Book About Books by Samuel Marshak

Abstract

The article by N. A. Gus’kov “Book About Books by Samuel Marshak” reveals the creative history of one of Samuel Marshak’s famous poems written in the 1920s, “Book about Books”, is illuminated. The author of the article provides comparative analyses of several editions of the text that outline significant textual differences. The study of editorial changes made by the poet through the process of creation offers important insight into Marshak’s poetic laboratory as well as the formation of his worldview since the modifications were forced by both outer ideological factors and inner transformation of tastes and convictions of the poet. The early version of the poem supports the notion of a polemical character of this text which allows seeing Marshak’s work in the new cultural context of the epoch.   Keywords: Marshak, creative history, poetics, textology, literature of the 1920s, Soviet poetry, books, library, didactic poetry, fairytale, history of educational literature.