Aleksandr Tvardovskii : Memory and Truth in the Soviet Union.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hosking, Geoffrey.

Series:

Historical Studies in Eastern Europe and Eurasia Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tvardovskiĭ, A. (Aleksandr), 1910-1971.

Tvardovskiĭ, A.

Poets, Russian--20th century--Biography.

Poets, Russian.

Editors--Soviet Union--Biography.

Editors.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (492 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Budapest : Central European University Press, 2025.

Summary:

"Alexander Tvardovskii was not only one of the finest, most popular and most important poets of his epoch, but also the editor of "Novyi Mir", the most prominent Soviet literary journal of the post-war period until the 1970s. This book is a detailed biography of the writer and journal editor who probably changed the literary culture of the Soviet Union more than any other person in the two decades after Stalin's death. Geoffrey Hosking shows how Tvardovskii gradually evolved from being an ardent Stalinist who renounced his own so-called "kulak" family to becoming a convinced advocate of tolerance, an all-human morality, civil rights, and free literary creativity. By giving a balanced account of his strengths and weaknesses, his achievements and failures, the author succeeds in giving the fullest picture available anywhere of a controversial man who turns out to be more complex than he has been portrayed so far. To understand him better is to understand why the Soviet intelligentsia changed so fundamentally in the USSR's final decades, a change that helps to explain the rise of Gorbachev twenty years later. The study - which includes an in-depth analysis of Tvardovskii's major works - also helps to better understand the fate of culture under an authoritarian regime and the intricacies of the struggle against censorship"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Figures

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 Childhood and Youth

Chapter 2 Precarious Existence in Smolensk

Chapter 3 Creativity and Danger

Chapter 4 The Literary Terror

Chapter 5 A Correspondent at War

Chapter 6 Vasilii Tiorkin

Chapter 7 After the War

Chapter 8 Novyi mir, 1950–54

Chapter 9 Achievement and Humiliation: Grossman’s Stalingrad

Chapter 10 Tvardovskii ’s First Resignation

Chapter 11 Interregnum: Tvardovskii ’s Personal and Public Crisis

Chapter 12 Simonov’s Novyi mir

Chapter 13 The Tragedy of Aleksandr Fadeev

Chapter 14 Tvardovskii ’s Return to Novyi mir

Chapter 15 Editing Novyi mir

Chapter 16 Ivan Denisovich: The Apogee of Novyi mir

Chapter 17 The Reaction Begins

Chapter 18 Open Conf lict

Chapter 19 Solzhenitsyn: Admiration and Ambivalence

Chapter 20 The Russian Problem

Chapter 21 Tvardovskii ’s Final Struggle

Chapter 22 The End of Tvardovskii ’s Novyi mir

Chapter 23 After Novyi mir

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-003-71820-5

963-386-748-7

9781003718208

OCLC:

1490382523