• In Memoriam: Saul Bellow (1915–2005)

The books of the American-Jewish writer Saul Bellow became widely published in the USSR only after Gorbachev’s perestroika. Now his major novels and many short stories are available in Russian translation. The author of this memorial article concludes that Bellow was very close to Russian literary traditions. As with many descendants of Russian Jews who emigrated to the other side of the Atlantic, he was a kind of cultural intermediary. His artistic language and the intellectual code of his writings are close for Russian readers; the problems of his books’ characters correspond in many ways to the problems of Russian-Jewish intellectuals.

• Review: Collection of Documents on Stalin’s
Anti-Semitic Policy

Stalin and Cosmopolitanism—under this title the Democracy International Fund (Moscow) published an extensive collection of archival documents of the USSR Communist Party’s Central Committee from 1945–1953. This collection will provide a new spark to research on Stalin’s policies, state anti-Semitism in the USSR, the history of the “iron curtain,” and many other questions. While acknowledging the very high quality of the compilers’ work, the reviewer strongly criticizes the quality of the auxiliary indexes in the collection. Numerous mistakes and inadequate information in the indexes compromise the importance of a book that for decades will be the major source for historians of Stalin’s epoch.

• Looking Through Russian Literary Magazines: Novels and Articles of Jewish Interest

• Jewish Calendar of Significant Dates: September–October 2005

• Bibliography: 100 New Books