Abstract
The Vsemirnaia Literatura publishing house was founded in Petrograd by Maxim Gorky less than a year after the October Revolution. Aligned with the objectives of the new regime, its mission was to translate and publish a substantial body of European and Asian poetry and prose, thereby contributing to the broad cultural education of the emerging Soviet generations. These ambitions clearly reflect a key element of Gorky’s conception of culture as well: for Gorky, culture in its broadest sense (encompassing literature, art, music, and science) had the potential to unite humanity under the ideals of peace and harmony. Within this new humanist vision, intellectuals were called upon to join forces in creating networks of associations devoted to the preservation and advancement of culture beyond national boundaries. This article aims to outline the central features of the conception at the origin of Vsemirnaia Literatura, with particular emphasis on the efforts to establish a bridge between Asia (then commonly referred to as the East) and Europe (the West) through Russia. The article compares Gorky’s utopian vision to Enlightenment-era cultural ambitions of the French Encyclopedists and to Goethe’s notion of Weltliteratur, as both Enlightenment and Goethean ideals significantly influenced the policies of Vsemirnaia Literatura, together with contemporary socialist and pacifist ideas. In this regard, special attention is given to the terminological shift from the Russian adjective vsemirnyi—intentionally chosen by Gorky for its connotations of universality—to mirovoi, which later became the standard term for world literature in Soviet academic discourse.
Alt Text Acknowledgement
1
Recommended Citation
Lazzarin, Francesca.
"An Arc Stretched between East and West: World (or Universal?) Literature in Maxim Gorky’s Publishing Utopias."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
27.3
(2025):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.5291>
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