Russian Writers in Emigration: the Creative Path of S.S. Maksimov

Abstract

As all the authors of the second wave of Rus sian emigration, the writer Sergey Maksimov is almost unknown in his native land. The article is devoted to his sad and dramatic fate. It analyzes Maksimov’s artistic heritage - not too vast, but noteworthy. He dealt with all types of literature: epics, novels, short stories, poems, plays, and sketches. The article aims to introduce this writer’s name to the cultural and scientific circulation of our country. The main theme in Maximov’s works was the fate of a tal ented artist in the situation of growing totalitarianism - in the USSR during the period of Stalin’s government, to be more exact. The main book of the author - “Denis Bush uev” - is devoted to this theme. The same is true for his story “In Twilight” and some short stories about Stalin’s repressions. Basing on his own experience, the writer also described in details the life of Stalin’s prisoners: in prison and after that. Literary figures of the Russian emigration sometimes notice S.S. Maksimov’s works and usually highly assess them. He is recognized as a successor of the traditions of the Russian clas sical literature - L.N. Tolstoy’s, F.M. Dostoyevsky’s, S.A. Yes enin’s, first of all.