The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-30
A Bad Anthology
of Literature by
Soviet Writers
SOVIET LITERATURE: An An
thoIogy. Edited and translated
by George Reavey and Marc
SIoninn. New York: Covioi-
Friede. 4ss PIP. s2.5o.
Reviewed by LEON DENNEN


Reviewed by LEON DENNEN
WTTHIE the last few years, Amer
ics has been flooded with
numerous volumes about the Soviet /
Union. Some Of them have been /
written by men who have q thor /
ough and keen understanding of
the great social. economic and cul- /
tural upheaysl that has taken place /
in Russia. The majority Of these
volumes, however, are the works Of
incompetents who have very little
connection with Russia, the Revolu-
ton or the working class in gen
eral.
This anthology of Soviet ntera-
ture belongs to the latter category.
Neither George Reavey nor Marc
Slonim has succeeded in grasping
or understanding that new creative
life that is being forged in Soviet
Russia. In vain will one look in
this volume for the younger Soviet
writers-the poets, short story
writer's, novelists and critics who
come from the factories, mills and
collective farms, and who are the
real backbone of the new prole-
tartan art.
Where is, for instance, the work
Of Illenkov, the author of that ex-
cellent novel, The Driving Axel,"
that has just been published by the
International Publishers2 Where
Is the work Of such an older writer
as Panferov the author of "Brus-
ski? Where But then we turn
to the section on poetry and dis
cover that this anthology has in
general very little to do with lit
erattlre and still less with the So
Wet Union. Indeed, most of the
space Is devoted not to the prole-
tartan poets Of the Soviet Union
(who except for one or two are not
even represented in this volume),
but to those poets who have "in-
fluenced' Soviet poetry. These are
land am not kidding: Anna
Achmatova, a sworn enemy of the
Soviet workers, who having fled to
Paris after the workers seized power
in Russia, having severed herself
from the fertile soil that stimulates
artistic creation, has become sterile
and ceased writing altogether; Lev
Gumilev, who was shot by the Boil
sheviks for his participation in a
monarchist plot, and Marina
Tsvetayeva, another enemy of the
Soviet Union.
APPLYING the same aesthetic"
yardstick, Messrs Reavey and
Slonirn, were they to compile an
anthology of American revolution
airy literature, would include in it
such diverse influences" as Ernest
Hemingway and H. L. Mencken,
and keep out, let us say, Jack Con-
roy, author of the "Disinherited,
q pioneer In American revolution
airy writing, or such younger poets
as Vladimir Pillin and Alfred Hays.
George Reavey's failure to feel
the pulse Of revolutionary art is
even obvious in his TRANSACTIONS.
Mayakovski's dynamic poem as
translated by him is nothing but
weak and lukewarm statement
Brigades of dodderers spin
the same old yarns.
Comrades,
To the barricades!
The barricades of hearts and souls
True Communists
burn their bridges of retreat.
Enough of marching futurists,
Into the future leapl
Compare this with Joseph Free
mans translation:
They brag, the old mems brigade,
Of the same old wearisorne goals
Comrades,
To the bsrricades!
Barbados of hearts and souls.
He alone is a Communist true
Who burns the bridge of retreat.
Stop marching slowly Futurists,
Into the future leap
Because Soviet literature is des-
tined to play an important role in
the development of our own Revo-
lutionary literature, there is cry
ing need for real study in the
English language of the new Soviet
creative output. The present vol
ume will not do.
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