Max Hayward
SOVIET LITERATURE
IN THE DOLDRUMS
In February of this year the French journal
Esprit
published an anonymous essay by a young Soviet writer on the topic
of socialist realism, a brilliant and original effort to explain the
stagnation of Soviet literature. Early in his discussion the writer
observes:
Art does not fear dictatorship nor severity, nor repressions, nor even
conservatism and cliches.
If
needs be, art is narrowly religious,
stupidly
etatiste,
without individuality, and yet it is great. We are
enthusiastic about the style of ancient Egypt, Russian iconography,
folklore. Art is fluid enough to fit the Procrustean bed imposed by
history. There is only one thing that it cannot tolerate: eclecticism.
The author points out that in a "theological" society where every–
thing is subordinated to the achievement of a supreme Purpose, it
is incongruous to employ modes of expression adequate only to lack
of faith, skepticism and self-deprecating irony. A "religious esthetic"
cannot be based on nineteenth-century models. Yet this is precisely
what is demanded of Soviet writers. Ever since Gorky commanded
them to "learn from the classics" they have been trying to glorify
the "positive hero" and his devoted, single-minded struggle for
communism in the style of Balzac, Tolstoy, de Maupassant and
Chekhov. There is, then, a patent contradiction between form and
content. Positive heroes and militant optimism cannot
be
convinc–
ingly portrayed in language associated with the "superfluous man"
and deeply pessimistic uncertainty about the purpose of life. Thus,
says
the author:
