Notable additions to the canon

I am not functionally literate, but there are people who are; this will be of interest to them.

Like most folks who have kicked around the Wild East, I thought that the essential foreign (i.e., non-native) authors for a picture of Soviet history in the region were mostly English and Scots: Fitzroy MacLean, Peter Hopkirk, F. M. Bailey, and so forth. Find a Lonely Peanut bibliography, wade through it – mostly gripping tales of derring-do written by the scions of the Empire upon which the sun never set (primarily, as my Irish uncle tells me, because even God doesn’t trust the English in the dark).

What I didn’t know, because I am ignorant, is that in 1932, a group of blacks went to the Soviet Union to make a film depicting the plight of most blacks living in the United States at the time. The film was never made, but Langston Hughes was given the opportunity to travel extensively through the Soviet Union and to the Soviet controlled regions in Central Asia. And Hughes was the kind of writer for whom writing was not simply something he did – writing was what he was. He wrote a book that was published in 1934 about his travels; only one edition was ever published. However, Now it’s been reprinted, and this is the occasion for some excitement here at Breed HQ.

I have to get a copy of this. Why? I’m glad you asked.

First, I like Hughes’ prose (though not his poetry all that much). Second, when Hughes came over to the Union, I’d bet he had the same visions of sugarplums dancing in his head that John Scott had, given Hughes’ politics of the time (which were in line with the Party, though he wasn’t a member). But Scott’s account is nevertheless an extremely interesting historical document. I’m guessing Hughes’ is at least as much so.

But – and this is the third thing, which really makes me want to pick up this book – the editor (about whom more anon) notes that:

“[b]ased on documents available at Yale University, Langston Hughes seems to have wished for large changes to be made to the text – these were not made and the book was published as it is re-printed. However, Hughes’ corrections have been annotated in the text by the editor as endnotes so that the reader can also see what sections Hughes wished to change.”

… which, potentially, makes the whole thing well worth the price of admission. Here’s a good writer, a keen observer, who had a keen sense of the social problems in America at the time. He goes to the socialist paradise or Central Asia. What the hell does he see there? The bad years were still ahead (and Hughes signed a statement in 1938 supporting the purges, so who knows how he would have come down on them), and nobody was suffering but the kulaks…

So the story is going to be one told by an Orwell or a Shaw. And the editor (I’m getting to him, just wait) coyly notes: “This work represents an interesting example of the optimism by American liberals for the Soviet Union that was abruptly cancelled as the Stalinist purges gradually gained strength.” So, I’m guessing that the reason only one edition was ever published is in the endnotes.

So. As a book to contrast with what the perfidious Albionese were writing, or as a dowsing rod to find authorial intent that may be manifest in the text, to be placed in a context of liberation and the materialist dialectic (of which I expect there will be just a little bit of the former, and hopeful none at all of the latter), or just to read some good writing about an fascinating area in a fascinating era, I think it’ll be a while before I see something that interests me more.

The editor is Dr. David Mikosz, who has been a long time resident of Central Asia. Although he has worked on a variety of development projects, he still retains his intellectual curiosity. He’s written for a wide variety of electronic and print publications on things Central Asian, on themes as disparate as comparative internet access to electoral politics. He’s got a gift for finding things like this, and I owe him six beers of his choice for bringing this book back into the world.

Here’s the blurb:

PUBL.- A Negro Looks at Soviet Central Asia, Langston
Hughes, reprinted, edited and annotated by David
Mikosz

A Negro Looks at Soviet Central Asia, by Langston
Hughes, edited by David Mikosz
Al Salam Printhouse, Bishkek, 2006, 66 pp., $5 or 200
Kyrgyz sum + shipping
ISBN: 9967-23-555-1

Number of pages: 66
Cover: Softback, ISBN: 9967-23-555-1
To order:  david.mikosz@gmail.com

This is the first reprint of a book that was published
once in 1934 in the Soviet Union. 1,500 copies were
printed and sold at a price of 60 kopeks.  The
material came from a trip to Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan by Langston Hughes in 1931.  The original
printed version has been scanned and typeset as close
as possible to the original text (as found in the
Leningrad State Library).  Based on documents
available at Yale University, Langston Hughes seems to
have wished for large changes to be made to the text –
these were not made and the book was published as it
is re-printed. However, Hughes’ corrections have been
annotated in the text by the editor as endnotes so
that the reader can also see what sections Hughes
wished to change.

This work represents an interesting example of the
optimism by American liberals for the Soviet Union
that was abruptly cancelled as the Stalinist purges
gradually gained strength.  After several years of
searching various libraries in Central Asia, the
editor was unable to find the book in Central Asia and
the only copy thus far located is in the Leningrad
Library.  This book is being republished with no
commentary and in the interest of making this document
more widely known.

For information on how to receive this book, please
write to: david.mikosz@gmail.com