Cień Jasieńskiego
Jasieński’s Shadow

A Biobibliographical Contribution

Summary/Abstract: In Bruno Jasieński’s literary output there is a piece which remains unnoted in biographical papers and bibliographies, namely a volume published in Moscov in the year 1934 entitled “Беломорско-Балтийский канал имени Сталина: История строительства, 1931–1934 гг. (Belomor: An Account of the Construction of the Great Canal Between the White Sea and the Baltic Sea)” edited by Maxim Gorky, Leopold. Auerbach, and Semen Georgievich Firin. Jasieński is found among the group of 120 writers who came to sightsee the White Sea–the Baltic Sea Canal build with the hands of prisoners, and subsequently entered the group of 36 men of letters invited to prepare a collective work documenting the visit. The work’s content is preceded by a list of contributors. Jasieński is found among the co-authors of chapter 9: “To Kill Class Enemy” in which the Polish writer probably prepared the parts the protagonists of which are Central Asia prisoners. Before his travel to the construction Jasieński published a novel in Russian about the building of a canal in Tajikistan entitled “Man Changes His Skin.” With the novel he might have won favor of Soviet authorities which made him responsible for preparing the fragments of chapter 9 about the ideological maturation of builders from national minorities. It cannot be excluded that Jasieński participated also in the parts prepared by Anna Berzin, at that time the writer’s wife.

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