Siberian Theme in M. Gorky’s Publishing Project
“History of the Village”

“History of the village” is chronologically the last project in a series of major publishing projects of M. Gorky in the 1930s. The idea was not implemented. Work on the project began in
February 1935. In January of this year, Gorky received a letter from Siberia, from the editor
of a small Siberian newspaper N. Zharikov, who reported on the beginning of work on the
history of the Siberian village. The Siberian theme as the starting point of the “History of the
village” was initially rejected by Gorky. He insisted on describing “typical” villages and villages, which did not include Siberian villages. However, in a number of points of a large publishing project, the Siberian theme inevitably manifested itself, in particular, in two books that
V. Ya. Zazubrin worked on. In the “History of the village” there were several major thematic
blocks. A special place among them was occupied by the “Library of the collective farmer”. It
was intended to be a “verbal illustration” of historical works of a popular science nature. Engaged in the “Library of the collective farmer” V. Ya. Zazubrin. He carried out the selection
of texts, worked with commentators and authors of prefaces to collections. In the collection of
selected chapters from the “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” by A. N. Radishchev, he
intended to add fragments of the diary of his Siberian journey. One of the latest versions
of the plan for the “Library of the collective farmer” includes the “Book about Radishchev”
by V. Ya. Zazubrin, which includes a biography of Radishchev, peasant chapters “Travels
from St. Petersburg to Moscow” and excerpts from the Siberian travel diary. The Book dedicated to the Russian-American company was supposed to cover the company’s activities in
Siberia. The idea of the book appeared in the plans of the series thanks to S. N. Markov, a colleague of Zazubrin in the “Siberian lights”, who in 1935 was exiled in Arkhangelsk. It was
Markov who told Gorky about the part of the archive of the Russian-American company discovered in Vologda. While working on the inventory of this archive, Markov initiated his Pacific card index, on the basis of which he later wrote a number of works. The history of Russian America became the main theme of his work. V. Ya. Zazubrin’s participation in the
project and Gorky’s correspondence with S. N. Markov especially contributed to the development of the Siberian theme in the “History of the village”. In the thematic and production
plan of the “Library of the collective farmer” for 1937, compiled after Gorky’s death, was included the book about the Russian-American company by S. N. Markov under the editorship
of V. Ya. Zazubrin. In 1947, based on his Pacific card index, Sergey Markov wrote the book
“Chronicle of Alaska”.