''The Thaw'' (russian: Оттепель, Ottepel) is a short novel by

Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...

first published in the spring 1954 issue of ''

Novy Mir ''Novy Mir'' (russian: links=no, Новый мир, , ''New World'') is a Russian-language monthly literary magazine. History ''Novy Mir'' has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet ...

''. It coined the name for the Khrushchev Thaw, the period of liberalization following the 1953 death of

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

. The novel marked a break both from Ehrenburg's earlier purely pro-Soviet work, and from previous ideas about

socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is c ...

Summary

The novel follows three main characters: Ivan Vasilievich Zhuravlev, a despotic factory manager, Vladimir Andreevich Pukhov, a painter working for the government, and Saburov, an unsuccessful colleague of Pukhov. Other characters include Vera Sherer, a Jewish doctor who is accused in the

Doctors' plot The "Doctors' plot" affair, group=rus was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. In 1951–1953, a gr ...

Reception

The novel was very successful, selling all 45,000 copies of the first edition in a single day. It drew criticism from the authorities for mentioning the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...

and other negative aspects of Stalinism; in late 1954 the Second Congress of Soviet Writers harshly criticized it, along with

Vera Panova Vera Fyodorovna Panova (russian: Вера Фёдоровна Панова; – March 3, 1973) was a Soviet novelist, playwright, and journalist. She was a recipient of the Stalin Prize in 1947, 1948, and 1950. Early life Vera was born into the f ...

's novel ''The Seasons'' and

Leonid Zorin Leonid Genrikhovich Zorin (russian: Леонид Генрихович Зорин; 3 November 1924 – 31 March 2020) was an Azerbaijani playwright. He was born in Baku, Soviet Union, and studied at Azerbaijan University and at the Maxim Gorky Lite ...

's play ''Guests''.

Konstantin Simonov Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov, born Kirill Mikhailovich Simonov (russian: link= no, Константин Михайлович Симонов, – 28 August 1979), was a Soviet author, war poet, playwright and wartime correspondent, arguabl ...

, then secretary of the

Union of Writers of the USSR The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers (russian: Союз писателей СССР, translit=Soyuz Sovetstikh Pisatelei) was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded ...

, accused Ehrenburg "of caricaturing ... artistic life." However, Ehrenburg was given a chance to defend himself in the ''Literaturnaya Gazeta''. It was translated into English by Manya Harari and published in 1955 by Regnery in the US and

Harvill Press Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

in the UK.

References

External links

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in Russian {{DEFAULTSORT:Thaw, The 1954 novels Socrealist novels Novels about political repression in the Soviet Union Novels set in the Stalin era