Materials of 20th-century American writers in Moscow archives 1917–1941

Abstract

This analytical overview of materials located in Moscow archives is devoted to the history of American literature and the Soviet-American literary connections in the years before World War II (1917–1941). These materials document American writers’ contacts with Soviet and international communist organisations, personally with Joseph Stalin, with cultural and literary institutions. The USSR closely monitored the sentiment among American writers, as evidenced by the corpus of correspondence between Soviet literary functionaries and their informants in the USA. Archives of Soviet publishers offer insights into the process of translating and editing American literature as well as creation of theatrical and film adaptations. Readers’ letters from the 1930s demonstrate the mass audience’s enthusiasm for American literature.