"A sinner at confession in gosizdat": M. Tsvetayeva's book of poetry "Mieleposts. Vol. I" in the early Soviet critcism

The article is devoted to the polemics in the soviet press about M. Tsvetayeva’s book of poetry «Mileposts. Vol. I». O. Mandelstam's «Literary Moscow», published in the «Russia» magazine, was the first response to «Milestones». Its uniqueness is defined by the fact that it announces the not yet issued Tsvetayeva's book and determines the base for future readings of «Milestones» by the soviet critics. In 1923-1924 the criticism was supplemented with reflexions on the state publishing policy which would shape the context for interpretations of the book. We examine closely the position of literary critics of the «Na Postu» magazine (S. Rodov, G. Lelevitch) towards publishing policies of the State Publishing House (Gosizdat) that issued Tsvetayeva's book. The article also explains Tsvetayeva's own motives and attitude considering how the poet, being already in emigration, tried to get her new work published by Gosizdat.