Information about the author:
Natalya V. Kornienko
Natalia V. Kornienko, DSc in Philology, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of Research, Head of the Department of Modern Russian Literature and Literature of the Russian Abroad, А.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 a, 121069 Moscow, Russia
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Abstract:
This work aims to reconstruct the chronicle of the 1939 literary and political context, where two plots occupy a special place. The first plot is connected with the prohibition of the publication of Platonov’s literary-critical collection “Reader’s Reflections”; the second is with the struggle of the Writers’ Union leadership with the journal “Literary Critic.” The article involves previously published documents of the literary process of the second half of the 1930s, along with hitherto unknown ones. These are, first of all, letters from the critic Ermilov to Fadeev from the writer’s personal fund, transcripts of the meeting of the secretariat and the board of the Writers’ Union, and other documents (from RGALI and IWL RAS). The new materials clarify and supply not only the chronicle of Platonov’s life, but also the study of the history of literary criticism and the Soviet literary process in general.