| Titre | Socialist Realism as a Survival Strategy : Readers' Letters about Nikolaj Ostrovskij's How the Steel Was Tempered | |
|---|---|---|
| Auteur | Tristan Landry | |
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Revue | Revue des Etudes Slaves |
| Numéro | Vol. 79, no 4, 2008 | |
| Rubrique / Thématique | Articles |
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| Page | 569-580 | |
| Résumé anglais |
From the very beginning of his career as a writer, Nikolay Ostrovsky (1904-36) received hostile criticisms of his style, which was described as 'coarse,' and which led some observers to conclude that his success was due more to his prowess as a soldier than to his talents as a writer. But his success was incontrovertible. Readers rushed to buy his book How the Steel Was Tempered, despite the absence of publicity when it appeared. What accounts for the extraordinary success? Readers' letters contained in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) can help us answer this question. Over the past ten years there have been many studies in which scholars have sought the organizational basis of socialist realism as an esthetic, putting the literariness of the work before its political character. It certainly seems logical, since esthetics is not just a question of production but also of consumption (Jauss, Iser, Lotman), that this program of research should also include the acceptance of the texts, their reception by the readers. Source : Éditeur (via Persée) |
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| Article en ligne | https://www.persee.fr/doc/slave_0080-2557_2008_num_79_4_7166 |
