A Confession (Gorky)

{{Short description|Book by Maxim Gorki}}

{{Infobox book

| title_orig = Исповедь

| image = File:A_Confession_(Gorky).png

| image_caption =

| author = Maxim Gorky

| cover_artist =

| country = Russian Empire

| language = Russian

| preceded_by = The Life of a Useless Man

| genre =

| publisher = Znaniye (compilation)

| release_date = 1908

| english_release_date =

| media_type = Print (Paperback & Hardback)

| pages =

| isbn =

| oclc =

}}

A Confession ({{langx|ru|Исповедь|Ispoved'}}) is a 1908 short novel by Maxim Gorky. It first appeared in the Znaniye compilation (book 23, Saint Petersburg) and almost simultaneously came out as a separate edition via the Ladyzhnikov Publishers in Berlin.[http://gorkiy-lit.ru/gorkiy/proza/ispoved/ispoved-primechaniya.htm Commentaries to Исповедь]. The Works by M.Gorky in 30 volumes. Vol.8. Khudozhestvennaya Literatura // На базе Собрания сочинений в 30-ти томах. ГИХЛ, 1949-1956.

The tale of Matvey, a pilgrim, was based upon the real-life story of a religious sectarian in Nizhny Novgorod, and an article on him by Bogdan-Stepanets, a tutor at the local seminary. Later, in a sketch called "On the Edge of the World", Gorky mentioned another source, the manuscript by a Levonty Pomorets, which the writer's friend S.G. Somov brought with him from his Siberian exile.

The novel, written in the times when Gorky became keenly interested in the new quasi-religious God-Building movement, horrified Vladimir Lenin who on several occasions criticized the attempts to unite Socialism and Christianity, mentioning A Confession.В.И.Ленин. Сочинения, изд. 3-е, т.XVII, стр.81—82

Gorky explained: "I am an atheist. In A Confession the idea was to show the means by which man could progress from individualism to the collectivist understanding of the world. The main character sees 'God-building' as an attempt to reconstruct social life according to the spirit of collectivism, the spirit of uniting the people on their way to one common goal: liberating man from slavery, within and without."Я - атеист. В «Исповеди» мне нужно было показать, какими путями человек может придти от индивидуализма к коллективистическому пониманию мира... Герой «Исповеди» понимает под «богостроительством» устроение народного бытия в духе коллективистическом, в духе единения всех по пути к единой цели - освобождению человека от рабства внутреннего и внешнего.