Abstract
The Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers’ Union, founded at the same time as the Union in the 1930s, was supposed to follow the principles and techniques generally accepted among Soviet institutions of foreign propaganda, but the practice of this institution differed due to the human factor and the specific nature of the writers’ profession. In the 1960s, the priority of the Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers’ Union was personal contacts with foreign writers, as well as interaction with international organisations such as European community of writers (COMES), PEN-Club and the Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau. The Commission was also involved in the struggle for influence over Third World writers, and this struggle developed in competition with Cuba and China. Nevertheless, it was not foreign policy factors that led the Writers’ Union to isolation at the end of the decade, but campaigns against writers and dissidents inside the country. The Sinyavsky–Daniel trial paved the way for a deeper crisis following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. By creating a semblance of well-being with the help of statistics, the Commission’s staff was aware that the prestige of Soviet literature had been severely damaged.
Full text (HTML)
References
1 Azadovskii, K.M. “Genrikh Bell’ i sovetskie ʽdissidenty’.” [“Heinrich Böll and the Soviet ʽdissidents’.”] Literatura i ideologiia. Vek dvadtsatyi [Literature and Ideology. 20th Century]. Moscow, MAKS Press Publ., 2016, pp. 160–173. (In Russ.)
2 Bagdasarian, V.E., et al. Sovetskoe zazerkal’e. Inostrannyi turizm v SSSR v 1930– 1980‑e gg. [Soviet looking glass. Foreign Tourism in the USSR in the 1930s–1980s]. Moscow, Forum Publ., 2007. 256 p. (In Russ.)
3 Beloshapka, N.V. “Kul’turnoe sotrudnichestvo SSSR s sotsialisticheskimi stranami v kontekste krizisov otnoshenii” [“Cultural Cooperation of the USSR with Socialist Countries in the Context of Crisis of Relations”]. Vestnik Udmurtskogo universiteta. Seriia: Istoriia i filologiia, no. 4, 2018, pp. 560–569. (In Russ.)
4 Buinova, K.R. “Inostrannaia komissiia Soiuza pisatelei SSSR v 1950-e gg.” [“Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers’ Union in the 1950s”]. Studia Litterarum, vol. 7, no. 3, 2022, pp. 406–429. DOI: 10.22455/2500-4247-2022-7-3-406-429 (In Russ.)
5 Buinova, K.R. “Mario Vargas L’osa v Sovetskom Soiuze (k 85-letiiu pisatelia)” [“Mario Vargas Llosa in Soviet Union. Dedicated to Llosa’s 85th Anniversary”]. Latinskaia Amerika, no. 7, 2021, pp. 83–93. DOI: 10.31857/S0044748X0015308-7 (In Russ.)
6 Vess’e, S. “Sartr, SSSR i sovetskie dissidenty: ot Venskogo kongressa narodov v zashchitu mira do zashchity A.D. Sakharova” [“Sartre, the USSR and Soviet Dissidents: From the Vienna Congress of Peoples for Peace to the Defense of Sakharov”]. Dissidenty SSSR, Vostochnoi i Tsentral’noi Evropy: epokha i nasledie [Dissidents of the USSR, Eastern and Central Europe: Era and Legacy]. Moscow, Memorial Publ., 2020, pp. 216–228. (In Russ.)
7 Golubev, A.V. “…Vzgliad na zemliu obetovannuiu”: iz istorii sovetskoi kul’turnoi diplomatii 1920–1930-kh gg. [“Look at the Promised Land”: From the History of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy in the 1920s and 1930s]. Moscow, Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2004. 272 p. (In Russ.)
8 Golubev, A.V., and V.A. Nevezhin. Formirovanie obraza Sovetskoi Rossii v okruzhaiushchem mire sredstvami kul’turnoi diplomatii, 1920-e – pervaia polovina 1940‑kh gg. [Shaping the Image of Soviet Russia in the World by Means of Cultural Diplomacy, 1920s – the First Half of the 1940s]. Moscow, Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Center for Humanitarian Initiatives Publ., 2016. 238 p. (In Russ.)
9 De Florio, D. “Dzhanni Rodari i Samuil Marshak: dialog vo vremeni i prostranstve” [“Gianni Rodari and Samuil Marshak: A Dialogue in Time and Space”]. Dialog so vremenem, no. 69, 2019, pp. 172–181. DOI: 10.21267/AQUILO.2020.69.46451 (In Russ.)
