Collected Gorky 2

Collected Gorky, Incomplete, Progress Publishers

This collection, published from 1978 to 1982, is essentially a redesigned version of the Foreign Language Publishing House edition.  Expertly redesigned, I think, by Igor Kravtsov. This series consists of:

1. Selected Stories
2. Foma Gordeyev
3. Mother
4. Plays
5. The Life of Matvei Kozhemyakin
6. Tales of Italy. Childhood
7. My Apprenticeship. My Universities
8. The Artamonovs
9. Literary Portraits
10. On Literature

And here are the volume I have.

Number 2: Foma Gordeyev

Number 3: Mother

Number 6: Tales of Italy

Number 8: The Artamovs

Number 10: On Literature

Collected Gorky 1

Collected Gorky, Foreign Language Publishing House

Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, 1868 – 1936, known to the world as Maxim Gorky, was proclaimed by the Stalinist literary establishment as the father of Socialist Realism.  Fittingly they made a posh set of his collected works.  Here‘s his biography on SovLit.com.

These are nice books, designed in a very serious, traditional and self important manner.  The covers are oxblood, with an embossed signature on the cover.

The dust jackets, nicely designed with hand-lettered titles, all feature the sad-eyed walrus himself looking back at you.

These books are mostly undated, though a couple have dates and indicated that this series is from the early ‘fifties.  There are differences in the production of these books that make me believe there have been several different editions.  They are designed rather nicely by E. Kogan, and have illustrations within by Kurkinsky.

The books are, for the most part, translated by Margaret Wettlin, with an odd volume translated by one Helen Altschuler.

Margaret Wettlin defected to the Soviet Union from Philadelphia, PA in 1932, just in time really, to see the worst Stalin had to offer.  She worked in radical theratre, survived the Purge, the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union and then the post-war purges. She returned to the United States in 1980, and wrote her memoirs, Fifty Russian Winters.

Cover Galleries All Done

So, I just finished posting all the scans of the all the covers of all my Soviet books [though not really all, I'm sure I've missed some, and new books have come in since I started the project.]  The list of pages is in the right-hand column.  Lots of pictures to look at.

Cover Galleries

I have just started a project to put all the scans and photos of the covers and dustjackets of my books online.  On the right, in the list of pages, you can find the beginnings of this project.

Soviet Union Magazine

This is the successor publication to USSR in Construction.  They are published from the last known address of the 1949 run of USSR in Construction, 8 Moskvina, Moscow 9.  More or less the same dimensions, these have the full colour covers (obviously) and black and white interiors.  These are no longer printed with the foggy rotogravure of the older magazine, but still have that retouched and improved look of Soviet photography from the ’40s.  Soviet Union was, in its turn, replaced with Soviet Life, which persisted up until 1991.

                                                                                                                                                                 

 

USSR in Consrtuction No 12, 1949

J.V. Stalin’s 70th Birthday Issue

After USSR in Construction was eclipsed by the Great Patriotic War in 1941, it mad a brief reappearance in 1949.  Here is one issue from that time, the December issue devoted to Stalin’s 70ieth birthday.  This celebration was a big deal across all of eastern Europe, as for many newly minted socialist countries it was a first introduction to the grammar of the personality cult.  In the USSR this was a time to reassert the cult of Stalin over the military triumphalism that followed the hard-won victory over fascism.

Full colour!

Here is a selection of trophies and gifts presented to Stalin by progressive peoples from all over the world.  There was a whole museum dedicated to this sort of thing.  Top right is “Headdress of an Indian Chief – A gift to Stalin from American and Canadian Indian tribes”.  I wonder if he ever wore it.

The magazine is now edited by F. Gladkov, well-known socialist realist author.

USSR in Construction, No 6, 1934

Dedicated to Soviet Science

This is a groovy one.  And excitingly designed by El Lissitsky!

The inside cover features this list of German scientists repressed by the Nazi state.  Soviet culture from this period seems in retrospect, and for the most part, crass and cynical.  Particularly so when we look at the Stalin cult.  But then they did principled, prescient things like this.

This image of the high altitude balloon is part of a half-page insert.  Very cool.

Could there be an issue dealing with Soviet Science without T.D. Lysenko?  No, of course not.  Here he is, on the bottom, under his rival, N.I. Valvilov.

I’m a sucker for architectural drawing, especially for unbuilt Soviet super-projcets, such as the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine.

This is a great photo.

Notice here the credits are ‘Es and El Lissitsky’.  I do believe this indicated that El Lissitsky collaborated with his wife, Sophie Kuppers, on this issue.  Lissitsky’s very clever trick with his ‘art name’ El (he was born with the first name Lazar; El sounds like his initial, you might notice this works the same in English) when used on his wife’s name, Sophie, will produce Es.  This is my theory.