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In the wake of Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet Union entered a period of relative openness known as the Thaw. Soviet citizens took advantage of the new opportunities to meditate on the nation's turbulent history, from the Bolshevik Revolution, to the Terror, to World War II. Perhaps the most influential of these conversations took place in and around Novyi mir (New World), the most respected literary journal in the country. In The Readers of Novyi Mir, Denis Kozlov shows how the dialogue between literature and readers during the Thaw transformed the intellectual life and political landscape of the Soviet Union. Powerful texts by writers like Solzhenitsyn, Pasternak, and Ehrenburg led thousands of Novyi mir's readers to reassess their lives, entrenched beliefs, and dearly held values, and to confront the USSR's history of political violence and social upheaval. And the readers spoke back. Victims and perpetrators alike wrote letters to the journal, reexamining their own actions and bearing witness to the tragedies of the previous decades. Kozlov's insightful treatment of these confessions, found in Russian archives, and his careful reading of the major writings of the period force today's readers to rethink common assumptions about how the Soviet people interpreted their country's violent past. The letters reveal widespread awareness of the Terror and that literary discussion of its legacy was central to public life during the late Soviet decades. By tracing the intellectual journey of Novyi mir's readers, Kozlov illuminates how minds change, even in a closed society.

Authors and readers --- Literature and society --- Reader-response criticism --- Russian literature --- Russian periodicals --- Terror in literature. --- Terror --- Fear --- Terrorism --- Periodicals --- Reader-oriented criticism --- Reception aesthetics --- Criticism --- Reading --- Readers and authors --- Authorship --- Social aspects --- History. --- Public opinion. --- Novyi mir --- Novy mir --- Новый мир --- Soviet Union --- Советский Союз --- Ber. ha-M. --- Zwia̦zek Socjalistycznych Republik Radzieckich --- Szovjetunió --- TSRS --- Tarybų Socialistinių Respublikų Sąjunga --- SRSR --- Soi︠u︡z Radi︠a︡nsʹkykh Sot︠s︡ialistychnykh Respublik --- SSSR --- Soi︠u︡z Sovetskikh Sot︠s︡ialisticheskikh Respublik --- UdSSR --- Shūravī --- Ittiḥād-i Jamāhīr-i Ishtirākīyah-i Shūrāʼīyah --- Russia (1923- U.S.S.R.) --- Sovetskiy Soyuz --- Soyuz SSR --- Sovetskiĭ Soi︠u︡z --- Soi︠u︡z SSR --- Uni Sovjet --- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics --- USSR --- SSṚM --- Sovetakan Sotsʻialistakan Ṛespublikaneri Miutʻyun --- SSHM --- Sovetakan Sotsʻialistakan Hanrapetutʻyunneri Miutʻyun --- URSS --- Unión de Repúblicas Socialistas Soviéticas --- Berit ha-Moʻatsot --- Rusyah --- Ittiḥād al-Sūfiyītī --- Rusiyah --- Rusland --- Soṿet-Rusland --- Uni Soviet --- Union soviétique --- Zȯvlȯlt Kholboot Uls --- Związek Radziecki --- ESSD --- Sahaphāp Sōwīat --- KhSHM --- SSR Kavširi --- Russland --- SNTL --- PSRS --- Su-lien --- Sobhieṭ Ẏuniẏana --- FSSR --- Unione Sovietica --- Ittiḥād-i Shūravī --- Soviyat Yūniyan --- Russian S.F.S.R. --- History --- Związek Socjalistycznych Republik Radzieckich --- ZSRR --- Związek Socjalistycznych Republik Sowieckich --- ZSRS