Title The readers of Novyi Mir : coming to terms with the Stalinist past / Denis Kozlov

Published Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2013

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Description 1 online resource (431 pages) Contents Readers, writers, and Soviet history -- A passion for the printed word: postwar Soviet literature -- Barometer of the epoch: Pomerantsev and the debate on sincerity -- Naming the social evil: Dudintsev's ethical quest -- Recalling the revolution: the Pasternak affair -- Literature above literature: Tvardovskii's memory -- Reassessing the moral order: Ehrenburg and the memory of the terror -- Finding new words: Solzhenitsyn and the experience of terror -- Discovering human rights: the Siniavskii-Daniel' trial -- In search of authenticity: the legends and facts controversy -- Last battles: the end of Tvardovskii's Novyi Mir -- Epilogue: tradition, change, legacies Summary In the "Thaw" following Stalin's death, probing conversations about the nation's violent past took place in the literary journal Novyi mir (New World). Readers' letters reveal that discussion of the Terror was central to intellectual and political life during the USSR's last decades. Denis Kozlov shows how minds change, even in a closed society. In the wake of Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet Union entered a period of relative openness known as the Thaw. Soviet citizens took advantage of the new opportunities to meditate on the nation's turbulent history, from the Bolshevik Revolution, to the Terror, to World War II. Perhaps the most influential of these conversations took place in and around Novyi mir (New World), the most respected literary journal in the country. In The Readers of Novyi Mir, Denis Kozlov shows how the dialogue between literature and readers during the Thaw transformed the intellectual life and political landscape of the Soviet Union. Powerful texts by writers like Solzhenitsyn, Pasternak, and Ehrenburg led thousands of Novyi mir 's readers to reassess their lives, entrenched beliefs, and dearly held values, and to confront the USSR's history of political violence and social upheaval. And the readers spoke back. Victims and perpetrators alike wrote letters to the journal, reexamining their own actions and bearing witness to the tragedies of the previous decades. Kozlov's insightful treatment of these confessions, found in Russian archives, and his careful reading of the major writings of the period force today's readers to rethink common assumptions about how the Soviet people interpreted their country's violent past. The letters reveal widespread awareness of the Terror and that literary discussion of its legacy was central to public life during the late Soviet decades. By tracing the intellectual journey of Novyi mir 's readers, Kozlov illuminates how minds change, even in a closed society Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes In English Print version record SUBJECT Novyĭ mir -- History Novyĭ mir fast Subject Literature and society -- Soviet Union Reader-response criticism -- Social aspects -- Soviet Union Authors and readers -- Soviet Union Russian periodicals -- Soviet Union -- History Russian literature -- Social aspects -- Soviet Union Terror in literature. Terror -- Soviet Union -- Public opinion LITERARY CRITICISM -- Russian & Former Soviet Union. HISTORY -- Modern -- 20th Century. Authors and readers Literature and society Public opinion Russian literature -- Social aspects Russian periodicals Terror in literature Literature. SUBJECT Soviet Union -- History -- Public opinion Subject Soviet Union Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 2012044170 ISBN 9780674075061 0674075064

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