62
.
"
IS•..•
"And in the ranks?"
"Senechka, the agitator, a decent guy."
"How did you leave him out?"
p
ARTISAN REVIEW
And so that was how Senechka, until then my oversight, got into
the novel. There were other, minor corrections, largely in the passages
dealing with vodka.
So much for the demands and corrections in the magazine. More
changes, and substantive ones, were made to the book edition. The sen–
tence, "And may he lead us to victory," referring to Stalin, was added
despite strenuous opposition from me. The vetern infighters eventually
had their way. As for the truth, is everything in the book truthful? Basi–
cally, yes, or at least ninety-nine percent. I kept quiet about the other
one percent. The novel was written some time ago, by someone who,
back then at least, knew something about the military. But he didn't
have an inkling of what lay in store for him. He did not know, for in–
stance, that as a freshly-minted member of the Writers' Union, he had to
fight and assert; to edify and illuminate; that his writing was a veritable
weapon; or that he was to be the first to help and to sing paeans to the
cause.
Soviet literature, the most progressive in the world, is always in a
state of mobilization, always preparing for war.
In
my thirty-year experi–
ence in the ranks of the great Writers' Union, I cannot recall a day
when we were not fighting against something: bourgeois nationalism;
great power chauvinism; cosmopolitanism; sycophancy; lack of conflict;
praising of the gray past; isolation from current issues; underestimation of
the working class; and, of course, alcoholism. A battle against the last is
always being waged, day and night, in one's personal life and career. This
is where I got in the most trouble. Even Tvardovsky, editor of the
liberal
Novy Mir,
whose drinking binges were legendary, splashed vodka
out of my characters' glasses and replaced it with beer.
The Soviet writer's weapon is always ready for combat, always
primed and never rusty. The powder kegs are full and dry. Even so, the
writer who is beholden to the exacting reader - the point is emphasized
at every Party plenum and congress - can never be prepared enough. He
is superficial, having at times let something escape his view. Here the edi–
tor comes to his rescue. He always knows where, in the endless skir–
mishes, to shoot, and he provides the right weapon at the proper mo–
ment. He takes the rudder out of the writer's hand as the ship is capsiz–
ing and positions the sail so that it benefits from the correct wind. The
editor receives appropriate recompense for his advice , tips, and naviga-
