The Thaw by Ilya Ehrenburg
"The Thaw" by Ilya Ehrenburg is a novel that departs from traditional storytelling by presenting a series of character portraits set in a small Soviet town where lives are deeply interconnected. Central to the narrative is Dmitri Koroteyev, an engineer whose personal struggles with love and loss unfold against the backdrop of a factory-driven society. His unrequited affection for Lena, the wife of his factory director Ivan Zhuravliov, depicts the complexities of marital and romantic relationships in a repressive environment. Meanwhile, the character Volodya Pukhov embodies a cynical artist navigating the constraints of Socialist Realism, contrasting with Saburov, who remains dedicated to genuine artistic expression despite societal pressures.
Published in 1954, shortly after Stalin's death, "The Thaw" symbolizes a cultural shift in the Soviet Union, highlighting personal crises rather than the state-mandated heroism typical of the era. This deviation from Socialist Realism was considered revolutionary, indicating a gradual loosening of control over artistic expression. The title itself reflects this broader societal transformation, as characters begin to "warm up" to life and each other, aligning with the socio-political thaw occurring in post-Stalinist Russia. The novel not only resonated with readers but also inspired subsequent writers, marking a significant moment in Soviet literature.
The Thaw by Ilya Ehrenburg
First published:Ottepel, 1954 (English translation, 1955)
Type of work: Social criticism
Time of work: The early 1950’s
Locale: A small town in the Soviet Union
Principal Characters:
Dmitri Koroteyev , an engineerIvan Zhuravliov , a factory directorLena Zhuravliov , Ivan’s wifeVolodya Pukhov , andSaburov , artists
The Novel
The Thaw is not a novel in the usual sense but rather a series of character portraits united by the fact that all the people involved in the story live in a small town and lead intertwined lives. Dmitri Koroteyev is an engineer in the local factory and known for his honesty, hard work, and intelligence. The successes of the factory are attributed to him, although the director, Ivan Zhuravliov, officially receives the credit. The town librarian even considers Dmitri an expert on literary matters. The local Party committee values him highly. Dmitri, however, is not happy; the great love of his life died during World War II, and he has now fallen in love with Lena, Ivan’s wife.
Lena is unhappy at home. Her husband thinks only of his factory and its successes, although it is clear that he loves his wife and child. This love, however, is not manifested very often; Lena is more like an article of household furniture than a partner in a marriage sustained by intense feelings of love. Lena has fallen in love with Dmitri, but the two do not declare their love to each other.
Ivan is a typical Soviet factory manager; within his realm he rules despotically, ruining the careers of those who do not agree with him. At the same time he cultivates talented people such as Dmitri, who can bring him praise and perhaps a promotion to a higher position in a location closer to Moscow or Leningrad.
Volodya Pukhov is the son of a retired schoolteacher. Unlike his father, who is idealistic and was devoted to his students, Volodya is cynical. He paints according to the tenets of Socialist Realism, the prescribed genre for artists, even though he realizes that his productions are trash and that the official theory concerning art is nonsense. This cynicism carries over to his life in general. He values nothing except his own success and is willing to do whatever the authorities ask, ridiculing them and himself as he does so.
Saburov is also an artist living in the small town. Unlike Volodya, Saburov is unwilling to paint in a style which he believes is alien not only to him but also to true art. He lives off the meager earnings of his wife, a cripple, who adores him. Saburov is content to paint masterpieces which will probably never be shown to appreciative audiences; he is willing to sacrifice fame and fortune in order to paint what he considers to be good art.
The reader views this menagerie of characters, which Ilya Ehrenburg portrays as typical for a small Soviet industrial town, with sympathy. Their lives are complicated by personal crises, but by the end of the novel it is clear that all the characters, with the exception of Ivan Zhuravliov, are weathering their crises and looking forward to a better life. They overcome the worst aspects of their crises: Family feuds are settled or, at least, reduced to a manageable level, Lena leaves her husband and the hope of a relationship with Dmitri emerges, and Volodya finds his true love, which enables him to temper his cynicism. Saburov shows his paintings to Volodya, whom he has considered a hack and hostile to real art. Volodya praises the work, and Saburov breaks through the official taboos and has two works accepted for an official exhibition.
The title, The Thaw, is an imperfect rendition of the original Russian, which means a “warming up,” and this is what occurs in the lives of the characters. They warm up to one another and to life against the backdrop of the end of winter and the very beginning of the thaw in nature.
The Characters
The development of characters is more important to Ehrenburg than the continuation of a coherent story line. In fact, the personal dramas of the characters are, for the most part, separate from one another.
What is most important in the novel, however, is not the development of any individual character but the author’s attitude toward these people in general. Ehrenburg has taken stock characters of Soviet life and literature—the energetic worker, the factory manager, the idealistic teacher, the bored housewife, and the artists—and concentrated on their personal crises rather than on their public personae. Socialist Realism, the official method for literature and art in the Soviet Union, discouraged such forays into the personal domain and preferred that writers employ more public-spirited themes, such as heroic workers at construction projects, soldiers at the front fighting for their country, and Party intellectuals performing great feats in the battle to construct a classless society. Ehrenburg ignores these themes and concentrates on the personal problems of the characters. The result may seem commonplace to the Western reader, but this method was considered revolutionary in the Soviet Union of the 1950’s, so much so that the title, The Thaw, is commonly applied to the loosening of restrictions in the Soviet Union following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953.
Critical Context
The publication of The Thaw in 1954, so soon after Stalin’s death, had social as well as literary significance. The appearance of the book was a signal to the public that some loosening of the system was indeed in progress and that some constructive criticism would be tolerated in the Soviet Union. As such, it achieved immediate fame and popularity in the Soviet Union, which had suffered twenty-five years of Stalinist regimentation.
In the literary arena, the novel achieved the same fame. It was viewed by other writers and readers as an announcement of the loosening of control over the artistic realm. The themes presented in The Thaw were also developed by younger writers, such as Vladimir Dudintzev, in his novel Ne khlebom edinym (1956; Not by Bread Alone, 1957). The fact that the entire de-Stalinization process has been called “the thaw” indicates the importance which was attached to this work.
Bibliography
Alexandrova, Vera. A History of Soviet Literature, 1963.
Brown, Edward J. Russian Literature Since the Revolution, 1982.
Goldberg, Anatol. Ilya Ehrenburg, 1984.
Rogers, Thomas. Superfluous Men and the Post-Stalin Thaw, 1972.
Slonim, Marc. Soviet Russian Literature, 1964.