Word: dudintsev
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During the temporary thaw of destalinization, some fascinating literary floes have broken loose from the icecap of Soviet culture and drifted into open water. Last year Moscow allowed the serialization of Not by Bread Alone, Vladimir Dudintsev's harsh novel of genius frustrated by Red bureaucracy (TIME, Oct. 21), later condemned the book but could not prevent publication in the West. Now another furor is brewing over the appearance in Italy of a novel by distinguished Russian Poet-Translator Boris Pasternak. Reason why the Italian publication is "unauthorized"' by Moscow is evident from lines such as these: "Marxism...
What effect the bootleg publication of his novel will have on Author Pasternak, 67, is questionable. Probably he will survive; he has been out of favor before (in 1946 for bourgeois tendencies), presumably knows how to bow to "human authority" as well as his colleague, Novelist Dudintsev. When asked at a recent diplomatic cocktail party what would become of irksome Author Dudintsev, Dictator Nikita Khrushchev replied blandly: "I intend to see him. He will continue to write, but there will be nothing for which world capitalists will sing his praises...
...BREAD ALONE (512 pp.)-Vladimir Dudintsev-Dutton...
Soon the machine went into action, and both the Communist Party and Writers' Union denounced Author Dudintsev as a talented, well-meaning fellow who had fallen victim to "distorted and pessimistic'' notions. In a preface to this translation Dudintsev dutifully supplies a mitigating explanation of what his novel is all about. But no explanation is necessary. The book is a major, fascinating document of life in Soviet Russia...
From the start of his novel Author Dudintsev describes, side by side with Lopatkin's progress, what is happening behind the scenes in ministries, bureaus and industrial institutes. All the timeservers and Organization Men in high places are aware of one thing-that a big shot in Moscow has a pet scheme of his own regarding drainpipes, and that no Soviet citizen should ever, if he values his security, "get in the way of influential people." As Bureaucrat Drozdov, the novel's villain, tells Lopatkin: "Your mistake consists in being an individual on his own. The lone wolf...