“Uljalaevščina” I. Sel’vinskogo v 1924–1927 gg. Rekonstrukcija dopečatnoj istorii poėmy na osnove archivnych istočnikov [Uljalaevščina di Sel’vinskij negli anni 1924-1927. Ricostruzione della storia prestampa del poema sulla base delle fonti d’archivio]

A detailed reconstruction of the history behind the creation and publication\r\nof I. Sel'vinskij’s Uljalaevščina, a narrative poem about the Russian civil war in\r\nthe Urals, following the 1917 revolution. Composed in 1924, Sel'vinskij was\r\nfirst published in 1927 and then underwent numerous alterations by Sel'vinskij,\r\nto a detrimental effect. The 1920s–1930s saw four publications of the poem\r\nas a separate book; the poem was considered a masterpiece of Sel'vinskij’s\r\nand of contemporary Soviet poetic output in general. However, its subsequent\r\npublications in the 1930s were unofficially vetoed up until the early Thaw\r\nyears, when, in 1956, the poem was published again upon radical redrafting\r\nby the author. The scholar makes a meticulous comparison between various\r\narchive versions of Uljalaevščina, comments on textual juxtapositions and\r\nfinds that the poem, conceived as a ‘verse novel’ about the Russian civil war\r\nand the Bolshevik pillaging of rural settlements during the food confiscation\r\ncampaign (prodrazvyorstka), was intentionally rewritten by Sel'vinskij as an\r\nexemplary Soviet epic, which could not but damage the poem’s quality and\r\nintonation.