Set in the heady atmosphere of revolutionary Moscow, The Twenties is the young poet and communist Varlam Shalamov’s celebration of the new culture of the Revolution, the brave crazy brilliance of his generation of writers, the mass poetry readings, the boundless optimism and creativity. Shalamov writes of them all with the wonderful subtlety and empathy and humour that secured him his place with these dazzling new talents, and have made him known as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. Unpublished when it was written in 1962, and until now barely discussed, this first English-language edition of The Twenties, translated, edited and introduced by Cathy Porter, is an exceptional document of the revolutionary and avant-garde Soviet twenties from the author of Kolyma Tales.

Shalamov describes the eventful poetry readings of Mayakovsky, the debates of Alexander Voronsky, the lectures of Lunacharsky, the collective performances of the Proletkult, and his meetings with Osip Brik and Sergey Tretyakov. He also writes about the tragedies of Boris Pilnyak, Isaac Babel, and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Longer portraits alternate with short sketches and snapshot images. Extraordinary Metropolitan Vvedensky, of the Living Church; Boris Yuzhanin, founder of the Blue Blouse Collective; Esenin’s mentor, the peasant poet Nikolai Klyuev; anarchist turned RAPP ideologue Judah Grossmann; poet, improviser and occultist Boris Zubakin; Tatar poet and future Partisan Musa Jalil, and two hundred other exceptional characters. These recollections include those of Larisa Reisner and Vera Inber, discussions with Boris Pasternak and a description of the ‘Down with Shame!’ nudist rally.

As Cathy Porter writes in her exhaustive introduction, Shalamov’s twenties were “riveting, ridiculous, marvellous.” The people that Shalamov remembers were “the crazy, brave, extraordinary stars of the new culture who make the work so unforgettable and moving.”

Varlam Shalamov (1907-1982), who had studied law in the 1920s, was writing poetry and was a member of the Left Opposition, illegally printing and distributing Trotskyist anti-Stalinist samizdats, for which he was sent to Kolyma labour camps. He is best known for his Kolyma Tales, which describe the inhuman trials, incredible suffering and monstrous crimes endured during his twenty years in the Gulag. Despite this, Shalamov never joined the anti-communist religious émigré ranks of Solzhenitsyn and refused to play by the rules of Cold War politics. 

Cathy Porter has given Shalamov a new life with her brilliant translation of The Twenties and her engaging and passionate introduction, which contextualises his poetry and politics side by side.

Designed and illustrated by Ott Kagevere, The Twenties is printed on a silk screen cover in an edition of 1000.