Problems of Soviet Literature

Moscow, Leningrad: Co-operative Publishing Society of Foreign Workers in the U.S.S.R., 1935. First edition. Hardcover. g. Octavo. 278 (1)pp. Original red cloth with black lettering on cover and spine. Red top edge. Reports and speeches from the first All-Union of Soviet writers in August 1934. Essay by the "great proletarian author" Maxim Gorky on Soviet Literature with obvious party-line connotations: "The role of the labour processes, which have converted a two-legged animal into man and created the basic elements of culture, has never been investigated as deeply and thoroughly as it deserves. This is quite natural, for such research would not be in the interest of the exploiters of labour." (Gorky). In the introduction the tremendous achievement to include all literature in the languages of national minorities is accentuated. Other contributions include Karl Radek's "Contemporary world literature and the tasks of proletarian art." Illustrated with full-page reproductions of b/w portrait photographs of contributors. Binding rubbed with a few small stains. Previous owner's name inked onto front endpaper. Book block lightly age-toned. Starting at pages 113 and 177. Binding in overall good-, interior in good+ condition.