Untimely Thoughts: Essays on Revolution, Culture, and the Bolsheviks, 1917-1918 - Paperback

by Herman Ermolaev (Translator), Maxim Gorky (Author)

One of the most renowned Soviet writers of the twentieth century, Maxim Gorky was an early supporter of the Bolsheviks who became disillusioned with the turn of events after the 1917 revolution. This brilliant and controversial book is a collection of the critical articles Gorky wrote that describe the Russian national character, condemn the Bolshevik methods of government, and provide a vision of the future.

Back Jacket

One of the most renowned Soviet writers of the twentieth century, Maxim Gorky was an early supporter of the Bolsheviks. He became disillusioned with the turn of events after the 1917 revolution, however, and wrote a series of critical articles for the magazine New Life that eventually caused the new Communist government to close down the publication. Untimely Thoughts is a collection of these articles. It is at once a brilliant analysis of the Russian national character, a condemnation of the Bolshevik methods of government, and a vision of a future in which respect for individual accomplishment replaces the tyranny of the tsars and the brutality of Russian peasant existence. A controversial book, it was not translated into English until 1968 and was not published in the Soviet Union until 1989. The English edition of Untimely Thoughts is now back in print with a new introduction and chronology by Mark D. Steinberg.

Author Biography

Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) was the author of many stories, novels, and plays, including Foma Gordeyev, Three of Them, The Petty Bourgeois, and The Lower Depths and Other Plays. Mark D. Steinberg is an associate professor of history at Yale University.