Literary Critics of the Literaturnyi Kritik and Literaturnoye Obozreniye Journals according to F. Levin’s Archives

Abstract

Between 1933 and 1941, critic Fyodor Markovich Levin (1901–1972) was at the center of literary and political events related to the establishment and work of the Sovetsky Pisatel [A Soviet Writer] publishing house (First Director and Editor-in-chief), as well as the Literaturnyi Kritik (Deputy editor) and Literaturnoye Obozreniye (Editor-in-chief) journals. These journals were an extraordinary phenomenon, and not only because of the high artistic quality of the publications. They were created by a team of associates who considered the critic’s own style, voice, and opinion the main criteria of professionalism and necessary components of creativity. The reader was not imposed any party directives on, but got involved in the discussion and creative disputes. His work in the publishing house and the journals determined the fate of F. M. Levin. That period of time saw the formation of his civil and creative position as a priority of creative freedom over the rigorous ideological attitudes. Some previously unknown archival materials and Levin’s personal documents from the CPSU’s archive from the period of the ‘campaign against cosmopolitanism and anti-patriotism’ reconstruct this stage of Levin’s life and shed new light on the establishment and work of the Sovetsky Pisatel publishing house, and the Literaturnyi Kritik and Literaturnoye Obozreniye journals along with new details of the relationship between the critic, the publishing house and the journals and Anna Akhmatova and Andrey Platonov.