The Novel of a Novel

By Ervin Sinkó - Edited and translated by George Deák

One of the first critiques of Stalinism from within the communist movement, The Novel of a Novel is a memoir in the form of a journal. It was first published in Yugoslavia in 1955 based on the journal, letters, clippings, and other materials kept by the Hungarian-Jewish novelist Ervin Sinkó during his two years in Moscow between 1935 and 1937, years in which the Soviet cultural policy of the Popular Front was giving way to the Great Terror. Sinkó and his wife travelled to the home of socialism with great hopes. He had just completed his novel Optimists on the Hungarian Revolutions of 1918-1919 but could not find a publisher for it in Depression-era Paris. He went to Moscow at the urging of Romain Rolland and at the invitation of VOKS, both promoters of the Soviet Union as the center of a new civilization. Sinkó's optimism however soon gave way to grave doubts. Fearful publishers kept him in limbo and starving despite the support that Sinkó had from Béla Kun and Alfred Kurella of the Comintern. Sinkó deplored the over-centralization of cultural policy, attacks against the avant-guard, the forcing of Socialist Realism, the cult of Stalin, the reverses on abortion, the development of a privileged class of managers and Stakhanovist workers, and finally, the advent of the show trials. He tried to understand these developments through conversations with a great many people of the German and Hungarian communist diasporas, the visiting French Left, and local Russians among whom he was allowed to live. In the second year of his stay, the Sinkós shared an apartment with the writer Isaac Babel and his wife, Pirizhkova. The story of the tragic misunderstanding that ensued between the two men reveals much about Babel's difficult situation and about the limits of Sinkó's understanding of the Terror. The Sinkós were fortunate to be expelled from the country. But even back in France, Sinkó was prevented by his fear of the fascist threat from openly criticizing the Soviet Union. It was a miracle that the couple survived both the terror and the Holocaust.

Translator's Introduction: Ervin Sinkó and the Dilemmas of an Optimist, George DeákAcknowledgmentsNote on ConventionsPart IChapter 1: By Way of IntroductionChapter 2: As if By MiracleChapter 3: Károlyi Goes into Action, and Two Letters from Switzerland in Quick SuccessionChapter 4: Comrade Arosev and the Strange Parisian Career of OptimistsChapter 5: The Journal Europe and Further Friendly Letters from VilleneuveChapter 6: The Dream Come True: On The Way to MoscowChapter 7: Idyllic Intermezzo: From Rouen to LeningradChapter 8: On the Way to Moscow, The Same Night on the TrainPart IIChapter 9: Preliminary ExplanationChapter 10: Growing Amazements, Growing ConcernsChapter 11: Béla KunChapter 12: The Adventures of Optimists and of its Author are Just BeginningChapter 13: The Happy Life and GratitudeChapter 14: Gorky, Rolland, and a Word about BarbussePart IIIChapter 15: Nighttime Thoughts, or Letter to My Yet Unborn FriendChapter 16: While the Censors WriteChapter 17: My Incurable Individualism and an Unforgettable LessonChapter 18: In Black and WhiteChapter 19: "One Must Get Used to Life"Chapter 20: In a Foreign Land...Part IVChapter 21: Commentary on Three Months, which are Only Summarized by the JournalChapter 22: "Degenerate Art"Chapter 23: Comrade Bukharin Must Correct his ViewsChapter 24: Andor Gábor, the New Censor of OptimistsChapter 25: André Malraux and the Marxist EncyclopediaChapter 26: I am Beginning to "Understand" BabelChapter 27: The Optimists Makes Propaganda for ZinovievChapter 28: The Screenplay for MosfilmChapter 29: A Human Trait Has Been LostPart VChapter 30: The Last But Most Eventful Part, Ending in ParisChapter 31: Brief, Happy Excitement but "The Times Are Unfavorable"Chapter 32: The Soviet Union, Seen from the Perspective of Madame Lupescu's KingdomChapter 33: "These Mad Dogs Must Be Shot"Chapter 34: Proof of the Author's BlindnessChapter 35: FuneralChapter 36: The Friendly Visits of Comrade LopuhinaChapter 37: My Witness, I. E. BabelChapter 38: "Now Nothing Can Be Know For Sure"Chapter 39: Two Years LaterChapter 40: On the Meeting of Romain Rolland with StalinEpiloguePostscriptAnother PostscriptAbout the Editor and Translator