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.

Table of Contents:
Translator’s Introduction: Ervin Sinkó and the Dilemmas of an Optimist, George Deák Acknowledgments Note on Conventions Part I Chapter 1: By Way of Introduction Chapter 2: As if By Miracle Chapter 3: Károlyi Goes into Action, and Two Letters from Switzerland in Quick Succession Chapter 4: Comrade Arosev and the Strange Parisian Career of Optimists Chapter 5: The Journal Europe and Further Friendly Letters from Villeneuve Chapter 6: The Dream Come True: On The Way to Moscow Chapter 7: Idyllic Intermezzo: From Rouen to Leningrad Chapter 8: On the Way to Moscow, The Same Night on the Train Part II Chapter 9: Preliminary Explanation Chapter 10: Growing Amazements, Growing Concerns Chapter 11: Béla Kun Chapter 12: The Adventures of Optimists and of its Author are Just Beginning Chapter 13: The Happy Life and Gratitude Chapter 14: Gorky, Rolland, and a Word about Barbusse Part III Chapter 15: Nighttime Thoughts, or Letter to My Yet Unborn Friend Chapter 16: While the Censors Write Chapter 17: My Incurable Individualism and an Unforgettable Lesson Chapter 18: In Black and White Chapter 19: “One Must Get Used to Life" Chapter 20: In a Foreign Land... Part IV Chapter 21: Commentary on Three Months, which are Only Summarized by the Journal Chapter 22: "Degenerate Art" Chapter 23: Comrade Bukharin Must Correct his Views Chapter 24: Andor Gábor, the New Censor of Optimists Chapter 25: André Malraux and the Marxist Encyclopedia Chapter 26: I am Beginning to "Understand" Babel Chapter 27: The Optimists Makes Propaganda for Zinoviev Chapter 28: The Screenplay for Mosfilm Chapter 29: A Human Trait Has Been Lost Part V Chapter 30: The Last But Most Eventful Part, Ending in Paris Chapter 31: Brief, Happy Excitement but "The Times Are Unfavorable" Chapter 32: The Soviet Union, Seen from the Perspective of Madame Lupescu's Kingdom Chapter 33: "These Mad Dogs Must Be Shot" Chapter 34: Proof of the Author's Blindness Chapter 35: Funeral Chapter 36: The Friendly Visits of Comrade Lopuhina Chapter 37: My Witness, I. E. Babel Chapter 38: "Now Nothing Can Be Know For Sure" Chapter 39: Two Years Later Chapter 40: On the Meeting of Romain Rolland with Stalin Epilogue Postscript Another Postscript About the Editor and Translator