From SovLit.com Books:

Thin Journal #11. SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet literature. Special Issue: Soviet Women Writers: THE OLD WOMAN - by Lydia Seifullina An old peasant woman's deep dissapointment in her renegade son, who ran off and joined the Bolsheviks. THREE LOOMS - by Marietta Shaginyan. Women factory workers rebel when given increased work quotas, but then they realize that they can do it for the good of the nation. THE MAD SHIP - by Olga Forsh Excerpt from Forsh's novel about the wild and crazy times in the House of Arts in the early 1920s. THE GRASS-SNAKE - by Magdalina Daltseva. An attempt to impress a visiting poet with an exotic but harmless house pet has an unanticipated result. THE TRAIN - by Vera Panova Exceprt from Panova's novel, wherein a young married couple are split up by the war. IS IT FAR TO CHUKOTKA - by Irina Raksha. A reporter on a routine visit to a far-eastern construction site is unsettled by a cruel crime against nature. WE KISSED - by Julia Drinina Poem about a girl fallen in battle. In Russian and English. SLEEPWALKER IN A FOG - by Tanya Tolstaya Excerpt from a story, describing a failed attempt to rally consumer indignation and a school reunion gone horribly awry. ATTORNEY ALEXANDRA TIKHONOVA - by Nadezhda Kozhevnikova A female attorney, involved in petty cases as well an an attempted murder, is forced to examine her own professional life and personal life, including her infidelity and the growing distance between herself and her teenage daughter. $5.00

"In The War" and Other Stories by Vasily Grossman (Translated by Andrew Glikin-Gusinsky). A newly translated collection of stories spanning almost 30 years of Grossman's career, demonstrating clearly that Grossman is not merely a "war" writer, but a universalist in the great Russian tradition. Contents: "A Tale About Happiness" (1934) Can happiness be found on a slip of paper? "A Small Life" (1936) A young couple takes in an orphan girl for the holiday. "In The War" (1942) A loner finds true comradeship in a tank smashing Nazis. "In The Country" (1953) Terror grips a man who hears a knock on the door at his dacha in the snow. "The Resident" (1960) An old woman is rehabilitated as part of de-Stalinization, but no one seems to remember or care. "Dog" (1961) Story of a dog, a scientist, and a trip to the cosmos. "From the Window of a Bus" (1961) Science meets natural beauty on a vacation tour. "An Autumn Storm" (1961) The power and majesty of the sea made apparent. Also included: "Vasily Grossman: A Writer in the Russian Tradition", an afterword by translator Andrew Glikin-Gusinsky, winner of Columbia University's Pushkin Prize for Translation. 84 pages. $5.00

Fourteen Little Red Huts by Andrei Platonov (Translated by Gennadi V. Alexeyev and Dmitri G. Alexeyev). Written in 1932-1933, 14 Little Red Huts addresses the hunger, trauma, and confusion which accompanied a period of rapid collectivization and the unmasking of unexpected "class enemies". Do the Soviet Union and Europe matter to each other? Do intellectuals--writers--have a place in helping advance society, or are they forced into choosing between buffoonery and silence? How is it that class enemies become friends and friends turn out to be class enemies? Are the children of this new society doomed? Can the jails be tossed into the sea and people feed themselves with freedom? Or perhaps none of this matters--life and death being meaningless, interchangeable trifles. Shall the people hope or despair? $5.00

Thin Journal #10. (Jan 2009) SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet literature. Contents: NO DAY WITHOUT A LINE - by Yuri Olesha Memoir by the author of Envy, including childhood memories of the battleship Potemkin's bombardment of Odessa, how he came to be called "The Chisel", and the extraction of Mayakovsky's brain. (excerpts) A Mayakovsky-Olesha Anecdote. The great poet bamboozels Olseha over the poker table. "THE CHERRY SEED" - by Yuri Olesha One of Olesha's most famous stories, in which a dreamer, disappointed in love, visits the world of Imagination, but forgets to take into account the concrete demands of the Five-Year Plan. A Short Biography of Yuri Olesha. Facts and dates. "MY MOTHER TOLD ME". A mini-story by Stepan Shchipachev. "GOODFELLOW CHIRESH" - by Ion Drutse Moldavian short story about a jokester peasant who lives and dies on his own terms and in harmony with nature." Our Guiding Line is That of Socialist Realism. Report to the First Soviet Writers Congress (1934) by A.I. Stetsky, Chief of the Culture and Leninist Propaganda Section, Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. "WHEN THE SUN ROCKED ME" - by Yuvan Shestalov Short story by the father of Mansi literature, where reindeer, shamans, and the folklore of a Siberian tribe meet collectivization, old age, death, and eternity. $5.00

