Megalomania in Acute Form: Irving Stone’s Soviet Journey, 1962, and His Reputation in the USSR
- Issue:
- Received: 08 Sept. 2025
- Approved after reviewing: 17 Oct. 2025
- Date of publication: 25 Dec. 2025
- УДК / UDK: 821.111(73).0+821.161.1Р.0
- Publication Type: Research Article
- DOI:
- EDN:
- Abstract:
Irving Stone (1903–1989), American writer chiefly known for his biographical novels, became popular in the USSR in early 1960s when his books on Jack London (Sailor on Horseback, 1938; Russian edition 1960) and on Vincent Van Gogh (Lust for Life, 1934; Russian edition 1961) were published in Russian translation. On the basis of Soviet press and archived materials from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) the paper studies Stone’s visit to the USSR in October 1962 (that was part of Lacу–Zarubin exchange and coincided with the Cuban Missile Crisis), his Soviet contacts (including his participation in a series of Soviet-American writers’ roundtable peace conferences in 1977–1980s in Moscow, New York City, Batumi, Kiev, Los Angeles), Soviet book editions and his literary reputation in the USSR, from the restrained and critical attitude in early 1960s up to 1989 when in the end Stone was recognized as a “friend of the Soviet Union.” The Addendum contains archived materials that document Stone’s 1962 visit to the USSR.
- Keywords: Soviet-American literary connections, writer’s visit, Irving Stone, biographical novel, reception, Soviet Writers’ Union, Thaw.
- For citation:
Panova, Olga. “Megalomania in Acute Form: Irving Stone’s Soviet Journey, 1962, and His Reputation in the USSR.” Literature of the Americas, no. 19 (2025): 362–399. https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2025-19-362-399
- References:
Bannikov 1961 — Bannikov, Nikolay. “Irving Stone. Muki i vostorg. Povest’ o Mikel’andzhelo” [“Irving Stone. The Agony and the Ecstasy. A Review”] Sovremennaia hudozhestvennaia literatura za rubezhom. Informacionnyi biulleten’ [Contemporary Fiction Abroad. Information Bulletin]. Moscow: VGBIL Publ., no. 2 (1961): 55–56. (In Russ.)
Brown 1962 — Brown, Deming. Soviet Attitudes Toward American Writing. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1962.
Buinova 2021 — Buinova, Kristina R. “‘Tipichnye burzhuaznye intelligenty’ i ‘bol’shie druzia Sovetskogo Soiuza’: pisateli Latinskoi Ameriki v SSSR vremen ottepeli” [“‘Typical Bourgeois Intellectuals’ and ‘Great Friends of the Soviet Union’: Latin American Writers in the USSR During the Thaw”]. Koncept: filosofija, religija, kul’tura 3 (2021): 162–176. (In Russ.)
Golubev 2004 — Golubev, Aleksandr V. “Vzgliad na zemliu obetovannuiu”: iz istorii sovetskoi kul’turnoi diplomatii [“A Look at the Promised Land”: From the History of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy]. Moscow: IRH RAS Publ., 2004. (In Russ.)
Golubtsova 2023 — Golubtsova, Anastasia V. Italianskie gosti SSSR. Russkii I sovetskii mif v travelogah italianskih pisatelei [Italian Guests of the USSR. Russian and Soviet Myth in the Travelogues of Italian Writers]. Moscow: Litfact Publ., 2023. (In Russ.)
David-Fox 2015 — David-Fox, Michael. Vitriny velikogo eksperimenta. Kul’turnaia diplomatia Sovetskogo Soiuza i ego zapadnye gosti, 1921–1941 gody [Showcasing the Great Experiment. Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921–1941]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2015. (In Russ.)
Fedorenko 1984 — Fedorenko, Nikolay. “Kaliforniiskie kontrasty (K itogam konferencii sovetskih i amerikanskih pisatelei)” [“Californian Contrasts (On the Results of the Conference of Soviet and American Writers)”]. Voprosy literatury, no. 9 (1984): 29–50. (In Russ.)
Fedorenko 1982 — Fedorenko, Nikolay. “Prodolzhenie dialoga (Piataia vstrecha sovetskih i amerikanskih pisatelei)” [“Continuation of the Dialogue (Fifth Meeting of Soviet and American Writers)”]. Voprosy liteartury, no. 11 (1982): 49–70. (In Russ.)
Kulikova 2013 — Kulikova, Galina B. Novyi mir glazami starogo. Sovetskaia Rossia 1920–1930-h godov glazami zapadnyh intellektualov. Ocherki dokumentirovannoi istorii [The New World Through the Eyes of the Old. Soviet Russia of the 1920s and 1930s Through the Eyes of Western Intellectuals. Essays on Documented History]. Moscow: IRH RAS Publ., 2013. (In Russ.)
Paltsev 1974 — Paltsev, Nikolay. “Irving Stoun. Strasti intellekta” [“Irving Stone. Passions of the Intellect. A Review”]. Sovremennaia hudozhestvennaia literatura za rubezhom. Informacionnyi sbornik. Obzory. Recenzii. Annotacii [Contemporary Fiction Abroad. Information Collection. Reviews. Criticisms. Annotations]. Moscow: Progress Publ., 1974, no. 2 (104): 48–50. (In Russ.)
Soviet Cultural Diplomacy 2018 — Sovetskaia kul’turnaia diplomatiia v usloviiakh holodnoi voiny. 1945–1989 [Soviet Cultural Diplomacy during the Cold War. 1945–1989]. Edited by O.S. Nagornaya. Moscow: Political Encyclopedia Publ., 2018. (In Russ.)
Tolmatchoff 2009 — Tolmatchoff, Vassili M. “Tvorchestvo R. Frosta i ego stihotvorenie ‘Zimnim vecherom u lesa’” [The Works by R. Frost and His Poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’”]. Vestnik PSTU. Series III “Philology,” no. 4 (18) (2009): 34–55. (In Russ.)
