Maxim Gorky

The Author: Cynthia Marsh teaches Russian and drama at the University of Nottingham, UK. She has published widely on Russian literature and drama, is a play translator and theatre director (she has directed Gorky in Russian and English). She is currently working on a study of translated Russian theatre in the post-war British repertoire.

«[Cynthia Marsh] fills a gap in Gorky scholarship with this commendable examination of the fullness of his dramatic writing.» (Mark Conliffe, Canadian Slavonic Papers) «... this is a long overdue study of Gor´kii's complete ‘œuvre’ which is to be warmly welcomed.» (Nick Worrall, Slavonic and East European Review)«Marsh's monograph... represents an important step in the right direction — a move to increase the availability of scholarly works in English on the complex and compelling literary career of Maxim Gorky.» (Julie S. Draskoczy, Modern Language Review)«...Marsh's study will be of interest primarly to scholars and students of Russian literature and drama, as well as to those hoping to gain a better understanding of Gorky's truly complex and ambivalent role as a Russian and Soviet literary giant of the early twentieth century.» (Julie A. Cassiday, The Russian Review)

• Contents: Putting on the style: Gorky as playwright – Debut: 1882-1905 – The theatrical context – On the attack: Philistines (1902) – Truth, lies and theatre: The Lower Depths (1902) – Gorky and the intelligentsia: Summerfolk, Children of the Sun and Barbarians – Off-stage: 1906-1917 – Abroad – Claiming spaces: Enemies – A tragic sideshow: The Last Ones, Eccentrics, The Reception and Vassa Zheleznova – Polemic and melodrama: Counterfeit Coin, The Zykovs, The Old Man and Iakov Bogomolov – Peripeteia: 1917-1936 – Soviet dramatist – Back to the future: Egor Bulychev and the Others and Dostigaev and the Others – Representing the present: Somov and the Others and Vassa Zheleznova.