362
PARTISAN REVIEW
Italian writers, such as Giovanni Testa or Mario Pomilio or
Luigi Santucci, by pretending that such an account corresponds
to problems that at one time interested Marx. The justification
is not only strange, but even comical. However, no one is dis–
turbed by this, for the
pres~nt-day
Italian writers are of interes t
to
everyone. Cecilia Keene, in quoting Marx, follows the terms of
the game required of her. The same conditions are observed by
the editor of the journal who prints her article. The reader un–
derstands this game, and he knows what type of interrelation ex–
ist" between the reader and the journal. He also, for example,
understands that the article by Vitaly Ozerov, called "The Image
of the Communist in Soviet Literature," is included here so that
the journal can be printed. On page twelve is the lead sentence
and the necessary magical incantation: "The goal of our litera–
ture, to which it has been inspired by the decisions of the 25th
Party Congress, is to reflect the depth and significance of
changes, the distinctive features of a developed socialist society."
This sentence means absolutely nothing, but it is necessary as a
magical sentence, so that the journal can be printed. And further
on the author, law-abiding Vitaly Ozerov, cites the supreme ar–
gument: "For the realization of this goal literature has a wonder–
ful reference point-the trilogy of Comrade Brezhnev:
Malaya
Zemlya, Rebirth,
and
Virgin Land."
Yes, yes. The wretchedly
banal pseudomemoirs of a sclerotic bureaucrat are called a tril–
ogy, as are called the books of Lev Tolstoy
Childhood, Boyhood,
and
Youth,
as is called Dante's
Divine Comedy.
But this is not
all.
It
is said about these compositions: "An impress ive chronicle
of the heroic achievements of the Party and the people has been
created. The conscious spiritual uplifting of society and person–
ality during the Civil War and the building of Communism has
been replicated. Reading the trilogy , we see with our own eyes
the many-faceted work of communists." All these ·words are not
false, but totally empty. The
words-chronicle, people, spiritual
uplifting, personality, society-have
become absolutely hollow
obj ec ts.
I think that all 25,000 subscribers to
Voprosy Literatury
al–
ready know this, whether they have read the trilogy or not. They
know its value, just as they know the value of the Lenin Prize
that crowns it, and of each sentence of Vitaly Ozerov 's article,
which first and foremost disgraces the Russian language. Any is-
