“Recommendatory” A.P. Chekhov: bibliographical indexes as a factor of the formation of A.P. Chekhov’s literary Reputation in the 1920–1950s

https://doi.org/10.26907/2658-3321.2022.5.3.277-299

Abstract

The study of bibliographic indexes of literature about A.P. Chekhov, published in the 1920–1950s, are an integral part of the source studies of all modern Chekhovian scholars who are interested in this period in the history of Russian literary criticism. The auxiliary potential of these sources is high. However, a view on the lists of references as a valuable and in many ways indicative source allows us to regard these indexes as an important factor in the formation of the literary reputation of A.P. Chekhov in the post-revolutionary period. On the one hand, bibliographies were a consequence of the work of Chekhovian studies carried out by Soviet literary scholars and critics: this included methodological searches, the selection of books and articles that corresponded to the Marxist aesthetic paradigm etc. On the other hand, most recommendatory bibliographies were oriented towards the mass reader, and for them, acquaintance with the work and biography of A.P. Chekhov began precisely with recommendations on which articles and monographs are worthy of attention, and which should be taken critically, as examples of "bourgeois", "liberal" and other views. As Soviet Chekhovian studies developed, the lists were transformed, and as a result, the image of A.P. Chekhov transformed in the eyes of readers who were guided by these lists. This article is devoted to the peripeteias, logic and results of these literary and reputational transformations.