Maksimov, Sergei

Denis Bushuev: Roman [Denis Bushuev: A Novel]

Frankfurt am Main: Posev, 1950. Item #1407

355 pages. 20 cm. One of 2000 copies. Published, under EUCOM Civil Affairs Division Authorization UNDP 304, in a Russian displaced persons (DP) camp. Wrappers lightly worn, soiled and creased; corners slightly curled. Internally clean.

This is the first and only volume of Sergei Maksimov’s powerful émigré novel Denis Bushuev, a rare and early example of “lagernaya proza” (camp prose) that predates the canonical works of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Varlam Shalamov. Set on the Upper Volga during the years of collectivization and Stalinist terror, the novel traces the fates of three interconnected families—Bushuev, Akhtyrov, and Beletskii—as they navigate the upheavals and betrayals of Soviet rural life.

Stylistically a realist and psychologically penetrating, Maksimov offers not only a vivid portrayal of village dynamics but also a compelling document of moral awakening under totalitarianism. The author, born Sergei Pashin (1916–1967), himself experienced Stalin’s repressions firsthand, having spent five years in a forced labor camp in the Pechora region before joining the German-based émigré literary circle Grani, of which he became a co-editor. His participation in the Eastern Ministry of Propaganda during World War II remains a contentious aspect of his biography, but his fiction—especially Denis Bushuev and the short story cycle Taiga—stands as a precursor to postwar dissident literature and a key contribution to the literature of witness. Scarce.

Price: $350.00