Znanie (russian: Зна́ние, ; en, Knowledge) was a publishing company based in St. Petersburg, Russia founded by

Konstantin Pyatnitsky Konstantin Petrovich Pyatnitsky (russian: Константин Петрович Пятницкий, 31 March 1864 – 6 January 1938) was a Russian journalist, publisher and memoirist. Pyatnitsky was a co-founder of the publishing company Znanie ...

and other members of the Committee for Literacy. It operated from 1898 to 1913.

History

Znanie initially published books for a mass audience on natural science, history, education, and art.

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

joined Znanie in 1900 and became its director in late 1902. Through Znanie, Gorky brought together many of the best known realist writers of the time. Znanie published the collected works of Gorky (9 vols.),

Alexander Serafimovich Alexander Serafimovich (born Alexander Serafimovich Popov; russian: Алекса́ндр Серафимо́вич Попо́в; O.S. January 7 ( N.S. January 19), 1863 – January 19, 1949) was a Russian/Soviet writer and a member of the ...

Alexander Kuprin Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (russian: link=no, Александр Иванович Куприн; – 25 August 1938) was a Russian writer best known for his novels ''The Duel'' (1905)Kuprin scholar Nicholas Luker, in his biography ''A ...

Vikenty Veresaev Vikenty Vikentyevich Smidovich (16 January 1867 – 3 June 1945), better known by his pen name Vikenty Vikentyevich Veresaev, (russian: Вике́нтий Вике́нтьевич Вереса́ев) was a Russian and Soviet writer, translat ...

Stepan Skitalets Stepan Gavrilovich Skitalets (russian: Степан Гаврилович Скиталец, born ''Petrov'', russian: Петров; 9 November 1869 – 25 June 1941) was a Russian/Soviet poet, writer of fiction and folk musician. The name Skita ...

, Nikolai Teleshov and many others.''The Great Soviet Encyclopedia'', 3rd Edition (1970-1979).A Writer Remembers, Teleshov, Hutchinson, NY, 1943. Znanie became known as the most progressive of all Russian publishing houses directed toward broad democratic reader-ships. In 1904 the publishing house began issuing the Znanie Collections, which brought together short stories, novels, poetry and essays written by Russian writers, and by foreign writers such as

Emile Verhaeren Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

, publishing 40 volumes by 1913.

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

wrote that Gorky was aiming through these collections "at a concentration of the best forces of Russian literature." The circulation of the collections reached 65,000 copies. They included the works of Gorky,

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

, Kuprin, Serafimovich,

Leonid Andreev Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev (russian: Леони́д Никола́евич Андре́ев, – 12 September 1919) was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer, who is considered to be a father of Expressionism in Russian litera ...

Ivan Bunin Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin ( or ; rus, Ива́н Алексе́евич Бу́нин, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ˈbunʲɪn, a=Ivan Alyeksyeyevich Bunin.ru.vorb.oga; – 8 November 1953) was the first Russian writer awarded the ...

, Veresaev,

Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin-Sibiryak (russian: Дми́трий Нарки́сович Ма́мин-Сибиря́к) (October 25, 1852 – November 2, 1912) was a Russian author most famous for his novels and short stories about life in the Ur ...

, Sergey Gusev-Orenburgsky,

Evgeny Chirikov Evgeny Nikolayevich Chirikov (russian: Евге́ний Никола́евич Чи́риков; 5 August 1864 – 18 January 1932), was a Russian novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, and publicist. Biography Chirikov was born in ...

and

Nikolai Garin-Mikhailovsky Nikolai Georgievich Mikhailovsky (Russian: Никола́й Гео́ргиевич Михайло́вский, ) was a Russian writer and essayist, locating engineer and railroad constructor. As a writer, he published under the pseudonym N. Gar ...

, among others. Gorky, Piatnitsky and Skitalets

The writers featured in the collections from 1905 to 1907 were united in their protest against tsarism, oppression, national discord, religious prejudice, and

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

morality. Gorky and Serafimovich, on one hand, used socialist realism; Andreyev and certain others, however, were subject to the influences of the decadent movement. After the

1905 Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

this difference became more marked. In 1911 principal editorship of the Znanie collections was transferred to

Viktor Mirolyubov Viktor Sergeyevich Mirolyubov (russian: Виктор Серге́евич Миролюбов, 22 January 1860, Moscow, Russian Empire – 26 October 1939, Leningrad, USSR) was a Russian journalist, editor and publisher. Having started out as an ...

. In addition to publishing the collected works of young writers and the Znanie Collections, the Znanie Association issued the so-called Penny Library, in which the short works of Znanie writers were published. Gorky also carried out assignments for the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

, publishing a series of sociopolitical pamphlets, including the works of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Paul Lafargue Paul Lafargue (; 15 January 1842 – 25 November 1911) was a Cuban- Haitian revolutionary Marxist socialist, political writer, economist, journalist, literary critic, and activist; he was Karl Marx's son-in-law having married his second dau ...

and August Bebel. The Penny Library issued over 300 publications, with editions totaling nearly four million copies. During the period of reaction after the 1905 Russian Revolution many participants in Znanie left the publishing house. Gorky, forced to live abroad during this period, severed his ties with the publishing house in 1912.

References

{{Authority control Book publishing companies of Russia Political book publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1898 Publishing companies disestablished in 1913 Companies based in Saint Petersburg 1898 establishments in the Russian Empire 1913 disestablishments in the Russian Empire

History

See also

References