The anatomy of literary success. On the first bestselling book in the literature of Russian emigration

Abstract

Only in the late 1980s, in the now legendary ‘perestroika’ times, the works of M. Osorgin began to be published in the USSR. The novel Sivtsev Vrazhek (1928), now rightfully considered the main artistic achievement of the writer, has gone through several publications and become the object of literary study included into academic programmes on Russian émigré literature. However, lost in the flow of ‘returned literature,’ Sivtsev Vrazhek did not cause a furor. It is hardly possible to talk about its popularity in modern Russia. Meanwhile, this novel is the only work of post-revolutionary Russian emigration which became an international bestseller in the interwar twenties. In his article, N. Melnikov focuses on Russian and English-speaking critics’ perception of Osorgin’s novel Sivtsev Vrazhek. On the basis of extensive material, such theoretical and literary problems as the interpretation of a work of art, the formation of a writer’s reputation, the phenomenon of success, etc. are comprehended.