Oleg E. Osovskii, DSc in Philology, Professor, Principal Researcher, M.E. Evsevyev Mordovia State Pedagogical University, Studencheskaya Street, 11a, 430007, Saransk, Russia. E-mail: osovskiy_oleg@mail.ru
This article examines the reception of M.M. Bakhtin’s book on Rabelais in the 1960s, based on reviews in the newspapers “Moskovsky Komsomolets” and “Sovetskaya Mordovia”, and the journals “Voprosy Literatury”, “Teatr”, and others. It analyzes the atmosphere in which the manuscript was prepared and N.M. Lyubimov’s and K.A. Fedin’s reactions to its publication. Special attention is paid to the reception of Bakhtin’s work by L.E. Pinsky, A.A. Anikst, G.S. Pomerants and L.M. Batkin. The author introduces into scientific circulation newly discovered materials from M.M. Bakhtin’s personal archive, other document repositories and hard-to-reach sources.
M.M. Bakhtin; history of reception; “thaw”; “The work of François Rabelais and the popular culture of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance”; Soviet literary studies and criticism of the 1960s; newspaper and magazine periodicals; archives.
25.10.2025
26.11.2025
Osovskii, O.E. “Panurge’s Laughter in Thaw-era Moscow: From the History of Reception of Rabelais Book in 1960s”. Literaturoved-cheskii zhurnal, no. 1(71), 2026, pp. 49–68. (In Russ.)
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2. Batkin, L.M. “Pis’mo I.G. Ehrenburgu” [“Letter to I.G. Ehrenburg”]. Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva. Fond 1204. Opis’ 2. Edinitsa khra-neniya 1261. 22 p. (In Russ.)
3. Batkin, L.M. “Smekh Panurga i filosofiya kul’tury” [“Panurge’s Laughter and the Philosophy of Culture”]. M.M. Bakhtin: pro et contra. Lichnost’ i tvorchestvo M.M. Bakhtina v otsenke russkoi i mirovoi gumanitarnoi mysli [Bakhtin’s Perso-nality and Work in Evaluation of the Russian and the World Humanitarian Thought]. Vol. 1. St Petersburg, Russkii Khristianskii gumanitarnyi institut Publ., 2001, pp. 398–412. (In Russ.)
4. Bakhtin, M.M. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected Works]: in 6(7) vols. Moscow, Russkie slovari Publ., Yazyki slavyanskich kul’tur Publ., 1996–2012. (In Russ.)
5. Bakhtin, M.M. Tvorchestvo Fransua Rable i narodnaya kul’tura srednevekov’ya i Renessansa [The Works of François Rabelais and the Popular Culture of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1965, 543 p. (In Russ.)
6. Berkov, P., Bilinkis, Ya. et al. “Sovetskaya literaturnaya nauka i klassicheskoe nasledie” [“Soviet Literary Science and the Classical Heritage”]. Voprosy litera-tury, no. 9, 1967, pp. 3–73. (In Russ.)
7. Gurevich, A. Ya. Istoriya istorika [The History of a Historian]. St Petersburg, Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ Publ., 2012, 285 p. (In Russ.)
8. Dubrovskaya, S.A. “‘Za poslednie dvadtsat’ let ya nichego ne chital stol’ znachitel’nogo…’: L.E. Pinskii v dialoge s M.M. Bakhtinym” [“‘For the last twenty years i have read nothing so significant…’: L.E. Pinsky in the Dialogue with M.M. Bakhtin”]. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 1(63), 2024, pp. 41–64. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.31249/litzhur/2024.63.03
9. Eremina S. “I vchera… i zavtra” [“And Yesterday… and Tomorrow”]. Moskovskii komsomolets, no. 58(8374), March 11, 1966, p. 4. (In Russ.)
10. Eremina, S. “I vchera… i zavtra” [“And Yesterday… and Tomorrow”]. Rossiiskaya gosudarstvennaya biblioteka. Otdel rukopisei. Fond 913. Opis’ 47. Edinitsa khra-neniya 5. 2 p. (In Russ.)
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12. Lyubimov, N.M. Neuvyadayemyi tsvet: Kniga vospominanii [The Unfading Flower: A Book of Memories]: in 3 vols. Vol. 2. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoi kul’tury Publ., 2004, 512 p. (In Russ.)
13. Nikolaev, N.I. “O nekotorykh momentakh predystorii ‘Problem poehtiki Dosto-evskogo’ M.M. Bakhtina (Pomety L.V. Pumpyanskogo v knige M.M. Bakhtina ‘Problemy tvorchestva Dostoevskogo’. L.: Priboi, 1929)” [“On Some Features of the Pre-History of Mikhail Bakhtin’s ‘Problems of Dostoyevsky’s Poetics’ (Lev Pumpyansky’s Marks on Bakhtin’s 1929 Book ‘Problems of Dostoyevsky’s Creation’)”]. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 1(63), 2024, pp. 25–40. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.31249/litzhur/2024.63.02
14. Osovskii, O.E. “‘I volki marksizma suty, i ovtsy idealizma tsely’: pervaya retseptsiya ‘Problem tvorchestva Dostoyevskogo’ v Rossii” [“‘And the wolves of marxism are fed, and the sheep of idealism are safe…’: The First Reception of ‘Problems of Dostoevsky’s Cretive Art’ in Russia”]. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 1(67), 2025, pp. 60–79. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.31249/litzhur/2025.67.04
15. Osovskii, O.E., Dubrovskaya, S.A., Maslova, Е.G., Strukova, A.V. Myslitel’ v svoem otechestve: stranitsy istorii retseptsii lichnosti i idei M.M. Bakhtina v XX – nachale XXI veka [A Thinker in His Own Country: Pages from the History of the Reception of M.M. Bakhtin’s Personality and Ideas in the Twentieth – Early Twenty-first Century]. Saransk, Izdatel’stvo Mordovskogo universiteta Publ., 2024, 240 p. (In Russ.)
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18. Pinskii, L.E. “Pis’ma i telegrammy k Bakhtinu M.M. 1960–1970. Moskva” [“Letters and Telegrams to Bakhtin M.M. 1960–1970. Moscow”]. Rossiiskaya gosudarstvennaya biblioteka. Otdel rukopisei. Fond 913. Opis’ 12. Edinitsa khra-neniya 23. 40 p. (In Russ.)
19. Pinskii, L.E. “Rable v novom osveshchenii” [“Rabelais in a New Light”]. Voprosy literatury, no. 6, 1966, pp. 202–206. (In Russ.)
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25. Fedin, K.A. “Pis’mo i telegramma k Bakhtinu. 1960, 1970. Moskva” [“Letter and Telegram to Bakhtin. 1960, 1970. Moscow”]. Rossiiskaya gosudarstvennaya biblio-teka. Otdel rukopisei. Fond 913. Opis’ 14. Edinitsa khraneniya 23. 3 p. (In Russ.)
26. Fedin, K.A. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected Works]: in 10 vols. Vol. 9. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1973, 608 p. (In Russ.)
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