Item #115594 A letter (in French) signed by Maksim Gorki ('M. Gorcy') to one Willem Vogel, discussing his views on religion. Maksim GORKI, Russian novelist.
A letter (in French) signed by Maksim Gorki ('M. Gorcy') to one Willem Vogel, discussing his views on religion

A letter (in French) signed by Maksim Gorki ('M. Gorcy') to one Willem Vogel, discussing his views on religion

Octavo, 3 pages (a bifolium, last page blank); 17 April 1909.

Folded for posting; a few trifling creases, marks and spots of foxing; second leaf (containing the signed page) a little tanned; in very good condition. The text is in the hand of Maria Fyodorovna Andreyeva (1868-1953), a Russian actress before she became Gorki's common law wife in 1903.

Not having time to offer a full critique of a manuscript Vogel has sent him, Gorki writes that he will limit himself to a brief sketch of his own conception of religion, which is entirely contrary to Vogel's. 'La religion surgit de la sensation de la liaison entre l'homme et et l'univers - le cosmos, la tendance d'approfondir et d'élargir cette connexion rend la religion active. Le terme "la religion"est trop altéré par les speculateurs et par l'église. Mes camarades russes qui s'occupent à ce moment ci de cette question, le remplacent par des termes comme ceux la: la sensation de l'univers - la religiosité passive, l'evaluation et la formation de l'univers - la religiosité active. Moi même je considère l'univers comme l'activité permanente, la vie pour moi, c'est un procès incéssant de l'organisation de l'experience de toute l'umanité, se developpant sans cesse'. He then recommends Alexandre Bogdanov's treatise 'Empiriomonisme'.

Provenance: Collection of The Hon Barry Jones AC.

Item #115594

Price (AUD): $1,800.00