Thin Journal #9. (Sept 2008) SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet literature. Contents: TALISMAN - The Sixth Tale of Belkin by Mikhail Zoshchenko. Writting the the style of Pushkin's "Tales of Belkin", Zoshchenko presents the story of a gambling, drinking, dueling, womanizing, profligate hussar who ultimately struggles to deserve the high honor given him. (1937)< DRESSED IN STONE - by Olga Forsh. Detailed Summary of a historical novel about a revolutionary who is locked in the deepest dundgeons of the Peter and Paul Fortress by secret order of a vindictive Tsar. The woman he loves tries to bust him out of the slammer, and his comrades undertake a plot to assassinate the Tsar and bring freedom to the nation. "WAIT" - by Konstantin Simonov Bilingual edition of Simonov's famous war-era poem. "THE LITTLE SOLDIER" - by Chingiz Aitmatov The miracle of motion pictures helps a young collective-farm boy come to know his father who perished in the Great Patriotic War. The Life of Chingis Aitmatov. A short biography of the famous Kirghiz writer. "IN STALINGRAD" - by Olga Berggolts Poem. "Here even the distant ash remains so hot...." "THE SWALLOW" - by Aleksandr Tvardovsky Short story about the fate of birds in war. "SAIL" - by Vladimir Vysotsky Short story. "The wind blows into my frenzied soul, tears and picks at it, urges it to go faster, faster!" "TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD" ON THE OPERATIC STAGE. Review of a 1971 operatic adaptation of John Reed's classic about the Russian Revolution. TRUE PROPAGANDA A Soviet literature quiz. $5.00

Thin Journal #8 (May 2008). SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet Literature. Contents: AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY DANIIL KHARMS: "How I Was Born" - How Kharms was born twice. "Incubation Period" - Oops, make that three times. "I Was Born in The Reeds" - Actually, he was born four times. SHORT CHRONICLE OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF DANIIL KHARMS His birth, schooling, early performances with the OBERIU, arrests, and death. PRE-HISTORY AND HISTORY OF THE CHINARI by Yakov Drushkin An absurdist literary organization that pre-dates the OBERIU. ARREST PROTOCOLS OF DANIIL KHARMS Another, sadder, form of absurdist literature: Kharms "confesses" about the anti-Soviet nature of both his adult works and his writing for children. MILLION Anti-Soviet counting rhyme by D.I. Kharms. IVAN IVANYCH SAMOVAR Philistine children's poetry by D.I. Kharms. MORE STORIES BY KHARMS: "Fairy Tale" - Every good fairy tale has already been written. "State Publishing House Watchmen" - How Kharms et al. keep watch over the city. "Pushkin and Gogol" - The giants of Russian literature are falling all over each other. "Declaraction of Love" - The unspoken language of love. "Untitled" - Olga Forsh, Aleksei Tolstoy, and a shovel...a battle of literary prominences. "Power" - We sin and do good blindly. "Myshin's Victory" - Lying down on principle over the housing shortage. AZURE CITIES by Aleksei Tolstoy Detailed summary of a passionate story of a tormenting, impatient, and feverish imagination. Biography of Aleksei Tolstoy MY REMINISCENCES OF EVGENY SHVARTS by Nikolai Chukovsky Remembering playwrite and Kharms' buddy Evgeny Shvarts. $5.00