10 Dokuchaeva, S.V., and O.Iu. Nikonova. “Institutsional’naia struktura i tselevye auditorii sovetskoi kul’turnoi diplomatii v stranakh Latinskoi Ameriki v 1950–1960-e gg.” [“The Institutional Structure and the Target Audiences of the Soviet Culture Diplomacy in Latin America in the 1950s–1960s”]. Vestnik Iuzhno-Ural’skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriia: Sotsial’no-gumanitarnye nauki, vol. 18, no. 1, 2018, pp. 14–18. DOI: 10.14529/ssh180102 (In Russ.)
11 Devid-Foks, M. Vitriny velikogo eksperimenta. Kul’turnaia diplomatiia Sovetskogo Soiuza i ego zapadnye gosti, 1921–1941 gody [Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921–1941]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2015. 568 p. (In Russ.)
12 Kostyrchenko, G.V. “ʽEkh, Govard!..’: literaturnaia istoriia razryva Govarda Fasta s SSSR” [“ʽOh, Howard...!’: The Literary Story of Howard Fast’s Break with the USSR”]. Rossiia XXI, no. 6, 2014, pp. 64–83. (In Russ.)
13 Kulikova, G.B. “Pod kontrolem gosudarstva: prebyvanie v SSSR inostrannykh pisatelei v 1920–1930-kh gg.” [“Under State Control: Foreign Writers’ Stay in the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s”]. Otechestvennaia istoriia, no. 4, 2003, pp. 43–59. (In Russ.)
14 Litvin, E.A. “ʽEvropeiskoe soobshchestvo pisatelei’: k voprosu o sovetskoi kul’turnoi politike Ottepeli” [“The ʽEuropean Community of Writers’: Regarding the Soviet Culture Policy of the Thaw”]. Novye rossiiskie gumanitarnye issledovaniia, no. 14, 2019, p. 108. (In Russ.)
15 Maksimenkov, L.V. “Ocherki nomenklaturnoi istorii sovetskoi literatury: Zapadnye piligrimy u stalinskogo prestola (Feikhtvanger i drugie)” [“Essays on the Nomenclature History of Soviet Literature: The Western Pilgrims at Stalin’s Throne (Feuchtwanger and Others)”]. Voprosy literatury, no. 3, 2004, pp. 274–342. (In Russ.)
16 Nagornaia, O.S., and T.V. Raeva. “Sovetskie pisateli i amerikanskie simpatizanty SSSR: instsenirovannaia kommunikatsiia v period Kholodnoi voiny” [“Soviet Writers and American Sympathizers of the USSR: Staged Communication During the Cold War”]. Istoricheskii zhurnal: nauchnye issledovaniia, no. 2, 2019, pp. 82–92. DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2019.2.28717 (In Russ.)
17 Orlov, I.B. “ʽBoitsy ideologicheskogo fronta’: podgotovka gidov-perevodchikov v SSSR” [“ʽSoldiers of the Ideological Front’: Training og Guides-Translators in the USSR”]. Vremia, vpered! Kul’turnaia politika v SSSR [Time, Go Forward! Cultural Policy in the USSR]. Moscow, Higher School of Economics Publ., 2013, pp. 81–94. (In Russ.)
18 Popov, A.D. “Vpechatleniia inostrantsev o poseshchenii SSSR v kontekste ideologicheskogo protivostoianiia perioda kholodnoi voiny” [“Impressions of Foreigners about Travelling around the USSR in the Contest of Ideological Confrontation during the Period of the Cold War”]. Uchenye zapiski Krymskogo federal’nogo universiteta imeni V.I. Vernadskogo. Istoricheskie nauki, no. 3, 2017, pp. 58–69. (In Russ.)
19 Popov, A.D. “ʽUvidet’. Poniat’. Poliubit’’: sovetskii inostrannyi turizm v kontekste publichnoi diplomatii perioda kholodnoi voiny” [“ʽTo See. To Understand. To Fall in Love’: The Soviet Foreign Tourism and Public Diplomacy during the Cold War”]. Noveishaia istoriia Rossii, no. 4 (21), 2017, pp. 148–160. DOI: 10.21638/11701/spbu24.2017.411 (In Russ.)
20 Raeva, T.V. “ʽPolpred bez mandata’ v poslevoennoi kul’turnoi diplomatii SSSR: osobennosti otbora i motivy uchastiia (po dnevnikam K.A. Fedina)” [“ʽThe Political Representative Without Mandate’ in Post-War Cultural Diplomacy of the USSR: Features of Selection and Motives of Participation (Based on the Diaries of K.A. Fedine)”]. Vestnik Iuzhno-Ural’skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriia: Sotsial’no-gumanitarnye nauki, vol .21, no. 1, 2021, pp. 46–49. DOI: 10.14529/ssh210107 (In Russ.)
