Vasily Belov's novel Business as usual in the socio-political situation of the 1960s

The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the socio-political and literary context related to the circumstances of publication and initial assessment of Vasily Belov’s novel Business as Usual by various groups of the Soviet political and literary elite. Ideological uncertainty that arose after Khrushchev’s resignation in the fall of 1964 prevented both publishing of the novel in the prestigious magazine New World and its timely assessment by contemporary literary critics. Forced censorship reductions during the publication of Business as Usual in the Petrozavodsk magazine The North demonstrates the difficulties that writers faced in mastering the themes of the Soviet village. Wide public recognition stopped the emerging discrediting of the novel in the mass media and contributed to its serious discussion. This aspect of the creative history of this key text belonging to the “village prose” literary movement has not been covered by scientific literature so far.