Thin Journal #7. Issue #7 of SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet Literature. Contents: ON BORIS PILNYAK by Leon Trotsky Top Party leader finds Pilnyak to be a promising realist but possessed of a troubling duality. "CONVERSATION" by Boris Pilnyak. An excerpt from Pilnyak's novel The Naked Year. Short Biography of BORIS PILNYAK. "MARINA'S DISEASE" by Vikenty Veresaev Story of love, sexual politics, and abortion from 1930. "SISTERS" by Vikenty Veresaev Detailed summary of a 1933 novel following the lives of two sisters who take different paths on the road to love and collectivization. Everyone is in store for a big surprise when Comrade Stalin publishes his "Dizzy With Success" article. "STARS" by Yuri Nagibin Sketch about cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. "RAFTS" by Vladimir Vysotsky Short story about swimming, drunkenness, and a near-death experience. "LOVE FOR ELECTRICITY" by Vassily Aksyonov Review of Aksyonov's novel about Lenin's old comrade Leonid Krasin. $5.00

Thin Journal #6. Issue #6 of SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet Literature. Contents: On Restructuring Literay-Artistic Organizations Central Committee Decree of 1932 abolishing all independent literary organizations and creating the Union of Soviet Writers. "OUR TEACHING IS NOT DOGMA" by Maksim Gorky. Excerpt from Gorky's speech to the First Congress of Soviet Writers, August 1934. Autobiography by Sergei Esenin. Short autobiography by the great Soviet poet Sergei Esenin. SELECTED POEMS by Sergei Esenin Bilingual Russian and English versions of five poems by Esenin. "THE TRAMP" by Leonid Leonov Short story from 1928 in which his wife's infidelilty and his own backward views turns a peasant into a homeless, wandering vagabond. "Dostoevsky and Tolstoy" by Leonid Leonov. Novelist Leonid Leonov compares and contrasts these two literary giants. "ILYA EHRENBURG - in Memoriam" by Aleksandr Tvardovsky Poet and Novy Mir Chief Editor A. Tvardovsky eulogizes Ehrenburg following his death in August 1967. "THE STORM" by Ilya Ehrenburg Excerpts from Ehrenburg's Stalin-Prize-winning novel about the Great Patriotic War. "WRITING SCREENPLAYS ABOUT THE EARTH" by Aleksandr Dovzhenko. Address by renowned director A. Dovzhenko to the Union of Soviet Writers (1953)concerning writing film scripts for and about kolkhoz workers. "HUNTING FOR THE PAST" by Lev Prozorovsky Summary of a spy novel concerning an attempt by the CIA to revive the Nazi past. (1985) "MY NATIVE TONGUE" by Rasul Gamzatov Daghestani Poetry. "SHIMI DERBENDI MOVES IN" by Khizghil Avshalumov Daghestani Short Story. "HONEST CITIZEN" by Mikhail Zoshchenko Short story in the skaz style about the difficulties of buying moonshine vodka. $5.00

Thin Journal #5. Issue #5 of SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet Literature. Contents: CONVERSATIONS WITH VASSILY AKSYONOV A world-exclusive, never-before-published series of conversations in which Aksyonov discusses his life and that of his country, from the arrest of his parents during the Great Terror, to the fall of the Soviet Union and problems of Putin. INTRODUCTION TO METROPOL Text of the introduction to "Metropol", an independent literary almanac produced by Aksyonov and others in 1979, bemoaning the "homeless" state of much of Soviet literature. METROPOL MINUTES Minutes (excerpts) from a Writers Union meeting held to discuss and condemn the publication of "Metropol". PORNOGRAPHY OF THE SOUL Reactions of official Soviet writers and critics to "Metropol" (universally negative). "VICTORY - A STORY WITH EXAGGERATIONS" by Vassily Aksyonov. Short story from 1965 in which a chess grandmaster lets his mind wander as he suffers an expected defeat. $5.00

