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The Current State of the Soviet Literary WorldAuthor: Miyamoto Yuriko
| Original Title | ソヴェト文壇の現状 |
|---|---|
| Author | 宮本 百合子 |
| Genre | War & Social Literature |
| Author Type | Female Author |
| Summary | In the heart of Moscow, Herzen House—a hub for Soviet writers—witnesses a stark metamorphosis between 1927 and 1930. Initially, its basement thrums with decadence: champagne corks pop beneath dim electric lights as writers like Pilnyak recite works amid disheveled revelry. The air reeks of bourgeois indulgence, leaving visitors disillusioned. Two years later, the atmosphere shifts radically. The basement closes; sunlight floods a new cafeteria where writers trade meal tickets for subsidized meals. Red placards demand art become a “class weapon,” while study groups dissect Marx and Lenin in former aristocratic halls. This transformation mirrors Soviet society’s seismic pivot under the Five-Year Plan—a blueprint to outpace capitalism through industrial might and collectivization. Proletarian writers, organized under RAPP, now champion socialist realism, dispatching “literary shock workers” to document factories and farms. Yet beneath this disciplined facade simmers ideological strife: purges target bourgeois sympathizers, while internal critiques expose fractures in Marxist dogma. As the world’s sole socialist state hurtles toward an uncertain future, its literary vanguard grapples with a question—can art ignite revolution, or will dogma extinguish its flame? |
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