Kulanov A.E.

 

“…Just as an expert in Japan.” R. N. Kim about Japan in Soviet Literature: painful comprehension in the ideological process. Pp. 46–56.

UDC 94(520)

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2025.89.4.005

 

Abstract. In 1934, Soviet newspapers and magazines held a discussion on the Far Eastern theme, caused by the growing tensions on the border of the USSR and the creation of the pro-Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. It is important to note that the discussion was launched by the Japanologist, writer, literary critic and counterintelligence officer Roman Nikolaevich Kim. As a professional Japanologist, Kim was the first in the history of Soviet literature to harshly criticize the emerging approach to the creation of illiterate but ideologically sound works about Japan by so-called oboronnik (defense) writers. This unprecedented attempt by a regional studies specialist to interfere in the literary policy of the Soviet state, albeit in one narrow direction, began with the publication in April 1934 in the newspaper Vechernya Moskva of a review of L. V. Rubinstein’s book Path of the Samurai. In the articles, Kim analyzed in detail many of the errors discovered and called for the inadmissibility of the appearance of such works. Kim believed that the basis for such a sharp reaction was the discrepancy between the levels of knowledge of the Japanese about Russia and that of Soviet people related to Japan. In his opinion, the Japanese studied the Soviet Union seriously and with far-reaching aggressive intentions. The appearance of books like Path of the Samurai was a typical example of dangerous self-righteousness, inevitably underestimating the potential enemy and, as a consequence, leading to serious problems in the event of a real military clash between the USSR and Japan. In August of the same year, Kim published a series of articles in the journal Zalp, where he criticized the amateur approach to literature about modern Japan. In the journal Znamya, Kim received a response from the recognized literary arbiter V. B. Shklovsky, who clearly defined Rubinstein as a writer who knew how to correctly “present” Japan from the Soviet ideological stand, but Kim undoubtedly knew Japan better, as he was “dangerously too close” to it. Shklovsky advised R. Kim to renounce his “hieroglyphic culture” and write in accordance with the demands of the time. Thus, in one of the first confrontations between specialists, represented by the Japanologist R. N. Kim, and literary amateurs such as L. V. Rubinstein, the aggressive non-professionals won the debate.

 

Keywords: R. N. Kim, L. V. Rubinstein, V. B. Shklovsky, samurai, Japan, journal Zalp, journal Znamya, ideological confrontation, ‘defense’ writers, bushido.

 

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