"Mother" by Maxim Gorky

I find Maxim Gorky very intriguing. An early supporter of Bolshevism, he was exiled from the Soviet Union for criticism of Bolshevism. Declared the "founder of Socialist Realism" by Stalin after returning from exile, he had difficult relationships with the Soviet regime, publicly supporting Stalinism while also championing non-favored writers like Mikhail Bulgakov and Andrei Patonov and maintaining relationships with Stalin opponents Lev Kamenev and Nikolai Bukharin. His 1906 novel Mother was not one of Gorky's favorites -- he called it "long, boring, and carelessly written" -- but it is probably his best known and was the basis for Bertolt Brecht's play The Mother. Join me for this exploration of one of Russia's most famous pieces of Social Realism and the fascinating man who created it.