Maxim Gorky (Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, 1868-1936)
'I have never been a member of any political party'. 1926
Letter signed (in Italian, 'Massimo Gorky' and with initials 'M.G.') to an unidentified friend ('Mon cher ami'), Naples, 3 April 1926.

In French. One page, 280 x 218mm, two markings in blue pencil, presumably by the recipient. Provenance: with University Archives, 2009.

'I am not and have never been a member of any political party'. Gorky writes to a journalist, expressing hurt at what has been written of him, and refusing to comply with a request, on the grounds that he is consumed with work on his 'major novel' (The Life of Klim Sangin, left unfinished at his death). In a postscript, he issues a striking denial of having ever been a member of a political party.

My dear friend,

If you believe that the letter I sent you is that of a wounded man, you are wrong. I am not wounded, but it hurt me to read certain phrases in your articles.

What is important for me, as you well know, is not words, but the man himself. I have retained an excellent memory of you, a man of high culture. Let us speak no more of it.

Unfortunately, it is impossible for me to do what you ask of me. I am currently working on a major novel, taking in forty years of Russian life, and I cannot write anything else.

With best wishes,
Massimo Gorki

P.S. You speak in your letter of belonging to a party. I am not and have never been a member of any political party.

The text of the letter is probably in the hand of Gorky's secretary and lover Moura Budberg (1892-1974), who was a noted linguist. Gorky's signature in roman script is notably rare. It has long been a matter of some controversy whether Gorky was at some point a party member: certainly it suited him to deny it at this point in his Italian exile (see also lot 102).

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