O predislovjach i posleslovijach vvobščhe i o dvuch romanach v častnosti [15-11-1937] - [D048]

Concise description of the directive:

Forewords and afterwords in books by foreign authors published in Russian are certainly useful and important. Even if the works speak for themselves and their authors are famous, the reader will be pleased to find an article in the book that explains the main idea of the work, its artistic value, and its place in the literature and art of this writer. It is especially important if the author is little known to the Soviet writer. Unfortunately, prefaces are often written more for the sake of the publishers than the readers. In some cases (Claude Aveline’s example is given), the publishing house only includes the writer’s own introduction to his work without a Soviet preface illustrating the author’s ideological growth and the roots of his ideology that made him join the ranks of the anti-fascist struggle. In other cases, which is even worse, the publishing house publishes the book with a preface/postface while that book should not be published at all. In this case (Roger Versel’s example), the author of the afterword should point out all the book’s flaws, rather than trying to invent justifications for it. Versel’s book is a blatant example of how a publishing house tries to justify the publication of a book. Furthermore, the preface or afterword should always be considered as a critical article. Here, too, we must behave like relentless Soviet critics. Then we will no longer have the problem of prefaces in which a decisive conclusion is replaced by lyrical suggestions.