Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov (Russian: Алексей Максимович Пешков) supported the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 and helped to develop socialist realism as the officially accepted literary aesthetic; his works include The Life of Klim Samgin (1927-1936), an unfinished cycle of novels.

This Soviet author founded the socialist realism literary method and a political activist. People also nominated him five times for the Nobel Prize in literature. From 1906 to 1913 and from 1921 to 1929, he lived abroad, mostly in Capri, Italy; after his return to the Soviet Union, he accepted the cultural policies of the time.

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

These admirably succinct portraits ring true.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.5)

[Zhou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone loves Chekhov. Genuine, simple, sweet, and bashful, despite his acute awareness of life’s sorrow and sordidness.

The portrait of Tolstoy feels ambivalent though. He seems to be an achingly intelligent man. “But he never did feel good–at no times and in no place, I am sure of it–neither in the books of wisdom, nor in the saddle, not even in the arms of a woman did he ever experience earthly paradise to the full.”

[Searchingthemeaningoflife Greece · Rating 5 out of 5]

[...]Για την πίστη όπως και για την αγάπη, χρειάζεται θάρρος, τόλμη. Πρέπει να πείτε στον εαυτό σας «πιστεύω και όλα θα πάνε καλά», όλα θα παρουσιαστούν όπως τα θέλετε, τα πράγματα θα ξεκαθαρίσουν μόνα τους και θα σας προσελκύσουν. Εσείς αγαπάτε πολλά πράγματα, η πίστη όμως είναι αγάπη ενισχυμένη, θα πρέπει να αγαπήσετε ακόμα περισσότερο, και τότε η αγάπη θα μεταλλάξει σε πίστη. Όταν κάποιος αγαπάει μια γυναίκα, τη θεωρεί την καλύτερη στη γη, και αναμφίβολα ο καθένας θεωρεί ότι αγαπάει την καλύτερη στη γη. Κι αυτό είναι ήδη πίστη. Ο άπιστος δεν μπορεί ν' αγαπήσει. Σήμερα ερωτεύεται τη μια, σ' ένα χρόνο θ' αγαπάει άλλη. Κάτι τέτοιων ανθρώπων η ψυχή είναι αλήτισσα, στέρφα, κι αυτό δεν είναι καλό. Γεννηθήκατε πιστοί και δεν χρειάζεται να καταπιέζετε τους εαυτούς σας. Ομορφιά είπατε; Και τι σημαίνει ομορφιά; Ό,τι ανώτερο και τελειότερο: ο Θεός.[...]

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorky is my grandfather’s favourite Russian writer (in fact he named my aunt after the Song of the Stormy Petrel), so I picked this up entirely based on that name value. My grandfather is never wrong about anything; although I doubt he’s actually read these particular writings as they are more on the side of literary gossip than is to his taste. I, however, do enjoy some good old profiles, especially since Gorky doesn’t write them with any kind of pretend impartiality, but with full and clear prejudice. Of Tolstoy, you can see him valiantly tamp down his personal dislike of a man he admires. With Andreyev, it’s watching the self destruction of a beloved friend.

One might say, after the above, to never meet your heroes, but everyone loves Chekhov and Gorky is no exception.

[Michelle Atkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an excellent work of biography. I came for Gorky’s writings on Tolstoy but found his reflections on Chekhov and Andreyev to be so striking and beautiful. It’s clear the closer emotionally Gorky was to the person he was writing on, the richer and more vivid his character was able to be, the essay on Andreyev being the epitome. His ability to mediate his subject so clearly through his interactions with them while never centring himself is a masterclass in portraiture.

[Gary Sites · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're interested in Chekhov, Gorky's "Reminiscences" of him is worth getting the book.

[The Contented · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprised by the extent to which I enjoyed this. A good read