OTHER
VOICES
305
Mahogany
and extracts from the poorest book Mikhail Zoshchenko ever
wrote--Before Sunrise.
But what connection have any of these works
with the great tradition of the Soviet classics?
It is clear that the editors were quite indifferent
to
the quality of
the writing or the literary level of the works they selected. For them
something else was important: to discover the "dissonant" works in
Soviet literature and in passing them off for manifestations of the great
traditions of Russian classical literature to slander the entire treasury of
Soviet literature. . . .
It goes without saying that had they wished the editors of this
special edition of
Partisan Review
could have found even more "dis–
sonant voices" in our literature, especially in that of the twenties. Soviet
literature took shape in a process of severe class struggle when the rem–
nants of capitalism and other alien ideological influences were being
overcome. Naturally, various "dissonant voices" were to be heard in
our literature. But for the sake of truth the editors should have noted
at least three facts: 1) such voices were raised on the fringe of
the main trend of Soviet literature; 2) gradually they grew scarcer
in number; 3) these "voices" never sang anything of the least artistic
value, which is not surprising since to sing out of tune in our conditions
means to be out of harmony with truth, humanism and progress. . . .
Aware of the fact that
Without Love, Mahogany
and
Before Sunrise
were not sufficient ingredients to "cook the porridge," the editors de–
cided to supplement them with excerpts from the memoirs of Konstantin
Paustovsky and lIya Ehrenburg, Alexander Grin's story
The Making of
Asper,
Isaac Babel's
The Journey,
Sergei Esenin's poem
Soviet Russia,
and extracts from Lev Kassil's book
My Dear Boys,
Julia Neiman's poem
1941 and Vladimir Polyakov's humorous sketch
Fireman Prokhorchuk.
Naturally, these additions add bulk to the special edition of
Partisan
Review
but make it even less convincing and show only the editors'
complete lack of elementary taste and of any understanding of Soviet
literature. Only by that is to be explained the absurd juxtaposition of
Esenin's well-known
Soviet Russia
with a work so completely unknown
in the Soviet Union as the poem of Julia Neiman, of the stories selected
from the works of Grin and Babel with the short-lived sketch by Polya–
kov. But the main point is that the editors display flagrant dishonesty
in presenting
Soviet Russia,
the memoirs of Paustovsky and Ehrenburg,
Kassil's story
My Dear Boys
and other works as "dissonant voices" in
Soviet literature, printing them side by side with Pilnyak's
Mahogany,
Zamyatin's malicious article or Zoshchenko's
Before Sunrise
which met
with a critical reception by the Soviet public. We consider the memoirs
