Марк Твен. Избранные произведения. / Под ред. и со вступ. ст. А. Старцева.
Москва: Государственное издательство художественной литературы (ГИХЛ), 1937.
504, [2] с., ил. Издательский коленкоровый переплёт с тиснением, энциклопедический формат (26,5 × 18,7 см).
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Mark Twain. Selected Works (Izbrannye proizvedeniia). / Ed. and intro by A. Startsev.
Moscow: State Publishing House of Fiction (GIKhL), 1937.
504, [2] pp., illustrated. Publisher’s cloth binding with embossing, enlarged format (26.5 × 18.7 cm).
This 1937 edition is a quintessential example of pre-war Soviet book production, published by GIKhL (the State Publishing House of Fiction). During the late 1930s, Mark Twain held a unique position in the USSR; he was celebrated not only as a master of humor but as a fierce social critic and a "friend of the common man," making his works a staple of the Soviet literary canon.
The volume is anchored by the definitive critical essay "Mark Twain and America" by Abel Startsev, a leading Soviet Americanist. This scholarly introduction frames Twain’s humor within the context of American frontier realism and social struggle. The collection brings together his most iconic Mississippi River trilogy: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and the autobiographical Life on the Mississippi.