Dorothy Thompson’s Travelogue “New Russia”: an Assignment to the USSR

Shcherbinina, Olga S.

doi:10.22455/2541-7894-2017-3-55-66

LoA

2017

DOI: 10.22455/2541-7894-2017-3-55-66

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Dorothy Thompson’s Travelogue “New Russia”: an Assignment to the USSR

Olga S. Shcherbinina¹

Abstract: Аннотация: В статье реконструируются основные события поездки Д. Томпсон в Россию в 1927 г. Восстанавливается хронология ее встреч с именитыми иностранцами, гостями 10-летнего юбилея Октябрьской революции, которые оказали значительное влияние на восприятие американской журналисткой советской действительности. Важным материалом исследования стала переписка Д. Томпсон с С. Льюисом. В ней представлены непосредтсвенные впечатления и переживания автора «Новой России», написанные в режиме реального времени. Сравнив … Show more

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Cited by 3 publications

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“The New Russia” and the Old Offenses: the Scandal around T. Draiser’s and D. Thompson’s Soviet Travelogues

Kuzina

2020

Studia Litterarum

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The article provides a detailed analysis of the circumstances of the literary scandal concerning the publication of two travelogues about Soviet Russia — “Dreiser Looks at Russia” (T. Dreiser) and “New Russia” (D. Thompson) in 1928 — and the plagiarism charges that Thompson put forward against Dreiser. This paper examines the background of this episode and its connection with the events of the subsequent years: the Nobel Prize received by Lewis in 1930 and a dinner at the Metropolitan Club, at which Dreiser gave a slap to Lewis (1931). These episodes are interpreted as the result of the difficult relationship between Dreiser and Lewis built not only on personal hostility but also on the rivalry of the writers of the two generations, one of which is essentially the successor to the other. The conflict of interest between two journalists (Dreiser and Thompson) made the confrontation between two writers (Dreiser and Lewis) obvious. Extensive press materials from 1928–1931 were included in the study. The article discusses all existing versions that explain the presence of literal coincidences in the two travelogues. The article is followed by the publication of the hitherto unpublished letters of Ruth Kennell, which she wrote to Dreiser in 1928–1929 concerning the plagiarism case are published.

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“The New Russia” and the Old Offenses: the Scandal around T. Draiser’s and D. Thompson’s Soviet Travelogues

Kuzina

2020

Studia Litterarum

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“Dear TD”: Ruth Epperson Kennell-Theodore Dreiser Correspondence, 1928-1929

Panova

2021

LoA

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During his travel to the Soviet Union (November 4, 1927 — January 13, 1928) and on his return to the USA Theodore Dreiser was keeping in touch and dealing with Soviet literary institutions, periodicals and his Russian acquaints — publishers, editors, critics, etc. Ruth Epperson Kennell (1889 –1977) played an important role in making and maintaining these contacts in late 1920s-early 1930s. Ruth Kennell, who spent almost ten years in the Soviet Union, was a reference librarian (1925 –1927) in the Comintern Library in Moscow. On November 4, 1927 she got acquainted with Dreiser and was hired by him to serve as his secretary and guide as he toured the Soviet Union. Her role as a “Russian secretary”, personal assistant and friend is depicted in Dreiser’s Russian Diary and Kennell’s memoir Theodore Dreiser and the Soviet Union (1969) as well as in their correspondence that lasted till Dreiser’s death. Kennell continued to take part in Dreiser’s life and creative work in the USA, especially during the years that immediately followed their return from the USSR. The paper dwells at some length on Kennell’s biography, her role in publishing Dreiser’s work in the Soviet Union and USA, her work as an editor, critic and reviewer. Kennel had a long and varied writing career, and Dreiser helped her to start write and publish fiction. Their correspondence portrays Dreiser as a patron taking care of a young author and promoting her work. Kennell’s letters to Dreiser (1928 –1929) stored in the Manusсript Division of A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature are published in the addendum together with the Russian translation of several Dreiser’s letters to Kennell included in Theodore Dreiser: Letters to Women. New Letters (2009).

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Materials of 20th-century American writers in Moscow archives 1917–1941

Panova

2022

Voprosy literatury

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This analytical overview of materials located in Moscow archives is devoted to the history of American literature and the Soviet-American literary connections in the years before World War II (1917–1941). These materials document American writers’ contacts with Soviet and international communist organisations, personally with Joseph Stalin, with cultural and literary institutions. The USSR closely monitored the sentiment among American writers, as evidenced by the corpus of correspondence between Soviet literary functionaries and their informants in the USA. Archives of Soviet publishers offer insights into the process of translating and editing American literature as well as creation of theatrical and film adaptations. Readers’ letters from the 1930s demonstrate the mass audience’s enthusiasm for American literature.

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Dorothy Thompson’s Travelogue “New Russia”: an Assignment to the USSR

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

“The New Russia” and the Old Offenses: the Scandal around T. Draiser’s and D. Thompson’s Soviet Travelogues

“The New Russia” and the Old Offenses: the Scandal around T. Draiser’s and D. Thompson’s Soviet Travelogues

“Dear TD”: Ruth Epperson Kennell-Theodore Dreiser Correspondence, 1928-1929

Materials of 20th-century American writers in Moscow archives 1917–1941

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