“Literary” Ugliness in Russia

The Russian Republic’s section of the Union of Soviet Writers has become known as an enclave of nationalist xenophobia. A partial transcript, printed in Ogonek 48, 1989, of its sixth plenary session demonstrated this orientation. The following text combines cited and paraphrased excerpts from Ogonek, with explanatory notes where necessary. The first group of comments refers to the publication, in the monthly magazine Oktyabr (October), of a five-page excerpt from Andrey Sinyaysky’...