The publishing fate of Vsevolod Ivanov’s novel “The Kremlin”

UDC 821.161.1.09
DOI 10.20339/PhS.3-26.088

Papkova Elena A.,

Doctor of Philology, Senior Researcher

Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences

e-mail: elena.iv@bk.ru

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5776-1802

This article examines the publication history of the first version of Vsevolod Ivanov’s “experimental” novel “The Kremlin” (1929–1930). It is the first study to analyze two distinct sets of archival materials related to the novel. The first set consists of the author’s drafts for the second (1940s) and third (1960) versions. A comparative analysis of these texts with the first version reconstructs the novel’s creative history, demonstrating how its conception evolved over three decades. By examining the historical and literary context of the early 1960s in the USSR the article explains the Editorial Commission’s decision to publish the first version. This choice, however, effectively distorted the novel’s authentic creative history. The second set comprises materials from the Commission for Ivanov’s Literary Legacy, which included prominent writers and literary scholars. From 1963 to 1980, this Commission sought to publish “The Kremlin”. Employing the method of historical-literary commentary, the article analyzes the Commission’s records — including meeting minutes, correspondence among its members, resolutions from writers’ organizations, reviews by writers, internal readers’ reports from the “Sovetsky Pisatel” publishing house, and other documents — within the broader historical-literary context of the period. Drawing on research by historians of Soviet culture and contemporary documents, the article demonstrates why these publication efforts ultimately failed. It also provides an analysis of the “cosmetic” 1981 edition of the novel. The conclusion posits that, regrettably, the result of this persistent struggle for publication was a distortion of the novel’s creative history, which for decades delayed a proper understanding of Ivanov’s true artistic intent.

Keywords: Vsevolod Ivanov’s novel “The Kremlin”, archival materials, creative history, Commission for Ivanov’s Literary Legacy, the struggle for publication, historical-literary commentary

This research was supported out at IWS RAS by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF, Project No. 25-28-00107, “From the Literary Legacy of Vsevolod Ivanov of the late 1920s – Tarly 1960s”: https://rscf.ru/project/25-28-00107/)

References

1.       Iakimova, L.P. «Pri zhizni proizveden v klassiki…»: Vsevolod Ivanov v istoriko-literaturnom kontekste 20–30-h godov XX veka. Novosibirsk: Izd-vo SO RAN, 2019. 256 s.

2.       Krasnoshchekova, E.A. Kommentarii // Ivanov Vs. Uzhginskii kreml’. Moscow: Khudozh. lit., 1981. S. 367–382.

3.       Chernyak, M.A. Romany Vs. Ivanova «Kreml’» iI «U» v tvorcheskoi evolyutsii pisatelia: avtoref. dis. … kand. filol. nauk. St. Petersburg, 1994. 14 s.

4.       Goryaeva, T.M. Politicheskaia tsenzura v SSSR. 1917–1991. Seriia: Kul’tura i vlast’ ot Stalina do Gorbacheva. Issledovaniia. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2002. 400 s.

5.       Esenina, E.A. O neizvestnoi redaktsii romana Vs. Ivanova «Kreml’» // Literaturnyi fakt. 2025. No. 4 (38). S. 8–24.

6.       Garaskin. Iu.V. Russkaia Pravoslavnaia tserkov’, veruiushchie, vlast’ (konets 30-h — 70-e gody XX veka). Riazan’: Riazanskii gosudarstvennyi un-t im. S.A. Esenina, 2007. 272 s.

7.       Eggeling, V. Politika i kul’tura pri Khrushcheve i Brezhneve. 1953–1970 / per. s nem. L. Molchanova. Moscow: AIRO-XX, 1999. 312 s.

8.       Krechmar, D. Politika i kul’tura pri Brezhneve, Andropove i Chernenko. 1970–1985 gg. / per. s nem. M.G. Rapgauza. Moscow: AIRO-HH, 1997. 316 s.