SOURCE: "Leonid Leonov (1899–)," in A History of Soviet Literature: 1917–1964, From Gorky to Solzhenitsyn, translated by Mirra Ginsburg, 1963. Reprint by Anchor Books, 1964, pp. 203-21.

A Russian-born critic, Alexandrova originally published the book from which the following excerpt is taken in 1963. Below, she provides an overview of Leonov's career, focusing on his novels.

Many young writers begin their literary careers with a work they call a novel. On closer acquaintance it quickly becomes obvious that their book can scarcely be called a novel by the standards normally set for this literary form. "In order to construct a novel," said Chekhov, "it is necessary to have a good knowledge of the law of symmetry and the balance of masses. A novel is an entire palace, and the reader should feel free in it, neither astonished nor bored as in a museum. Sometimes he must be given a rest both from the...