POPULAR FICTION IN THE USSR DURING THE “BOOK DEFICIT” PERIOD. POPULARITY CRITERIA AND PUBLISHING POLICY ASPECTS

The article is an attempt at a brief overview of popular works of fi ction and some of the publishing policy aspects in the Soviet Union during the period between the Khrushchev Thaw and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Disintegration of the Soviet ideology predates the actual disintegration of the USSR by several years and, in the author’s opinion, the period after 1988 can be viewed as the initial stage of the post- Soviet period. The article omits non-fi ction books, banned books, books that were not published offi cially and the related phenomenon of “samizdat” (self-publishing). The most popular genres during the period were: history, adventure, detective, science fi ction, biopics, as well as children’s books, limited-e dition publications of works by dissidents and politically unreliable/ disloyal authors, books by prominent foreign authors (especially authors of the 20th century) that were household names in the USSR, and works of fi ction made into fi lms (Soviet fi lm adaptations were especially popular). Special attention is given to “makulatura” book series (books that could be obtained in exchange for collected waste paper). The work also analyzes paid subscription series, some principles of book sales, bookcrossing and selection of authors for publication. The work discusses the phenomenon of literary magazines as the author considers that this phenomenon justifi es the adage describing the Soviet Union as “the world’s most reading nation”. The work dwells on the factors contributing to the “book defi cit”, an expressly Soviet phenomenon which existed in spite of signifi cant print runs. It should be noted that the “book defi cit” was not a widespread phenomenon and was only associated with certain authors/categories of books. Due to their popularity - and rarity - such books in the Soviet society were considered to be collection items and “status symbols” that possessed high exchange value.