[The Doorbell Rang / In Our Contemporary]. Zvonok v Dver' / Nash Sovremennik. No 2-5 (February-May). 

by Stout, Rex

$1,200 · Offered by Biblio

First Russian translation of any of Rex Stout's works. Translated by a Soviet spy. Rex Stout's relationship with the Soviet Union and his political stance toward it were complex. During the late 1930s and 1940s, Stout was an outspoken opponent of fascism and Nazism. He publicly supported aid to the Allies and criticized isolationist movements such as America First. However, after the Second World War, Stout's political views diverged sharply from Soviet ideology. He became a vocal critic of Stalinism, regarding it as another form of tyranny akin to fascism. Stout condemned manipulative propaganda from both the political left and right, and he opposed McCarthyism for turning anti-communism into political hysteria. In his essays, he warned that McCarthy's tactics threatened democracy more than they protected it. These positions drew the attention of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, who viewed Stout as a suspicious liberal 'sympathizer' because of his prewar left-leaning activism. His FBI file reportedly included references to his biting satire of the Bureau in 'The Doorbell Rang' (1965), one of the most memorable novels in his celebrated Nero Wolfe series, noted for its bold critique of the FBI and its director. Ironically, Rex Stout's works – especially the Nero Wolfe stories – became unexpectedly popular in the Soviet Union and remain widely read in Russia today, despite their American origins and the politically charged climate of the mid-20th century. His works began to appea

• Publisher: Izdatel’stvo, “Literaturnaia gazeta”
• Year: 1967
• Binding: paperback

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