Горки

With the plays "Guilds" and "At the Bottom" a new stage in the work of Maxim Gorky begins, connected with the growing revolutionary upsurge in Russia with the first rumblings and the approach of the 1905 revolution. During this period, the author of the romantic hymns about the madness of the heroes" and about the flaming heart of Danko, the realist writer, revealed the tragic fate and spontaneous protest of the barefoot people against the corrupting influence of the guild, proprietary morality - he becomes more and more closely associated with the revolutionary movement, intervenes in political struggles against the Russian autocracy and gradually connects with the Leninist wing of Russian Social Democracy. He becomes a stormtrooper, the herald of the revolution, the first proletarian writer of world significance in whose work the principles of socialist realism are formed. It was at this time that he fully realized his long-standing dream - to create art that arouses heroic emotions, reaching the widest circles, calls for the reorganization of the social order. In the play "Guilds" Gorky for the first time in world literature created the image of a proletarian fighter - the train driver Nile with his optimistic life-affirming philosophy, which acts like thunder over the troubled guild swamp. In Nile's words "The owner is the one who works", "Rights are not given - rights are won", "There is no such train schedule that cannot be changed" speaks of a new proletarian class, which has gathered strength for decisive political battles. Gorky takes stock of his early work and in the play "The Bottom". He frees himself from any romanticization of the free and protesting barefoot people; now they are already unfortunate victims, having lost everything that can be lost, but remaining sensitive to the call for human dignity, for the greatness of man. The famous words "Man - this is magnificent! Man - this sounds proud!" spread with incredible speed all over the world and shake the packed theaters in European capitals. They are spoken by some pitiful fragments of the human race, sunk in rags, from the darkness of their pit - this temporarily emphasizes the active humanism of the play even more strongly. At the same time, as an outlet, Gorky rejects passive compassion, the comforting lie of heavy suffering, exposes the philosophy of powerlessness, which seeks reconciliation with reality as a means that helps the masters of power to plunder their victims even more cruelly.

Whether a foreign writer will be welcomed as an expected and beloved guest, as a spiritual interlocutor and comrade, whose work fertilizes and enriches the native literature and public thought with new ideas, or whether he will be rejected as an uninvited stranger, alien to public morals and literary traditions, depends on many factors. First of all, on the writer's own work - on its scale, on the depth of its social content, on the nature of the ideas and the degree of its innovation. Then on that absolutely necessary contact and affinity with the social and aesthetic needs of the country in which he has entered, on his ability to satisfy mature ideological searches and quench the thirst for new ideals, i.e. to become one's own, to flow as an organic element into progressive culture and thought. This, in turn, depends on the historical moment in which the encounter with the writer takes place. In the national Literary development there are moments that are extremely favorable for the perception of ideological and artistic values ​​that have come from outside. Usually these are years of transition from one era to another, of ideological fermentation and boiling, when the national consciousness works hard to free itself from old idols and set out on new paths. At such a time, a great artist from outside can invade as a desired conqueror and in a short time conquer the minds and hearts of thinking people in society, become a spiritual ruler for the intelligentsia and youth. He suddenly gives the long-sought directions of progressive thought, accelerates spiritual processes, helps to shape new social ideals. Therefore, his merit is invaluable, his share in the mental development of the nation, in its spiritual maturation is undeniable. And precisely because of this, he ceases to be foreign, but is revered as close and native.

No one in Bulgaria has contributed as much to the affirmation of the true image of the artist Maxim Gorky, to the correct interpretation of his revolutionary work, as well as to its translation and dissemination, as Georgi Bakalov. From 1901, when he translated and published in Varna the first booklet with Gorky's story "The Pitiful Turk and the Woodpecker", until his death in 1939, he remained a tireless researcher and popularizer of Gorky, and did this with the greatest awareness, breadth and insight. His activity in this field is a true feat. It is enough to recall the case of the translation and dissemination of the novel "Mother" and the translation of almost all of Gorky's plays. I think that in his own development as a Marxist critic and theorist of new literature, his articles on Gorky, along with those on Smirnensky, stand out as the most creative, the most free from vulgar-sociological impurities and sectarian extremes. In both cases, G. Bakalov maintains the creative line, advocates the broad Leninist view and fights against primitive dogmatic concepts. Gorky, as well as Smirnensky, was one of the springs from which Bakalov drew life-giving water for his method, for his critical activity. They helped him to break away from rectilinear ideas and be more artistic, to rely on his critical sense and taste, on his direct contact with art. In addition, Gorky's aesthetic views - his numerous statements about the Russian classics, the cultural heritage and the new Soviet literature - helped Bakalov to free himself from some narrow and sectarian stratifications, from the Plekhanovian mechanistic view and to perceive literary creativity, the historical-literary process with all their dialectical complexity, diversity and specificity. The importance of constant contact with Gorky for the evolution that Bakalov underwent in the 1930s, after overcoming sectarianism, especially for his new attitude towards heritage is undeniable. It is no coincidence that in his famous program article in the second half of the 1930s "Depict the Heroic", most vividly reflecting his new thinking and the decisive urge to break the sectarian shackles, he referred to Gorky, to his call for the creation of heroic art and to examples from his work.

It is difficult to read a book in which quotations occupy a significant part of the content. However, these are not quotations that a specialist, contrary to the practice established in our country, should avoid due to their general notoriety. Ivan Tsvetkov quotes an extraordinary number of times, but he quotes things that are known to a limited number of literary scholars. Or they are new even to them, something that does not surprise anyone, since the author is undoubtedly the best expert on the material related to the topic "Gorky and Bulgarian Literature". Of course, there can always be people who will underestimate this positive quality of the author's erudition with the objection that such "collection" can be carried out by a moderately qualified writer or simply by a dilettante. In general, this may be the case, but in this case it is not at all the case. For the simple reason that when it comes to Gorky, dilettante prefer a completely different type of activity, least of all research. In this way, the deep and comprehensive connections of the great writer with our Literature for half a century and more and with our cultural and social life in general are at best only declared and very little is shown through the traces that the literary process has left us. That is why Ivan Tsvetkov's book does not at all fill a void, "as the reviewers like to express themselves. On the contrary, it energetically pushes aside the general newspaper articles and other similar materials that have occupied an excessively large territory, in which Gorky's name is associated only with the most superficial and rhetorical recognition of his importance for us and with five or six facts that are remembered and known only because they are constantly repeated to us. Finally, what should Ivan Tsvetkov start with, except for collecting the material buried by our inattention?

Gorky is already a classic of world literature. The strict augurs of literary history are careful not to immortalize him, but they have already assigned him a place alongside Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov... It is not a question of who is greater or lesser. Here, among the mighty shadows of the past, the role in the spiritual development of humanity, the place in the literary process, is important. Gorky is a classic. In this dearly won title is both the recognition and the love of generations for the great writer-humanist. But there is also something unusual in it. This is still a "posthumous award", and for us Gorky is so alive, so relevant.

No one in our country has contributed so much to revealing the true face of the great Gorky, to the correct interpretation of his revolutionary work, to its translation and popularization, as Georgi Bakalov. For nearly forty years he has been his tireless translator and passionate critic, editor and publisher. This multifaceted and diverse activity of Bakalov has been the subject of research more than once in our country, and recently in the Soviet Union. Very rich and new material was presented in their articles and works by A. Todorov, 105 St. Karakostov, Zh. Avdzhiev, Iv. Tsvetkova, the Soviet Bulgarian scholars V. Zlidnev and L. Erikhonov.