Author Description

Originally published in 1981, this book is an examination of the politics of literary publishing in the Soviet Union, and in particular during the period after Stalin's death, in the 1950s. Dr Frankel focuses on the leading literary journal of the 1950s, Novy Mir, between whose covers so much important literary work first appeared: Pomerantsev's essay on sincerity in literature, Abramov's literary criticism, and Dudintsev's Not By Bread Alone. It was Novy Mir that published Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in November, 1962. Under the editorship, first of Aleksandr Tvardovsky, then of Konstantin Simonov, the journal was strongly identified with the 'thaw', which, as Dr Drankel shows, had, paradoxically, been antcipated in the literary criticism of the last year of Stalin's life, a year known in other spheres for its repressive character. A detailed study of the journal combined with an analysis of the political and economic issues of the day enables the reader to appreciate the constant interaction of literature and politics in the Soviet Union.