After 1930 the industrialization of Russia had offered writers new arguments: e.g., the five-year plan, cf. Gidrocentral ′ (The water plant), by Marietta Šaginjan, Sot ′, by L. Leonov, Den ′ vtoroj (The second day) by I. Erenburg, Vremja, vpered (Time ahead) by V. Kataev. Soon the political horizon began to cloud over and, in the face of the succession of political and war events in China, Africa, Spain, Soviet literature was put in a state of alarm. Pages of omens and admonitions were then written, which psychologically prepared for the next fight; the concept of “socrealism” (socialist realism) was increasingly affirmed in contrast to that of “bourgeois formalism”. One of the most popular genres was the historical novel, which had its equivalent in historical film. The writers in these novels approach the material from the point of view of our time and some even make the mistake of attributing today’s political ideas and expressions to their heroes. In the past, the reasons for the present have been discovered; thus is found the logic of the revolution with its distant causes. Above all, the novelist carries out a revision of Russian historical figures to highlight the traits of the national character and to incite patriotism with valid examples. The historical novel is also the consequence of a wide interest in documents and “factography” (memoirs, diarîs, stenograms, protocols). There is no character in history who has not by now entered this Soviet gallery: the leaders of the peasant uprisings against feudal oppression (Stepan Razin of AP Čapygin, Emel ′ jan Puga è ev by V. Šiškov, Pov ě st ′ or Bolotnikove “Story about Bolotnikov” by Georgij Štorm), the luminaries of Russian culture (Štorm narrates of Lomonosov, Ol′ga Forš of Radiščev, Ju. Tynjanov of Griboedov and Pushkin), the heroes of the civil war (Parchomenko by Vs. Ivanov). As the conflict approaches, the number of these re-enactments increases. The figure of Ivan the Terrible is re-evaluated by Alexei Tolstoy. Others describe the times of the Tatar invasions (Č ingis – chan and Batyj by V. Jan), the liberation from the Tatars and the victory on the Kulikovo field (Dmitrij Donskoj di S. Borodin), the era of troubles from the death of Boris Godunov to the struggle of the militias of Pozharsky and Minin against the Poles (Minin V. Sklovskij’s Po ž arskij), the victories of Suvorov (historical poem Suvorov by K. Simonov), the defeat of Napoleon (Fel ′ dmar š al Kutuzov by V. Solov′ev), the defense of Sevastopol (Sevastopol ′ skaja strada “The martyrdom of Sevastopol” by SN Sergeev-Censky), the heroism of the Russian sailors in Cusima (Cusima by AS Novikov-Priboj). When the Germans attacked Russia on June 22, 1941, Soviet literature multiplied the so-called “operative” genres: publicistic poetry, agitka, documentary sketches, polemical articles, war cinescenaries and above all posters with text in verse; the famous “Finestre della Tass” which were linked to the “Finestre della Rosta”, designed by V. Mayakovskij during the civil struggle. Many writers actively participated in the conflict and the war was for many a school of poetry: in those years A. Tvardovskij, M. Isakovskii, A. Surkov, K. Simonov, S. Shčipačev established themselves. In the new Soviet poetry, whose brief tradition goes back to poems, How Well! and Lenin by Mayakovskij, there are no longer any sediments from schools prior to the revolution, but rather the influence of the classics and especially of N. Nekrasov. Nekrasov’s realism was already reflected in Mayakovsky’s publicist verses, his interest in peasant folklore now returns in many new poets, including Tvardovsky and Prokof′ev. Soviet war poetry is all founded on four or five dominant ideas: the homeland, socialist humanism, the Russian character, the love of life, the greatness of the past. These ideas are found in P. Antokol′skij, in V. Inber, in Ol′ga Berggol′c, in the poem Zoja by Margarita Aliger, dedicated to the memory of the partisan Zoja Kosmodem′janskaja, in the poem Kirov s nami (Kirov with us) by Nikolai Tikhonov, in which the poet imagines that Sergei Mironovich Kirov, “herald of the Soviet century”, wanders around besieged Leningrad at night. Wartime prose is for the most part made up of articles, correspondence from the front, occasional feuilletons. Among the novels we cite Raduga (Rainbow) by Vanda Vasilevskaja, Nepokorenniye (The indomitable) by B. Gorbatov, Narod bessmerten (The people are immortal) by V. Grossman, Dni i no è i (Days and nights) by K. Simonov. Among the dramas, always of patriotic theme: Russkie ljudi (Russian people) by Simonov, Front by A. Kornejčuk and Naš estvie (Invasion) by L. Leonov. A gradual demobilization of literature is taking place in Russia today, we are returning to themes of peace, to rural reasons: the life of the kolkhozes, sowing, village festivals. Leafing through the magazines, one encounters lyrics dedicated to the Slavic brotherhood, to the exotic districts of the Union, to the exaltation of illustrious Russian men, to war memories, to the return of heroes (eg the poem Flag nad sel ′ sovetom, ” The flag on the rural soviet “, 1947, by Alexei Nedogonov).
