The Russian Revolution and Communism in “The Criterion”

Abstract

The article aims to outline the reception of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and its consequences in the Western cultural context, first and foremost, in the circles connected to the “international” modernism. The author turns to the materials on the Revolution in the journal The Criterion (1922–1939) including poetry, fiction, analytical essays, public discussions, editorial commentaries, reviews, reviews of periodicals, etc. Particular attention is paid to the perception of the Russian Revolution in the works of the journal editor, T.S. Eliot. The image of the Russian Revolution is considered as a part of the mythologeme of the “waste land” (the poem “The Waste Land” was published in the first issue of the journal in 1922). The other issues under consideration are the parodic narration of the collective panic and the expectations for the revolutionary events in the story “On the Eve: Dialogue” (1925), the analysis of the Russian cataclysms from the geopolitical point of view in The Criterion’s editorial commentaries, the polemics on Communism at the turn of the 1920–30-s (“Mr. Barnes and Mr. Rose”), etc. The author of the article summarizes a number of names and texts producing ideas and forming the representations of Russia after 1917. One of the topics deals with the works by John Cournos, a “Russian” author of the journal.

Keywords

• russian revolution
• communism
• journal “criterion”
• t.s eliot
• john cournos
• v.i. lenin
• l.d. trotsky
• russian literature
• international modernism