Ladyzhnikov, Book Publisher of Russian Emigration, in His Memory Interview about V. V. Mayakovsky and A. M. Gorky (as a Type of Ego-document)

Abstract

This publication provides the first full-length memory interview about V. V. Mayakovsky, the iconic poetic figure of Soviet Russia and Russian Futurism. It was given in 1939 to A. S. Yezerskaya, the first director of the Mayakovsky Museum, by I. P. Ladyzhnikov, one of the largest Russian-language book publishers of the Russian emigration. This is the only known interview to date that has ever been publicly given by one of the representatives of the book publishing industry abroad. In the interview, Ladyzhnikov talked about his attitude to the poet and A. M. Gorky’s perception of Mayakovsky. Particular emphasis is placed on the activities of the Parus publishing house and the Letopis magazine within the framework of A. M. Gorky’s literary work. The interview contains a lot of new data on the literary and artistic environment of Russia in the 1910-1920s and the life of the Russian emigration abroad. It also reveals, for the first time, previously unknown pages of the personal and everyday life of Mayakovsky and Gorky during the difficult pre-revolutionary and revolutionary upheaval periods of their lives. Particularly relevant is the fact that I. P. Ladyzhnikov touched upon little-known aspects of the existence of the Russian creative emigration abroad, the peculiarities of Mayakovsky’s stay abroad. The interview is an important source on the history of Russian book publishing and culture of the 1910-1920s.