Episodes from the History of American-Soviet Cultural Relations: Stanford Slavic Studies, Volume 5 (1992)

Appearing here for the first time in an English-language translation are four of the illuminating essays, written by the renowned Pasternak scholar, Professor Lazar Fleishman, that are contained in his book, From the History of Russian and Soviet Culture: Documents from the Hoover Institution (Stanford Slavic Studies, Volume 5), published in 1992. These four essays appear in the section of his book, titled “Episodes from the History of American-Soviet Cultural Relations,” which includes the following: (1) “Introduction,” an introductory essay that provides background on the American journalist Joseph Freeman, (2) “Joseph Freeman and Boris Pilnyak,” an essay that explores Freeman’s relationship to, and correspondence with, the controversial Soviet writer during the late 1920s and early 1930s, (3) “In Polemic with Max Eastman,” an essay that examines the growing rift within the Communist movement, in both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., between opposing Stalinist and Trotskyite camps during this same time period, and (4) “Toward a History of Eisenstein’s Mexico Film,” an essay that investigates the difficulties that confronted the famous Soviet film director in 1930-1931 during the shooting of his historical film about Mexican culture and politics. Scholars will be pleased to find that the titles of the works of literary criticism listed in Professor Fleishman’s endnotes, as well as the names of the authors who produced those critical studies, are not only translated, but also transliterated.