Literature of the Americas

2541-7894 2542-243X

IWL RAS

https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2026-20-382-415

Research Article

Articles

Cuban Writers and the Journal International Literature

2026

The paper dwells on the publications dedicated to Cuba and Cuban writers in the journal International Literature and reconstructs the possible circumstances of their appearance in the publication. Nearly all Cuban writers were in personal contact with the editorial board, which largely determined the journal’s portfolio: many publications were based on a specific recommendation or correspondence with a specific author. The article traces the evolution of the reception of Cuban literature in the USSR in the 1930s–1940s using the example of the publication that was the official organ of the Foreign Commission of the Union of Soviet Writers. The early stage of Soviet-Cuban relations, prior to 1943 (before the closure of the Russian edition of International Literature), is examined. The key participants in this dialogue were: on the Soviet side, the editor-in-chief of the journal from 1938 to 1942, T.A. Rokotov, and the referent of the Foreign Commission of the Union of Soviet Writers, F.V. Kelin, from the Cuban side — Juan Marinello, a critic, public figure, and poet who de facto served as a literary emissary and intermediary between Cuba and the Soviet Union. The study draws on materials from the journal International Literature, archival documents from the editorial board and collection of the Union of Soviet Writers, and also includes foreign periodicals.

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