21 Sovetskaia kul’turnaia diplomatiia v usloviiakh Kholodnoi voiny. 1945–1989 [Soviet Culture Diplomacy in the Cold War. 1945–1989]. Moscow, Politicheskaia entsiklopediia Publ., 2018. 446 p. (In Russ.)
22 Frezinskii, B.Ia. Pisateli i sovetskie vozhdi: izbrannye siuzhety 1919–1960 gg. [Writers and Soviet Leaders: Selected Stories 1919–1960]. Moscow, Ellis Lak Publ., 2008. 720 p. (In Russ.)
23 Khollander, P. Politicheskie piligrimy: puteshestviia zapadnykh intellektualov po Sovetskomu Soiuzu, Kitaiu i Kube, 1928–1978 [Political Pilgrims, Travels of Western Intellectuals to the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba 1928–1978]. St. Petersburg, Lan’ Publ., 2001. 592 p. (In Russ.)
24 Chuprinin, S.I. Ottepel’: Sobytiia. Mart 1953 – avgust 1968 goda [Thaw: Events. March 1953 – August 1968]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2020. 1189 p. (In Russ.)
25 Eidel’man, N.Ia. “Gosti Stalina” [“Stalin’s Guests”]. Dva vzgliada iz-za rubezha: Zhid A. Vozvrashchenie iz SSSR; Feikhtvanger L. Moskva, 1937 god [Two views from abroad: Zhid A. Return from the USSR; Feuchtwanger L. Moscow, 1937]. Moscow, Politizdat Publ., 1990, pp. 260–271. (In Russ.)
26 Caute, David. The Fellow-Travellers: Intellectual Friends of Communism. Rev. ed. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1988. 420 p. (In English)
27 Darmaros, Marina F. Caso Jorge Amado: o poder sovietico e a publicacao de Gabriela, Cravo e Canela: Tese para obtencao do titulo de Doutora. Sao Paulo, 2020. 278 p. DOI: 10.11606/T.8.2020.tde-28022020-150719 (In Portuguese)
28 Gallardo-Saborido, Emilio, Jesús Gómez-de-Tejada, y Damaris Punales-Alpízar. Asedios al caiman letrado: literatura y poder en la Revolucion Cubana. Prague, Karolinum Press, 2018. 152 p. (In Spanish)
29 Gurevič, Ol’ga. “Gеоrgij Brejtburd: Translator, Author, and Official (1921–1976). The First Step of Archive Studies (1954–1957).” Romania Orientale, no. 34, 2021, pp. 93–107. (In English)
30 Hourmant, François. Au pays de l’avenir radieux: Voyages des intellectuels francais en URSS, a Cuba et en Chine populaire. Paris, Aubier, 2000. 281 p. (In French)
31 Litvin, Evgeniya, e Marco Sabbatini. “La Comunita europea degli scrittori e l’Urss dal disgelo agli anni Settanta.” Mondo Contemporaneo, no. 2–3, 2020, pp. 45–63. DOI:10.3280/MON2020-002003 (In Italian)
32 Mancosu, Paolo. Moscow has Ears Everywhere. New Investigations on Pasternak and Ivinskaya. Stanford, Hoover Press, 2019. 396 p. (In English)
33 Mervart, Jan. Naděje a iluze: češti a slovenšti spisovatele v reformnim hnuti šedesatych let. Brno, Host, 2010. 376 s. (In Czech)
34 Pedemonte, Rafael. Guerra por las ideas en America Latina, 1959–1973. Presencia sovietica en Cuba y Chile. Santiago de Chile, Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado, 2020. 444 p. (In Spanish)
35 Stern, Ludmila. Western Intellectuals and the Soviet Union, 1920–40: From Red Square to the Left Bank. London, New York, Routledge, 2007. 276 p. (In English)
36 Vanhove, Pieter. “ʽA World to Win’: China, the Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau, and the Reinvention of World Literature.” Critical Asian Studies, vol. 51, no. 2, 2019, pp. 144–165. DOI: 10.1080/14672715.2018.1544499 (In English)
37 Wilford, Richard A. “The PEN Club, 1930–50.” Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 14, no. 1, 1979, pp. 99–116. (In English)
38 Yoon, Duncan. Cold War Africa and China: The Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau and the Rise of Postcolonial Literature: PhD Dissertation. Los Angeles, 2014. 223 p. Available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6j37x5b3 (Accessed 07 September 2023). (In English)
