Correspondence of M. Gorky with Samara Children and Teenagers

• Published in: Семиотические исследования
• Main Author: Elena V. Kudrina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Samara National Research University 2024-07-01
• Subjects: m. gorky; samara; correspondence; gorky correspondents; letters from children; d.f. shaposhnikov
• Online Access: https://journals.ssau.ru/semiotic/article/viewFile/27272/10646

The article deals with letters from children and adolescents of the city of Samara and the Samara region in the 1920s and 1930s addressed to M. Gorky and preserved in the Archive of A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The geographical principle of material selection made it possible to significantly narrow down the extensive topic of Gorky's correspondence with children. Using the example of several epistolary texts, typical images of the writer's children's correspondents are identified and considered. The literary, sociological and local history aspects of correspondence are investigated. Letters from children and teenagers clearly demonstrated the changes in society. The letter of D.F. Shaposhnikov and its appendix are the documentary evidence of the serious work of educational and cultural institutions of the country aimed at forming a thoughtful reader, organizing purposeful reading, as well as guiding readers' interests in the 1930s. The presented research is interdisciplinary in nature and will be interesting to a wide variety of specialists. The letters of the young Samara correspondents are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.