Thin Journal #4. Issue #4 of SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet Literature. Contents: Uncivil War: Fyodor Gladkov & the Smithy vs. RAPP Account of an underhanded attempt by RAPP to put Gladkov's literary group "The Smithy" out of existence. ON THE POLICY OF THE PARTY IN THE SPHERE OF ARTISTIC LITERATURE Text of the Communist Party's 1925 Decree on Artistic Literature, urging tolerance of fellow-travelers and others as well as an end to the tone of command in critical articles. "CEMENT" by F.V. Gladkov Detailed Summary of the first significant work of Socialist Realism. THE LIFE OF FYODOR GLADKOV A short biography of the author of "Cement". "IRON SILENCE" by Nikolai Lyashko Short story by prominent Smithy author, in which the main character is an idle, crumbling factory (1920). "REMEMBERING GUDOK" by Mikhail Bulgakov Bulgakov remembers his early days writing humorous sketches for the newspaper Gudok "THREE KOPECKS" by Mikhail Bulgakov Short, humorous newspaper sketch by Bulgakov, author of The Master and Margarita. "STEEL RING" by Konstantin Paustovsky A winter tale by short-story master Paustovsky. Suitable for children of all ages. "IN THE WAR" by Vassily Grossman War-time fiction, demonstrating fraternal bonding in the tank corps. (1942) "IN THE COUNTRY" by Vassily Grossman Proving that he's not just a war writer, Grossman brings us this short allegorical story of terror, snow, a bird, and blood. (1953) $5.00

Thin Journal #3. Issue #3 of SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet Literature. Contents: Mayakovsky on Futurism Short letter by Mayakovsky explaining the history and substance of Futurism The LEF Program Three manifesto-essays from the inaugural issue of Mayakovsky's literary journal, LEF. ("What Is LEF Fighting For?", "Whom Does LEF Tear Into?", and "Whom Does LEF Warn?") LEF and Marxism Review of a public debate from 1923 between LEF and its Marxist detractors. The Life of Vladimir Mayakovsky A short biography of the great poet. "Aelilta" by A.N. Tolstoy Detailed summary of Tolstoy's science-fiction novel about a Soviet mission ot Mars and the revolutionary struggle on the red planet. Interview with Chinghiz Aitmatov From 1972. The Difference Between Soviet Literature and Western Literature By Soviet novelist Daniil Granin, 1971. The Smithy Manifesto of the proletarian literary organizatioin "Smithy" (1920). On the Tasks of the Writer-Worker Literary theory by the Smithy writer Nikolai Lyashko (1923) "Marcelle" by Mikhail Gerasimov. Fiction by a prominent member of the Smithy. "Conversations at Tea" by Ilya Ilf & Evgeny Petrov Humor by the best-loved Soviet funny men. (1934) $5.00

Thin Journal #2. Issue #2 of SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet Literature. Contents: Fadeev Kills Self Suicide note of A.A. Fadeev, 1956 KGB Reports on the Death of A.A. Fadeev KGB calls him a drunk "The Rout" by A.A. Fadeev Detailed Summary of Fadeev's novel about the Civil War. Young Soviet Writers About Themselves Yevtushenko, Kazakov, Voznesensky and others answer questions, 1962 "The Embezzlers" by V. Kataev Detailed summary of NEP-era comic novel Aesthetic Views of Plekhanov 1955 "The Story of Ak and Humanity" by E. Zozulya Anti-Utopian short story, 1925. "The Lion" by Evgeny Zamyatin Humorous short story, 1935 Soviet Funnies Cartoons from the Soviet press $5.00

Thin Journal #1. Issue #1 of SovLit.com's pocket-sized journal of Soviet Literature. Contents: Sholokhov Slams Solzhenitsyn Author of "Quiet Don" calls dissident possibly "insane". The Many Faces of Dr. Zoshchenko Autobiographies by Mikhail Zoshchenko From the Notesbooks of Andrei Platonov Fragments from the great writer's journals. "Mess-Mend" by Marietta Shaginyan Detailed summary of a 1924 spy thriller / comedy / science fiction novel. "Tashkent - City of Bread" by Aleksandr Neverov Detailed summary of a 1923 novel of famine and hope. Aleksandr Neverov A brief biography. "In the Neighborhoods of Berlin" by Boris Gorbatov War-reporting from the outskirts of Berlin, 1945 Proletkult & Smithy Brief sketch of two proletarian literary organizations "Conversations of a Rest-Home Deputy Director with Guests on the Day of Their Arrival" by Mikhail Zadornov. Soviet satire from 1983 $5.00

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