Title

ANDRÉ GIDE’S RETOUR DE L’U.R.S.S. AND ITS PUBLICATION HISTORY: A VIEW FROM THE KREMLIN

Author(s)

Natalia Kharitonova

Information about the author(s)

Natalia Kharitonova, PhD in Hispanic Studies, Senior Researcher, A. M. Gorky Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 a, 121069 Moscow, Russia. E-mail: barrocorggu@mail.ru

Received

October 10, 2016

Published

25 Dec 2016

Issue

Vol. 1, no 3–4

Department

World Literature

Pages

184-192

DOI

DOI: 10.22455/2500-4247-2016-1-3-4-184-192

UDK

УДК 82 (091)

BBK

ББК 83.3 (4)

Abstract

The article discusses the publication history of André Gide’s book Return from the USSR written after his trip to the Soviet Union. It explains how the Kremlin gathered information about the book and how official Soviet reaction to this publication was developed. Since Gide’s decision to join in the camp of the “friends of the USSR,” information about it had been deliberately mispresented, that is why at the end of 1936 communist ideologues had to reap the fruits of their shortsightedness. Immediately after the Congress in the Defense of Culture, which took place in 1935 in Paris, Gide converged with the anti-Stalinist opposition in France and Belgium and welcomed a campaign in support of Victor Serge, politician and writer who had passed in the case of the so called Zinoviev group and had been exiled to Orenburg. Soviet authorities knew about Gide’s conversion but accepted Mikhail Koltsov’s position who vouched Gide’s absolute loyalty. When Gide began preparing his manuscript for publication, the Kremlin was immediately informed about it. Among the informers were I. Ehrenburg, F. Masereel, and E. Ratmanova. Attempts to dissuade Gide from publication failed. The book was translated into Russian for the leaders of the Communist party and Gide was condemned in the Soviet press. The history of the book’s publication and attention that the Kremlin paid to this question, however, demonstrates that the State control of the literary and cultural field was circumscribed within the Soviet borders. The Soviets failed to implement their program in the West. The case of Gide’s Return from the USSR shows the obvious failure of Soviet cultural diplomacy and its strategies. Keywords: André Gide, USSR, cultural diplomacy, opposition, Return from the USSR. Studia Litterarum. Том 1, № 3–4 Мировая литература 186

Keywords

Works cited

1 David-Fox M. Vitriny velikogo eksperimenta [Showcasing the great experiment: cultural diplomacy and western visitors to the Soviet Union]. Moscow, NLO Publ., 2015. 567 p. (In Russ.) 2 Kuda Andrje Zhid vozvratilsja iz SSSR? [Where did André Gide return from the USSR?] Literaturnaja gazeta [Literary Newspaper], no 68 (631). 06.12.1936, p. 5. (In Russ.) 3 Serge V. Pis’mo Viktora Serzha Andrje Zhidu [Letter from Victor Serge to André Gide]. Bjulleten’ oppozicii (bol’shevikov-lenincev) [Bulletin of the Opposition (of the Bolsheviks Leninists)], 1936, no 51, pp. 9–11. (In Russ.) 4 Tokarev L. Predislovie [Preface], Gide A. Podzemel’ja Vatikana; Fal’shivomonetchiki; Vozvrashhenie iz SSSR [Lafcadio’s adventures and the Vatican cellars; The counterfeiters; Return from the USSR]. Moscow, Moskovskij rabochij Publ., 1990, pp. 5–24. (In Russ.) 5 Frezinskij B. Pisateli i sovetskie vozhdi [Writers and the Soviet leaders]. Moscow, Jellis-Lak Publ., 2008. 672 p. (In Russ.) 6 Serge V. Carnets. Préface de Régis Debray. Arles, Actes Sud, 1985. 180 p. 7 Van Rysselberghe M. Les Cahiers de la Petite Dame. Note pour l’histoire authentique d’André Gide. Paris, Gallimard, 1974. Vol. 5. 667 p.

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